On May 1, 1898, opening with the famous quote "You may fire when you are ready,
Gridley", Commodore George Dewey in six hours defeated the Spanish squadron, under Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarn, in Manila Bay, Philippines... Dewey led the Asiatic Squadron of the U.S. Navy,
which had been based in Hong Kong, consisting of the cruisers U.S.S. Olympia, Raleigh, Boston, and Baltimore, the gunboats Concord and Petrel and the revenue cutter McCulloch and reinforcements from
cruiser U.S.S. Charleston and the monitors U.S.S. Monadnock and Monterey.
The battle of Manila Bay
In the battle the entire Spanish squadron was sunk, including the cruisers Maria Cristina and Castilla, gunboats Don Antonio de Ulloa, Don Juan de Austria, Isla de Luzn, Isla de Cuba, Velasco, and
Argos...The battle was the first major engagement of the Spanish-American War. The Americans suffered 9 wounded; the Spanish 161 dead and 210 wounded...With the Spanish fleet destroyed, Dewey's
Asiatic Squadron blockaded Manila and awaited the arrival of the American army, the first units of which arrived at the end of June 1898. |
