bisquik63409 wrote:

> Thanks, please let me know whatnyou find out about the ship's
phone. Pvt. Steve

Steve, I finally remembered to check the inscription on the OLYMPIA's
pilot house telephone. It is a magnetic phone, patent date is 1892
and is inscribed "Property of the American Bell Telephone Company/For
Use of the U.S. Navy".

If you'd like a photo, I can send you one, but the appearance is
probably quite different from the army field phones, eventhough the
mechanism was probably very similar.

(Just got back from a weekend aboard OLYMPIA...The Museum has removed
the radio shack, which was something inauthentically added to the
ship at some point, and now has added recorded engine noise...things
continue to improve. However, its all simply rearranging deck chairs
unless we get her into drydock and can repair her hull).

Patrick McSherry