Resounding Victory at Santiago
THE MODERN BATTLESHIPS OF THE US NAVY UTTERLY DESTROYED AN OUTCLASSED SPANISH FLOTILLA IN THE BATTLE OF SANTIAGO DE CUBA
“THE SPANISH VESSELS WERE PLAGUED WITH UNRELIABLE EQUIPMENT AND WEAPONRY”
The US Navy’s blockade of Santiago de Cuba lasted 37 days and ended violently on 3 July 1898, with the destruction of the Spanish squadron of four armoured cruisers and two destroyers under Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete. While the heaviest armament the Spanish warships mounted was 28-centimetre (11inch) guns, the battleships of the US North Atlantic and Flying Squadrons, under the senior command of Admiral William Sampson and Commodore Winfield Schley, mounted 33-centimetre (13-inch) main batteries. The Spanish vessels were plagued with unreliable equipment and weaponry. Poorly trained crews compounded their shortcomings.
Cervera attempted to run the American blockade that fateful morning, but six hours later his command was shattered. The armoured cruisers Infanta Maria Teresa, Vizcaya and Almirante Oquendo, along with destroyers Pluton and Furor, were either sunk or blasted and beached by the firepower of the battleships USS Indiana, Massachusetts, Iowa, Texas and Oregon, and the armoured cruisers New York and Brooklyn. The armoured cruiser Cristóbal Colón engaged in a running battle with Oregon that lasted over an hour before the damaged Spanish vessel was beached and struck its colours.
The stinging defeat left the Spanish with 323 killed, 151 wounded and 1,720 imprisoned. American losses amounted to only one sailor killed and one wounded.