Flying Squadron (US Navy)
Encyclopedia
The Flying Squadron was a United States
Navy force that operated in the Atlantic Ocean
, the Gulf of Mexico
and the West Indies during the first half of the Spanish-American War
. The squadron included many of America's most modern warships which engaged the Spanish
in the Blockade of Cuba.
and Spain
over events in Cuba
, particularly the explosion and sinking of the battleship
USS Maine
in Havana
harbor. Although the U.S. Navy's leadership preferred to concentrate its fleet at Key West
, Florida
for operations
against Cuba and Puerto Rico
in the event of war, the American public and U.S.
Government feared that a Spanish Navy
squadron might cross the Atlantic from Spain and raid the East Coast of the United States.
The political pressure to establish a visible naval defense of the East Coast forced the Navy to reorganize itself to address the public's concerns. Accordingly, in April 1898, shortly before the outbreak of war, the Department of the Navy ordered the fleet to be divided.
The heavy units of the U.S. fleet formed the North Atlantic Squadron
, commanded by Rear Admiral William T. Sampson
, which was concentrating at Key West. The new organizational scheme imposed by the Department of the Navy transferred about half of that squadron's ships to a new Flying Squadron under the command of Commodore Winfield S. Schley, consisting of battleship
s Texas
and Massachusetts
, armored cruiser
Brooklyn
, protected cruiser
s Columbia
and Minneapolis
, and several auxiliary cruisers; Schley's flagship was Brooklyn. While the North Atlantic Squadron operated in the Caribbean
and Gulf of Mexico
in support of the efforts of smaller U.S. ships blockading Cuba and Puerto Rico, the Flying Squadron would be based at Hampton Roads
, Virginia
, poised to defend the Atlantic coast against Spanish naval attack.
, meanwhile began to concentrate at Sao Vicente
in Portugal
's Cape Verde Islands in April 1898, where it was when war broke out later in the month. It sortied from Sao Vicente on 29 April 1898, secretly bound for San Juan
, Puerto Rico, which the U.S. Navy assumed was its destination. But Cervera's departure and the lack of information thereafter about his squadron's whereabouts caused a panic on the U.S. East Coast, where hysterical press reports of the potential devastation that Spanish naval guns could wreak on U.S. coastal cities fed people's fears. Against its wishes, the Navy recommissioned eight old monitor
s of American Civil War
vintage and questionable fighting value and deployed them in major ports, and the Flying Squadron was tied down at Hampton Roads until Cervera's location and intentions could be determined.
The situation clarified on 10 May 1898, when Cervera's ships appeared in the Caribbean off Martinique
, seeking coal at Fort-de-France
. With Cervera now firmly committed to the Caribbean, Schley was ordered to shift the Flying Squadron's base from Hampton Roads to Key West, from which base it could hunt actively for the Spanish squadron while Sampson's North Atlantic Squadron continued its overall blockade support mission in the theater.
in Curaçao
. After he departed the latter island, the U.S. Department of the
Navy received faulty intelligence information that Cervera had with him a number of cargo ships, leading the Navy Department to conclude that he was bound for Cienfuegos
, a port on Cuba's south coast which was a good choice for unloading military supplies for Spanish forces. On 18 May 1898, the Navy ordered Schley to blockade Cienfuegos, and the Flying Squadron sortied from Key West on this mission at 0700 hours on 19 May 1898, arriving off Cienfuegos on the afternoon of 21 May 1898.
At 0700 hours on 19 May 1898, two hours after the Flying Squadron left Key
West, Cervera arrived undetected at Santiago de Cuba
, on Cuba's southeastern coast, only an hour after the auxiliary cruiser USS St. Louis
had reconnoitered the harbor, found it empty, reported Cervera's absence, and departed. Navy Department officials, aware of the report from St. Louis and still thinking that Cervera had cargo ships with him and was either at or en route Cienfuegos, doubted telegrams reporting his arrival at Santiago de Cuba. On 20 May 1898, however, Secretary of the Navy John D. Long came across intelligence information that seemed to make the possibility of Cervera's presence at Santiago de Cuba more credible, and cabled Sampson at Key West with instructions to inform Schley accordingly.
