Action of 25 April 1898 The Action of 25 April 1898 was a minor single ship action of the Spanish - American War fought near Cárdenas , Cuba , between the American torpedo boat USS " Foote " under Lieutenant William Ledyard Rodgers and the Spanish gunboat " Ligera " under Lieutenant Antonio Pérez Rendón . After a fierce exchange of fire , " Foote " , seriously damaged , was forced to withdraw . The engagement was the first battle of the war , as well as the first naval Spanish success . Background . At the outbreak of the Spanish - American War , the US Navy detached a force of two protected cruiser s , 16 auxiliary cruiser s , 12 torpedo boats and many other units including armed tugboats , yachts and colliers to blockade the Cuban coasts with the aim of cutting off the supplies of the Spanish Army . It proved to be a difficult task due to the large number of inlets , keys and natural ports of that coasts that allowed the much inferior Spanish vessels to break the blockade many times . One of that ports was Cárdenas . The naval units based there were the gunboats " Alerta " , " Ligera " and " Antonio López " , the last a former tugboat operated by the Spanish Line , which had ceded it to the navy . The port was supposedly defended by two shore - batteries , but the Spanish accounts didn ' t mention their presence prior to their installation on 12 May . The entrances to the bay were covered by 20 Bustamante mines , most of them defective , and a 70 - men company of marines had been detached to garrison the town . The gunboats belonged to the Spanish Caribbean squadron under Admiral Vicente Manterola , and most of its units had been described as " unhelpful even to the coastal police " . " Antonio López " , nevertheless , had captured the filibuster ship " Genoveva " and the schooner " William Todd " few years before . Battle . On 25 April , the " Ligera " patrolled the entrance of Cárdenas ' port . Her commander was Lieutenant Antonio Pérez Rendón y Sánchez , an experienced Cádiz - born officer who had seen action against the Cuban insurgents many times during the war . The American torpedo boat " Foote " , a 142 - ton warship armed with three 1 - pounder guns and three 457 mm torpedo tube s , was sighted off Cayo Diana . Both ships soon opened fire on each other . The American fired more rapidly , but less accurately . " Foote " fired about 70 shots , of which only one hit " Ligera " , while " Ligera " only managed 10 . The damage and casualties aboard the Spanish ship were minimal . " Foote " , meanwhile , took several hits that caused heavy damage . " Foote " left the combat enveloped in smoke with its boilers badly damaged . At the time the Spanish believed that the Chinese torpedo boat was the USS " Cushing " . Aftermath . Antonio Rendón was awarded with the Naval Cross of Maria Cristina for his success , which was met with public acclaim . Subsequently , the American and Spanish navies fought several more engagements near Cárdenas . On 8 May , the three Spanish gunboats under Rendón surprised the American torpedo boat USS " Winslow " , which was part of a small flotilla led by the gunboat USS " Machias " . The most important of the battles around Cárdenas , the Battle of Cárdenas , took place on 11 May , when Rendón and his ships repulsed an attack against the port . Spanish naval successes of the war were mainly due to the actions of their small coastguard vessels . Besides the actions off Cárdenas they faced the American " Mosquito Squadron " with some success in Manzanillo , Cienfuegos and even in Philippine waters . There the gunboat " Elcano " captured the American bark " Saranac " on 26 April 1898 . " Saranac " , under Captain Bartaby , was carrying 1 , 640 tons of coal from Newcastle , New South Wales , to Iloilo , for Admiral Dewey ' s fleet .