text: Word of Dewey's victory quickly reached the US; both he and Olympia became famous as the first victors of the war. An expeditionary force was assembled and sent to complete the conquest of the Philippines. Olympia remained in the area and supported the Army by shelling Spanish forces on land. She returned to the Chinese coast on May 20, 1899. She remained there until the following month, when she departed for the United States, via the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea. Along the way back to the United States, the ship sought to project the United States' new global standing as a world power after the victory. Frances Benjamin Johnston was enlisted to take images of George Dewey and men in the United States Navy upon the ship. She boarded the ship on August 5, 1899. The photos presented the daily life of American men on the ship and were meant to magnify American imperialism in a positive light. The ship arrived in Boston October 10. Following Olympias return to the United States, her officers and crew were feted, and she was herself repainted and adorned with a gilded bow ornament. On November 9, Olympia was decommissioned and placed in reserve.
  Before World War I
  Olympia was recommissioned into the fleet in January 1902 and assigned to the North Atlantic Squadron. Her first duty was to serve as the flagship of the Caribbean Division. Over the following four years, the ship patrolled the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea; her voyages included a visit to the Ottoman Empire. During March through April 1903 she and four other U.S. Navy warships were involved in an intervention in Honduras.