 The first engagement between the belligerents occurred on May 8, 1898, when the converted liner USS Yale captured a Spanish freighter, the Rita in San Juan Bay. On May 9, Yale fought a brief battle with an unknown Spanish auxiliary cruiser, resulting in a Spanish victory. Around this time, Captain Ángel Rivero Méndez was assigned the command of the Spanish forces at the fortress of San Cristóbal in San Juan. On May 10, when Yale returned to San Juan Bay, Rivero-Méndez ordered his men to open fire on the steamer with an Ordoñez 15 centimeter cannon, in the first attack against American forces in Puerto Rico during the Spanish – American War. For his actions, Rivero-Mendez was awarded the "Cruz de la Orden de Merito Militar" (The Cross of the Order of the Military Merit) first class.