Sampson, who still thought that Cervera was at Cienfuegos and interpreted Long's cable as advisory rather than directive, ordered Schley and the Flying Squadron to continue to Cienfuegos and remain there. For his part, Schley, his squadron's view of Cienfuegos harbor apparently an obstructed one, could not confirm whether or not Cervera's squadron was at Cienfuegos. Correct information Schley received on 19 May 1898 from a passing neutral merchant ship that Cervera was at Santiago de Cuba was cancelled out by the same ship's false report that Cervera had departed Santiago de Cuba on 20 May. For all Schley knew, Cervera could have slipped into Cienfuegos sometime between 20 May 1898 and the Flying Squadron's arrival there the next afternoon.
On 21 May 1898, the Navy Department received intelligence information confirming that Cervera's ships were at Santiago de Cuba, and cabled Sampson at Key West. Sampson sent the information to Schley by despatch boat, which Schley received about 24 hours later, on 22 May 1898. Sampson's orders, however, left much up to Schley's assessment of the situation at Cienfuegos; Sampson told Schley to take the Flying Squadron to Santiago de Cuba if he was satisfied that Cervera indeed was not at Cienfuegos, something which Schley had not yet been able to confirm. Schley opted to keep the Flying Squadron off Cienfuegos.
On 23 May 1898, repeated light displays during the evening from the hills above Cienfuegos drew the attention of Flying Squadron lookouts. Not until the next day were they identified as secret signals from Cuban insurgents. Commander Bowman H. McCalla
, captain of cruiser Marblehead
went ashore on the morning of 24 May 1898 and learned from the insurgents that Cervera's squadron was at Santiago de Cuba. He returned to the squadron and informed Schley later that day. Schley, who still believed that Cervera might be at Cienfuegos, ordered the Flying Squadron to move to Santiago de Cuba to see if Cervera was there.
At 0755 hours on 25 May 1898, the Flying Squadron began its voyage to Santiago de Cuba, moving at a leisurely pace because of the low maximum speed of some of its ships. At 1725 hours on 26 May 1898, it hove to 25 to 30 miles south of Santiago de Cuba to receive reports from cruisers that had been scouting the area. The commanding officer of one of them, Captain Charles D. Sigsbee of USS St. Paul, incorrectly reported that Cervera was not at Santiago de Cuba, based both on his own observation of the harbor over the past week and incorrect information gleaned from the captain of a Spanish collier
St. Paul had intercepted.
Sigsbee's report confirmed Schley's doubts about Cervera being at Santiago de Cuba, and at around 1800 hours Schley ordered the Flying Squadron to reverse course and steam westward south of Cuba, passing Cienfuegos en route Key West, where the squadron would coal. But at about 2000 hours, the conflict in Schley's mind between his own conviction that Cervera was at Cienfuegos and Sampson's orders to move to Santiago de Cuba led him to order the Flying Squadron to heave to once more. It drifted westward with the current overnight and all the next morning, some of the ships taking on coal. At 1200 hours on 27 May 1898, Schley ordered it to resume its voyage to Key West. Abruptly, at 1325 hours, Schley had a change of heart, and ordered the Flying Squadron to again reverse course and steam east for Santiago de Cuba, off which it arrived at 1940 hours on 27 May 1898.
At dawn on 28 May 1898, the Flying Squadron saw that the Spanish armored cruiser
Cristobal Colon
was anchored in the entrance channel under the guns of the harbor's coastal fortifications. This finally confirmed that Cervera's squadron, missing for 13 days since its departure from Curaçao, was at Santiago de Cuba.
At 1400 hours on 31 May 1898, Schley had the Flying Squadron make its first offensive move, sending battleships Iowa
and Massachusetts
and cruiser New Orleans
in to bombard Cristobal Colon and the coastal forts. The two sides exchanged fire at the extreme range (by 1898 standards) of 7,000 yards (6,400 m) without any results. The American ships ceased fire at about 1410, although the Spanish continued firing until about 1500.
Sampson arrived on 1 June 1898 aboard his flagship, armored cruiser New York
, bringing with him battleship Oregon
, armed yacht
Mayflower
, and torpedo boat
Porter of the North Atlantic Squadron. This created an awkward command arrangement in which Sampson, who had a substantive rank of captain in peacetime but a temporary rank of rear admiral during the war, became overall commander off Santiago de Cuba. Schley, who was a commodore and senior to Sampson in the Navy but temporarily of lower rank, became second-in-command. It also created a situation in which elements of two squadrons, North Atlantic and Flying, operated together off Santiago de Cuba under the two awkwardly juxtaposed flag officers. This led to friction and some confusion during the blockade.
