Cruiser Olympia - Submarine Becuna

Cruiser Olympia, launched in 1892, is the oldest steel warship afloat today and is best known as Commodore George Dewey’s flagship in the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippine Islands during the 1898 Spanish American War. After the defeat of the Spanish fleet, the United States was propelled toward a future legacy as a world power. Following the war, Olympia often served as a visible reminder of President Teddy Roosevelt’s gunboat diplomacy. In 1918 she was dispatched to the Baltic Sea as part of the Russian Expeditionary Force in the earliest global attempt to defeat communism in Russia. Her final mission in 1921 was to bring back from France the body of the Unknown Soldier to Arlington National Cemetery, and she was decommissioned in December 1922. Becuna, a Balao Class submarine launched on January 30, 1944, was commissioned to serve in the Southwest Pacific Fleet under General Douglas MacArthur. Her five combat patrols during World War II lasted from August 1944 to July 1945. After the war, Becuna continued in U.S. Navy service through much of the Cold War, serving in the Atlantic Theater after 1949, was modified in 1951 to a GUPPY 1A Class submarine, and was decommissioned in November 1969.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States