operations and posed a danger to any American invasion force headed to Cuba or Puerto Rico. North Atlantic Squadron, it could theoretically disrupt U.S. While Cervera’s squadron did not pose a serious threat to the U.S. Spain had one major challenge to the American blockade of the island-Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete’s squadron of four armored cruisers and three destroyers. As operations started in April 1898, the Navy’s first job in the Atlantic theater was to blockade Cuba with the hope of forcing a settlement. Prompted by Spain’s humanitarian abuses on the island and the loss of the battleship Maine, the war also allowed the United States to greatly expand its influence in the Caribbean and Pacific. victory at the Battle of Santiago Bay.Īmerica’s stated objective for the Spanish-American War was to liberate Cuba from the Spanish Empire. On the way, he helped to pave the way for the U.S. Lieutenant Victor Blue of the auxiliary cruiser Suwanee learned how to be a scout on land with the help of Cuban guerrillas. Other men mastered new weapon systems, piloted ships and launches in unfamiliar waters, or shoveled coal in the tropical heat. Assistant Naval Constructor Richard Hobson scuttled a collier in an effort to block Santiago Harbor. Gillis swam out to a pair of defunct Spanish torpedoes and hauled them back to Porter. The war gave plenty of opportunities for enterprising young Americans to make a name for themselves. This was especially true in the Spanish-American War of 1898, as the Navy’s officers and men dealt with new technologies in America’s first conflict overseas since the Mexican-American War. In war, sailors find themselves doing jobs they never would have expected to perform in normal circumstances.
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