USS Olympia Vs Stimulus Signs And Yankees
Historical apathy is threatening to do what the Spanish Navy could not and that is send the USS Olympia to a watery grave.
The cruiser which is berthed at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia was the flagship of Admiral Dewey’s fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898 during the Spanish American War and from which he uttered the famous command “You May Fire When You Are Ready, Gridley”
It is the oldest steel-hulled ship afloat, and is an important record of 19th century transitional technology.
The owner of the ship, the Independence Seaport Museum, says it cannot afford the $20 million-plus to maintain it.
While $20 million is a lot, spending it on the ship would provide honest American jobs to save an treasure than could never be recovered if it should be lost. It would certainly be less of a waste than spending $20 million in federal money on propaganda signs for the “Stimulus” Act; or $20 million to repair a minor league ballpark in Lackawanna County for the New York Yankees, an institution that wouldn’t blink at paying that plus 50 percent for single-season’s work from a third-baseman.
Worst comes to worst maybe they can move it down the river to Delaware County which has managed to find $30 million for a soccer stadium and talk the state into chipping in another $47 million.
A nation that forgets its history is not going to last. Those in the 19th century understood this.
USS Olympia Vs Stimulus Signs And Yankees
I wonder if the students at the $578 million Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in The Los Angeles Unified School District set to open next month will ever hear of Admiral Dewey or his famous command to Gridley?
Probably not.