Preserving maritime history

Captains,

In 2009, aboard a Dutch naval cruiser, the City of New York celebrated the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's exploration of the Hudson River in 1609. Our host, the Dutch consulate, impressed me when he noted that unlike most of history's superpowers, the United States projects its power for peace, not empire. But in 1898 Admiral Dewey, USN, gave the famous order, "fire when ready, Gridley", during a period of our history with definite empire building tenancies. He was the fleet commander aboard the flagship, USS Olympia, in Manila Bay, Philippines. The spanish fleet was easily defeated that day, and the Philippines would be a U.S. territory for 50 years.

There are many lessons to be learned from American maritime history. Currently the USS Olympia is open to the public in Philadelphia, PA to help teach those lessons. It's a great classroom. That's why this newspaper headline caught my attention. I hope this great icon of our maritime past is not lost to the elements.

RADM W

The USS Olympia, rusting symbol of America's age of empire

Within three years, experts estimate, the Olympia will fall apart. If it isn't saved, it will be dismantled for scrap or sunk to build an artificial reef off Cape May, N.J.

And with it will go a symbol of America's age of empire. When the Olympia was built, the United States was redefining itself as a global power, taking on expensive, elective wars in ever-more-distant places.

The USS Maine exploded in Havana harbor in February 1898, and though the cause was unclear, popular opinion blamed Spain. Ten days later, an ambitious young assistant secretary of the Navy named Theodore Roosevelt - whose boss, Secretary of the Navy John Long, had taken the day off- seized the opportunity to put the Navy on war footing. Roosevelt ordered Commodore George Dewey, aboard the Olympia in Hong Kong, to attack Spanish ships at their port in Manila, capital of the Philippines. That April, the Spanish-American War began.