early yearsDistinguished in battle. The Olympia ushered in the American Century in 1898 with her squadron’s triumph over the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay under Commodore George Dewey.
America gained defensive strongholds in Guam, The Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Cuba after that triumph.
Later she served valiantly in defending the Monroe Doctrine in the Caribbean and Panama. The Olympia safeguarded our country and its merchant ships in World War I and returned the body of the first Unknown Soldier to our nation’s capital in 1921. She is the oldest steel-hulled warship in the world.
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