In 1921, the ship carried the remains of World War I's Unknown Soldier from France to Washington, D.C., where his body was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.

[5] Repairs, estimated at $10 to 20 million, were desperately needed to keep Olympia afloat, and in 2010 the Independence Seaport Museum considered finding a new steward for the ship.

By 2014, the museum reversed its plan to find a new steward and soon obtained funding from private donors as well as federal and state agencies to begin work on repairing the ship.

[6][7] By 2017, the museum completed the first phase of repairs to the ship and has embarked on an ambitious national campaign to raise the $20 million needed to dry-dock Olympia and address waterline deterioration of the hull.

[13] For main armament, the board chose 8 in (203 mm) guns, though the number and arrangement of these weapons, as well as the armor scheme, was heavily debated.

On 8 April 1890, the navy solicited bids but found only one bidder, the Union Iron Works in San Francisco, California.

[15] During the contract negotiations, Union Iron Works was granted permission to lengthen the vessel by 10 ft (3.0 m), at no extra cost, to accommodate the propulsion system.

[19] Union Iron Works conducted the first round of trials on November 3, 1893; on a 68 nmi (126 km) run, the ship achieved a speed of 21.26 kn (39.37 km/h).

On the 15th, Olympia sailed into the Santa Barbara Channel, the "chosen race-track for California-built cruisers,"[21] and began a four-hour time trial.

[17][23] Upon commissioning in February 1895 Olympia departed the Union Iron Works yard in San Francisco and steamed inland to the U.S. Navy's Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, where outfitting was completed and Captain John J.

Two days later, the Navy Department ordered the squadron to Manila in the Philippines, where a significant Spanish naval force protected the harbor.

[34] On the morning of May 1, Commodore Dewey—with his flag aboard Olympia—steamed his ships into Manila Bay to confront the Spanish flotilla commanded by Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón.

After initial success, Dewey briefly broke off the engagement at around 7:30 a.m. when his flagship was reported to be low on five-inch ammunition, giving the order to serve a second breakfast to all his ships' crews.

[33] Following Olympia's return to the United States, her officers and crew were feted, and she was herself repainted and adorned with a gilded bow ornament.

[41] This included a period of policing duty in the Adriatic Sea from January 21 to October 25, 1919; the Dalmatian coast was in a state of turmoil following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of the war.

She was back in the Adriatic Sea by September 19, and four days later had to deploy a landing party to prevent an incident between Italian and Yugoslavian forces.

[45] On October 3, 1921, Olympia departed Philadelphia for Le Havre, France, to bring the remains of the Unknown Soldier home for interment in Arlington National Cemetery.

On October 25, 1921 there was a dockside ceremony where the casket, which had been selected on the previous day, arrived by train from Paris and was handed over by the Army to a bearer party of sailors and marines who carried it on board with all honors.

Olympia received a 17-gun salute as she departed, escorted by USS Reuben James (DD-245) and a group of eight French destroyers for part of the voyage.

[47] At the mouth of the Potomac river on November 9, the battleship North Dakota and the destroyer Bernadou joined Olympia as she steamed to the Washington Navy Yard.

In January 1996, when faced with mounting debt and tremendous deferred maintenances, the Cruiser Olympia Society merged with the Independence Seaport Museum (ISM) in Philadelphia.

Olympia's stern plate and bow ornaments are on display at Dahlgren Hall at the United States Naval Academy.

[50] The U.S. Navy expressed its willingness to let the museum "responsibly dispose" of the vessel which could have resulted in the ship being transferred, sold as scrap, or sunk as a reef.

[50] As a result of the summit, the ISM searched for another nonprofit organization to assume stewardship of Olympia to provide for her maintenance and restoration.

[53] In April 2014, the ISM announced the end of the TAPP process as it could not find an organization that could present a viable, long-term solution for the ship.

Some of the most notable repairs to the cruiser before 2014 include removing 30 tons of asbestos and other contaminants, conducting safety upgrades, and drafting the necessary engineering and planning work.

[55] In 2015 Olympia received multiple grants including $169,850.00 from the National Park Service's Maritime Heritage Program to continue work on interim repairs of deteriorating hull plates and deck leaks.

[56] Between April and August 2015, four 4-foot by 7-foot sections of the hull at the waterline were cleaned, scaled to bare metal, and treated with ceramic epoxy, and new bottom paint.

[60] In 2017, the Museum announced that it would embark on a major national fundraising campaign to raise $20 million to drydock the vessel so that the hull can finally be fully repaired.

The restoration efforts are part of a larger plan to make the vessel more accessible and to educate the public about the cultural and historic significance of Olympia.