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THE BATTLE OF MANILA BAY.

TAKING THE CREW FROM THE BURNING REINA CRISTINA The lower panel gives a general view of the battle at its height.

Drawn by Henry Roterdah'

boats Don Juan de Austria and Don Antonio de Ulloa, 1,159 tons each, constructed at Cartagena and Carraca respectively, in 1887; the steel gunboats Isla de Cuba and Isla de Luzon, 1,045 tons, laid down at Elswick, England, in 1886; the Velasco, 1,152 tons, constructed at Blackwall, England, in 1881; gunboats Marques del Duero, 500 tons, and General Lezo, 525 tons; surveying ship Argos, 508 tons; and a score of mosquito gunboats. The march of events pointing inevitably to war, Spain made a feeble attempt to augment her shore defenses, and sent to Manila the Isla de Mindanao, one of her large auxiliary ocean liners, heavily laden with guns and other munitions of war.

None of the Spanish vessels in the Philippines was capable of operating at a considerable distance from a well furnished and protected base, but, if in effective condition, they comprised, with the shore defenses, a formidable force for the small United States squadron to attack, especially as the latter was certain to have the ports of Asia barred by the institution of unyielding neutrality, and was seven thousand miles from a port where it could hope to obtain assistance. In estimating Spain's strength in the East Indies, therefore, it was necessary to consider the batteries placed at the points at which it was likely her fleet would take station for the battle. A dispute with Germany over the Caroline Islands had threatened war a few years before Span ish-American relations became acute; and, to defend her possessions in the Pacific from German assault, Spain installed at Manila and other important points high powered guns capable of sinking any of the ships of our little squadron. Manila was defended in the fall of 1897 by four 91⁄2-inch muzzle-loading rifles; four 51⁄2inch converted breech-loading rifles, and fifteen 6.3-inch obsolete muzzle-loading bronze rifled guns, distributed in front of and along the medieval wall located on the bay shore of the city. A casemated earthwork of entirely modern character, over which poked the muzzles of two 15centimeter Ordonez rifled guns, was built at Sangley Point. A stone redoubt at Cavite and the antiquated Fort San Felipe adjacent were the sites of three 6.3-inch Armstrong muzzle-loading rifles.

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entrance to the Bay of Manila is divided by the island of Corregidor into two channels, one known as the Boca Grande and the other as the Boca Chica. Boca Grande was covered by three 6-inch Armstrong breech-loading rifles, three 12centimeter breech-loading rifles, and three 16-centimeter Palliser muzzle-loading rifles, and Boca Chica by three 8-inch muzzle-loading Armstrong rifles, three 18centimeter Palliser muzzle-loading rifles, and two 16-centimeter Hontoria breechloading rifles. Within twenty-four days the defenses of the entrance of Manila Bay were put in condition for action, and just before the declaration of war the battery at Sangley Point was reinforced by one 14-centimeter breech-loading rifle. Several hulks were sunk in the northwest channel of Subig Bay; but four 15-centimeter guns sent to defend this harbor lay unmounted when the American squadron arrived.

Every effort was made by our Navy Department to learn the number and caliber of the guns comprising the bat teries defending Manila and Subig Bay, and while some information was obtained through our naval attaché and confidential sources in Madrid and through United States Consul O. F. Williams, who remained in Manila until forced to leave, it was not sufficiently accurate to be of much value. The condition of the defenses in 1897 was reasonably well known. As war approached, additional guns were placed, but in what numbers and at what positions could not be ascertained. Mines were also reported to have been laid.

