Vallejo Group Plans To Bid For USS Olympia

VALLEJO, Calif. (AP) The Navy Yard Association -- a group of former naval shipyard workers on Mare Island -- plans to apply for the USS Olympia when bidding for the ship is opened in February.

The 244-foot-long ship, launched in 1892, is currently moored on the Delaware River in Philadelphia and is part of the Independence Seaport Museum.

But museum officials tell the Vallejo Times-Herald they are unable to raise the millions of dollars needed to dry dock it and repair its hull and deck. So they plan to seek a new steward for the ship.

The USS Olympia is the only surviving steel warship of its era. It served in the 1898 Spanish-American War, where it was Commodore George Dewey's flagship at the Battle of Manila Bay.

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