USS Olympia

  While in Philadelphia we went to visit the USS Olympia.  This cruiser from the Spanish American war served as Admiral Dewey's  flagship at Manila Bay.

Because it was off season there were no interpretation on the ship and everything was self guided.  Much of the ship is not available to walk through . Just the main deck inside and a little top side.  But what is open is well maintained and interesting.  Best of all how often do you get a chance to walk the deck of a ship of this time period.  Very inspiring and highly recommend.

Looking forward towards the 8" gun turret

 Looking aft

5" gun

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Looking down into the engine room

Must be good to be an officer!

American fleet

Iowa and Oregon

Olympia, Baltimore and Boston

Baltimore and Boston

USS Brooklyn

Olympia, Baltimore and Boston

  A nice collection of ships.  But not enough to recreate the historical battles.  This is not a problem as the battles were so one sided a more interesting table top action would be "what if" battles.

  Historical note;  I painted them in their peace time colors rather then the gray battle colors.  Not correct, but they look so much nicer this way.  I have the Gloucester done but not based for pictures.

Spanish fleet

  Poor Spain, so far from God and so close to the United States....

  The Spanish navy at the time of the Spanish American war was a mixture of the old and the new.  Masts and wooden walls mixed with modern guns and steam.  But maintenance was at a low point, and too many ships could not sail or had working guns.  A shame as they were beautiful.  when going into battle woodwork was not removed so splinters were a terrible problem.

  My Spanish ships are a mixture from both naval battles of the war; Saintiago and Manila bay.  Unfortunately I do not have all the ships to refight those battles, just most. But "what if" actions are more interesting food this period.

Only one tiny little ship....

The USS Maine

Sometimes we start projects because they are important to us.  But too often we start projects because ..... Here is a rediscovery of a project from right years ago.

This was one of my weaker moments.  As readers of this blog know I have a long held interest in the ill fated U.S.S. Maine.  So years ago when I found the 1:1000 scale models of the Spanish American war period ships by Richard Houston I was besides myself.  I just need one ship, that's all just one ship.  With similar words we start down the path of madness.....

 Well I went and ordered the Maine. It was a great model and fun to assemble and paint.  But it looked so alone all by itself. Then I found out Richard Houston had retired and was no longer selling the ships.

 So when I found on eBay someone who was selling a big bunch of them I jumped at the chance.  I spent like a drunken sailor and bought bunches of Spanish and American ships.  Soon I had painted fleets which to do battle with.  But then, I found out about naval rules.  Very complicated, lots of numbers and calculations. Many die rolls for each gun to see if you ranged in, hit the target and then if you caused any damage.  What was worse, the battles between my fleets were so lopsided.  The Spanish ships were, how should I say less then second class compared to the new state of the art American ships.  So off they went into a box to disappear for the next eight years.

Since that time I had forgotten about the ships.  Recently, in cleaning up I found them (along with a number of other forgotten projects).  They do look nice, and perhaps there is a simple fun set of rules out there.....

To be continued......