page_title: Battle of Santiago de Cuba
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Santiago de Cuba / Battle
caption_attribution_description: English: Spanish ship Vizcaya after defeat
context_page_description: The Battle of Santiago de Cuba was a decisive naval engagement that occurred on July 3, 1898, between an American fleet led by William T. Sampson and Winfield Scott Schley, against a Spanish fleet led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, which occurred during the Spanish–American War. The significantly more powerful United States Navy squadron, consisting of four battleships and two armored cruisers, decisively defeated an outgunned squadron of the Royal Spanish Navy which consisted of four armored cruisers and two destroyers, sinking all the Spanish ships without losing a single ship of their own. The crushing loss sealed American victory in the Cuban theater of the war, alongside ensuring the independence of Cuba from Spanish rule.
  Tensions between Spain and the United States worsened over the Spanish conduct during their efforts to quell the Cuban War of Independence, with many Americans being agitated by largely falsified reports of Spanish atrocities against the Cuban population. In January 1898, fearing the fate of American interests in Cuba due to the war, the cruiser USS Maine was dispatched to protect them.
context_section_description: The Spanish column made its way around Cay Smith at around 9:31 am on July 3 and left the channel about five minutes later. In the lead was Cervera's flagship Infanta Maria Teresa, followed by Vizcaya, Cristóbal Colón, Almirante Oquendo, travelling at around 8–10 knots (15–19 km/h) and 800 yards (730 m) apart, followed by the torpedo-boat destroyers Plutón and Furor, respectively. They then formed three echelons, the destroyers heading eastward, followed by Cristóbal Colón and Almirante Oquendo, while Infanta Maria Teresa and Vizcaya made for Brooklyn.
  The battle commenced almost immediately. At the mouth of the harbor, the American vessels, Texas, Iowa, Oregon, and Indiana engulfed the Spanish fleet in a "hail of fire." At 9:30am, the first shot was fired by Iowa and Signal No. 250 was hoisted when the ships were seen in the channel. The Spanish responded, supported by the batteries on Morro and Upper Socapa. After leaving the channel, the Spanish vessels turned westward in column towards the American fleet.
  While the Spanish had taken the initiative by beginning the engagement, two factors slowed their escape. The first was the continuing problem experienced in maintaining proper speed by Vizcaya; the second was the poor quality of most of the coal in the Spanish holds. An expected re-supply of high-quality anthracite had been captured aboard the collier Restormel, by the American auxiliary cruiser USS Saint Paul on May 25.
  Brooklyn headed nearly straight for Infanta Maria Teresa at first, but by 10:05 it was apparent they were on a collision course and Commodore Schley ordered a sharp turn to starboard, the so-called "retrograde loop", when all of the other American ships had already turned to port. This threatened Texas with collision and Captain Philip of Texas ordered "all engines back full," which brought Texas to a near standstill until Brooklyn passed across Texas's bow. Infanta Maria Teresa and Vizcaya then altered course to the west, Cristóbal Colón and Almirante Oquendo falling in behind, and the two squadrons paralleled each other. Texas then swung behind Brooklyn but Oregon then ran up on Texas and passed inboard, masking Texas's fire. Oregon, initially to the rear of the action but the fastest ship in the U.S. fleet, soon raced past Indiana, which had an engine problem and could make only 9 knots (17 km/h) at the time of the battle. Iowa had started from a disadvantaged position and was passed by Infanta Maria Teresa but hit her with two 12-inch (300 mm) rounds from 2,600 yards (2,400 m) and swung into the chase. As Iowa was passed in turn by Cristóbal Colón, the Spanish ship hit her with two shots from her secondary battery. One of these struck near the waterline and caused Iowa to slow and she therefore engaged Almirante Oquendo, bringing up the rear of Cervera's four cruisers. With the Spanish fleet past the American blockade, the battle became a chase.
  Rather than expose the entirety of his fleet to the American battle line, Cervera had signaled his other ships to continue to the southwest while he attempted to cover their escape, directly engaging Brooklyn, his nearest enemy. Though Brooklyn was hit more than 20 times during the battle, she suffered only two casualties, while her return fire resulted in the deaths of most of Cervera's bridge crew and grave damage to the ship generally. Under this brutal punishment, Infanta Maria Teresa began to burn furiously. According to Admiral Sampson's battle report, "it was afterward learned that the Infanta Maria Teresa's fire-main had been cut by one of [the] first shots. Cervera ordered her aground at 10:35 in shallows along the Cuban coast, by which time she was completely wrecked and aflame. Admiral Cervera survived and was rescued, picked up near Punta Cabrera by the crew of Gloucester.
  The rest of the Spanish fleet continued its race for the open sea. Almirante Oquendo was hit a total of fifty-seven times and was driven out of the battle by the premature detonation of a shell stuck in a defective breech-block mechanism of an 11-inch turret, which killed t
caption: The wreck of Vizcaya after the Battle of Santiago de Cuba.
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