The mistake of underrating the strength of the enemy was not made. It was advisable that our squadron should be superior to that of Spain in order to offset the advantage lent to the latter by the shore batteries. The Olympia completed her tour of duty on the Asiatic Station in the winter of 1897-98, and was ordered to San Francisco for repairs and alterations. Ten days after the destruction of the Maine, these orders were revoked and she was directed to remain in the East. The Raleigh was attached in 1897 to the European Station, which was certain to be abandoned in case of war, and instructions were sent to her in December of that year to join the Asiatic Squadron. The Baltimore was placed in commission

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of the munitions, there was less chance of their capture in case the Spaniards should enterprisingly seek to gain possession of them; but it was within the bounds of possibility that a bold plan to intercept the cruiser would be attempted, and a feeling of intense anxiety pervaded the White House and Navy Department until news of her safe arrival at Hongkong on April 22 reached the Bureau of Navigation. After the war with Spain, a report gained credence that, in order to provide the Asiatic Squadron with sufficient ammunition to engage the Spanish force, the Department had found it necessary to send a special train carrying supplies across the continent to San Francisco, where the freight was transferred to the Mohican. As a matter of fact, with the ammunition brought by the Baltimore the Asiatic Squadron was amply supplied, and did not expend a third of its ammunition at the battle of Manila. As to the railroad train, the only one sent across the continent consisted of fourteen cars, and was assembled at Harrisburg, Pa., on June 30, 1898, almost two months after the battle. The munitions it carried were intended to form a large reserve supply for the Pacific and Asiatic Squadrons, there existing at the time some apprehension that Spain might send a fleet from Europe to the Philip pines and that Germany might provoke us to war. At no time, however, was any American squadron so short of ammunition that it would have been unable to engage an enemy's fleet.

The last reinforcement given to the Asiatic Squadron comprised the auxiliaries McCulloch, Nanshan, and Zafiro. The McCulloch had been built on the Atlantic coast and was ordered to San Francisco via the Suez Canal to perform revenue cutter service. Under the law authorizing the transfer of revenue cutters to the control of the navy in time of war, she was attached to the Asiatic Squadron, and on April 8 was caught by cable at Singapore and directed to proceed to Hongkong, avoiding Spanish ports and vessels en route. As the Asiatic Squadron had no base nearer than San Francisco, though supplies could have been obtained at Honolulu, then the capital of an independent republic, it was necessary to provide it with a collier and a supply ship, and the British steamers Nanshan and

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Personnel is largely the deciding factor in naval engagements, and this fact was to be demonstrated in the battle of Manila Bay. The commander-in-chief of the American force was Commodore George Dewey. The selection of Commodore Dewey to command the Asiatic Squadron was made during the fall of 1897. Admiral A. S. Crowninshield, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, called the attention of the Secretary to the fact that the tours of duty of Rear-Admiral Thomas O. Selfridge, Jr., in command of the European Squadron, and Rear-Admiral Frederick V. McNair, in command of the Asiatic Squadron, would expire within a few months, and that it was advisable to relieve them. The Secretary examined the Naval Register, and found that there were three officers whose turn for sea had come: Commodore E. O. Matthews, Commodore John A. Howell, and Commodore George Dewey. Commodore Matthews was Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, from which place it was not thought desirable to take him; Commodore Howell was Commandant of the League Island NavyYard, and Commodore Dewey was President of the Board of Inspection and Survey. Both had had long service and valuable experience; Howell had reputa

COPYRIGHT 1891 BY ENRIQUE MULLER

THE OLYMPIA

tion as an ordnance expert of marked ability; Dewey had served as Chief of the Bureau of Equipment of the Navy Department, and subsequently as a member of the Examining and Retiring Boards, receiving in 1895 his orders to the Board of Inspection and Survey. The Asiatic Squadron, in case of war with Spain, offered the larger probable opportunity for distinction, although the European Squadron was a choice flag command of the navy and included the Spanish waters. I decided to give Dewey the Asiatic and Howell the European station, and this arrangement, on my submitting it to President McKinley, who had made no suggestion in the matter, and who always

left such matters to the Secretary, was approved by him. I remember his simply saying to me, in his characteristically pleasant way, "Are you satisfied that Dewey is a good man for the place and that his head is level?" to which I affirmatively answered. Political or personal influence had nothing to do with his selection. Indeed, war was not then-in the fall of 1897-so imminent that there was reason for departing from the usual routine of making in the usual regular sequence the selection of the two or three officers whose turn to go to sea had come. A month before war was declared Commodore Howell was withdrawn from Europe, the European Squadron having

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