Cervera ordered his crew
to disembark, and they
filed into the trenches of
Santiago as part of the
city’s defenses. Previ-
ously, both Cervera and
his captains had already
concluded that a pitched
engagement was nothing
less than suicidal. He was
fully prepared to scuttle
his ships rather than lose
them—and his crews—in
battle against a superior
enemy.
Within days the Ameri-
cans landed troops and
occupied the high ground
overlooking Santiago,
threatening Cervera’s an-
chored fleet with artillery
fire. At this time the naval
minister had placed his
squadron under the con-
trol of Ramon Blanco y
Erena, captain-general of Cuba, who ordered
Cervera to sortie from Santiago. Blanco ap-
parently believed it was better to lose the
squadron in battle for the sake of national
pride than to simply surrender it. The hapless
admiral bluntly declared he was less con-
cerned with national pride than the lives of
his men, yet he had no recourse but to obey.
On the morning of July 3, 1898, Cervera as-
sembled his ships and sent them out, single
file, into Santiago Bay.
The American squadron offshore had been
anticipating a Spanish sortie for some time.
Commodore Schley exercised command of
the squadron, as Admiral Sampson had de-
parted to confer ashore with Gen. William
Shafter. Cervera’s squadron consisted of four
heavy cruisers—Infanta Maria Teresa,Viz-
caya, Cristobal Colon, and Almirante
Oquendo—plus the torpedo ships Plutonand
Furor.Arrayed against them were the Ameri-
can battleships Indiana, Iowa, Oregon,and
Texas,the heavy cruiser Brooklyn,and three
armed yachts. As the
Spanish vessels cleared
the channel, a running
battle developed around
9:00 A.M. Accuracy on both
sides proved abysmal,
but the older Spanish ves-
sels took several hits that
riddled them. Within four
hours Cervera’s entire
squadron had been either
run aground or sunk out-
right. It was an impres-
sive victory for the U.S.
Navy, which suffered one
killed and two wounded
compared to 323 Spanish
killed and 1,720 prisoners
taken. Sampson, rather
embarrassed, arrived to-
ward the close of the bat-
tle. Santiago Bay proved
one of history’s most de-
cisive naval engagements,
for it eliminated Spain’s
ability to contest American movement around
Cuba. It also engendered a long-standing,
angry debate between Sampson and Schley as
to which officer, precisely, was responsible
for the victory.
After the battle, Cervera and his staff were
rescued by the yacht Gloucesterand brought
aboard the battleship Iowa.There Capt. Rob-
ley D. Evans saluted the unlucky admiral as a
worthy adversary and offered him personal
funds for any convenience he required.
Cervera thanked Robley for his generosity,
but politely declined. He was then conveyed
to Annapolis, Maryland, and comfortably in-
terned at the U.S. Naval Academy. There he
was feted as an honored guest and enjoyed
complete freedom of the town until he was
paroled in September. Moreover, the totality
of Cervera’s defeat, the bravery with which he
faced it, and his own chivalrous nature led to
a generous outpouring of sympathy from the
American public. Back in Spain, Cervera was
court-martialed for the loss of his fleet, honor-CERVERA, PASCUAL
Pascual Cervera
Library of Congress