Amidst the many displays, the visitor will see additional
six-pounder guns of the secondary battery, for a total of ten on this
deck. Each of the guns is placed in a sponson, a steel “bubble” which
extends out beyond the surrounding hull to allow for a fuller range of
fire. One of those guns is the Nordenfeldt gun.This gun, with its
brass and wood stock still attached, is similar to the type of 6
pounder cannon that would have been used by the Spanish during the
Spanish American War. This gun was recently reconditioned by the staff
of the OLYMPIA, and is now used for
demonstrations and salute.
Periodically throughout the space, the visitor will note shafts with narrow doors. These are the ash hoists. Nearby are the controls that were used to raise the buckets of ash up from the boiler rooms to the berth deck, a trip that took five seconds. The large buckets, each weighing three hundred pounds when loaded, were taken from the shafts and placed on a chain and hook which was slid along an overhead rail leading to the outer hull of the ship, where the ash dumps are located. Each ash dump serves two ash hoists.
