1898 Medal Made from The Propeller of Admiral Dewey’s

1898 Medal Made from The Propeller of Admiral Dewey’s
1898 Medal Made from The Propeller of Admiral Dewey’s Flagship, USS Olympia Grades Choice Unc. Bronze struck medal with obverse showing a navy cruiser with legend: "'YOU MAY FIRE WHEN YOU ARE READY, GRIDLEY'/U.S.S. OLYMPIA". Reverse depicts 4-petaled propeller and is inscribed: "MADE FROM PROPELLER OF/ ADMIRAL DEWEY'S FLAGSHIP/ WHICH SERVED IN THE/ BATTLE OF MANILA BAY/ MAY 1, 1898".Example held in both the New York Historical Society Museum, and the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News Virginia. 1898 Medal Made from The Propeller of Admiral Dewey’s Flagship, USS OlympiaJust after midnight on May 1, 1898, the USS Olympia led the United States’s Asiatic Squadron quietly through the calm, glassy waters of the Boca Grande Channel, between the island of Corregidor and the coast of Luzon in the Philippines. The United States was at war with Spain, and the American squadron was preparing to attack a Spanish fleet in Manila Bay.As Sunday morning dawned hours later, the Olympia’s commander, Captain Charles Gridley, waited for the order to fire his ship’s guns. The order would come from the squadron’s commander, Commodore George Dewey, who watched from atop the Olympia’s flying bridge as shore batteries fired harmlessly at the advancing column of American ships. At 5:40 A.M. Dewey finally hailed Gridley with the now-famous words, “You may fire when you are ready, Gridley.”