ing of personnel. Of the squadron that came to
Cuba under Admiral Cervera, the _Colon_ lacked two 10-inch guns
for her barbettes, and the _Vizcaya_ was so foul under water that
with a trial speed of 18-1/2 knots she never made above 13--Cervera
called her a "buoy." There was no settled plan of campaign; to
Cervera's requests for instructions came the ministerial reply
that "in these moments of international crisis no definite plans
can be formulated."[1] The despairing letters of the Spanish Admiral
and his subordinates reveal how feeble was the reed upon which
Spain had to depend for the preservation of her colonial empire.
The four cruisers and two destroyers that sailed from the Cape
Verde Islands on April 29 were Spain's total force available. The
_Pelayo_ and the _Carlos V_, not yet ready, were the only ships of
value left behind.

[Footnote 1: Bermejo to Cervera, April 4, 1898.]

On the American naval list, in addition to the main units already
mentioned, there were six monitors of heavy armament but indifferent
fighting value, a considerable force of small cruisers, four converted
liners for scouts, and a large number of gunboats, converted yachts,
etc., which proved useful in the Cuban blockade. Of these forces
the majority were assembled in the Atlantic theater of war. The
_Oregon_ was on the West Coast, and made her famous voyage of 14,700
miles around Cape Horn in 79 days, at an average speed of 11.6
knots, leaving Puget Sound on March 6 and touching at Barbados in
the West Indies an May 18, just as the Spanish fleet was steaming
across the Caribbean. The cruise effectively demonstrated the danger
of a divided navy and the need of an Isthmian canal. Under Commodore
Dewey in the Far East were two gunboats and four small cruisers,
the best of them the fast and heavily armed flagship _Olympia_,
of 5800 tons.

_The Battle of Manila Bay_

[Illustration: APPROACHES TO MANILA]

With this latter force the first blow of the war was struck on May
1 in Manila Bay. Dewey, largely through the influence of Assistant
Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt, had been appointed to the eastern
command the autumn before. On reaching his station in January, he
took his squadron to Hong Kong to be close to the scene of possible
hostilities. On February 25 he received a despatch from Roosevelt,
then Acting Secretary: "Keep full of coal. In the event of declaration
of war Spain, your duty will be to see that Spanish squadron does
n