The blockade was to drag on for 37 days. But Sampson was more aggressive than Schley, and immediately set a plan in motion to block the harbor's entrance channel using collier USS Merrimac as a blockship. Attempted on 3 June 1898, the plan went awry when Merrimac sank in a location that did not block passage through the harbor entrance. On 6 June 1898, the blockading
squadrons conducted a major bombardment of the coastal forts and Spanish ships in the harbor.
, left Spain for the Philippines
to attack the U.S. Navy Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey
there. To force Spain to recall Camara to Spanish waters, the Department of the Navy developed a plan for a U.S. Navy squadron to raid the Spanish coast. The plan to raid the Spanish coast lead to a reorganization of the U.S. fleet in which the Flying Squadron was abolished on 18 June 1898. Schley was reassigned as commander of a new Second North Atlantic Squadron.
The dissolution of the Flying Squadron made little practical difference in the waters off Santiago de Cuba, where the blockade would continue until 3 July 1898 with the ships of the former Flying Squadron on duty and Schley present as second-in-command of the blockade under Sampson. And, in the end, no raid on the Spanish coast ever took place; Camara was recalled to Spain without reaching the Philippines after the disastrous defeat of Cervera's squadron in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba
fifteen days after the Flying Squadron was dissolved.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Navy force that operated in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
and the West Indies during the first half of the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
. The squadron included many of America's most modern warships which engaged the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in the Blockade of Cuba.
Formation
In the spring of 1898, tensions were rising between the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
over events in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, particularly the explosion and sinking of the battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
USS Maine
USS Maine (ACR-1)
USS Maine was the United States Navy's second commissioned pre-dreadnought battleship, although she was originally classified as an armored cruiser. She is best known for her catastrophic loss in Havana harbor. Maine had been sent to Havana, Cuba to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban revolt...
in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
harbor. Although the U.S. Navy's leadership preferred to concentrate its fleet at Key West
Key West
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
for operations
against Cuba and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
in the event of war, the American public and U.S.
Government feared that a Spanish Navy
Spanish Navy
The Spanish Navy is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Armada is responsible for notable achievements in world history such as the discovery of Americas, the first world circumnavigation, and the discovery of a maritime path...
squadron might cross the Atlantic from Spain and raid the East Coast of the United States.
The political pressure to establish a visible naval defense of the East Coast forced the Navy to reorganize itself to address the public's concerns. Accordingly, in April 1898, shortly before the outbreak of war, the Department of the Navy ordered the fleet to be divided.
The heavy units of the U.S. fleet formed the North Atlantic Squadron
North Atlantic Squadron
The North Atlantic Squadron was a section of the United States Navy operating in the North Atlantic. It was renamed as the North Atlantic Fleet in 1902. In 1905 the European and South Atlantic Squadrons were abolished and absorbed into the North Atlantic Fleet. On Jan...
, commanded by Rear Admiral William T. Sampson
William T. Sampson
William Thomas Sampson was a United States Navy rear admiral known for his victory in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War.-Biography:...
, which was concentrating at Key West. The new organizational scheme imposed by the Department of the Navy transferred about half of that squadron's ships to a new Flying Squadron under the command of Commodore Winfield S. Schley, consisting of battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s Texas
USS Texas (1892)
USS Texas was a second-class pre-dreadnought battleship built by the United States in the early 1890s. She was the first American battleship and the first ship named in honor of the state of Texas to be built by the United States...
and Massachusetts
USS Massachusetts (BB-2)
USS Massachusetts was an and the second United States Navy ship comparable to foreign battleships of the time. Authorized in 1890 and commissioned six years later, she was a small battleship, though with heavy armor and ordnance. The ship class also pioneered the use of an intermediate battery...
, armored cruiser
Armored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...
Brooklyn
USS Brooklyn (CA-3)
The second USS Brooklyn was a United States Navy armored cruiser.She was launched on 2 October 1895 by William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; sponsored by Miss Ida May Schieren; and commissioned on 1 December 1896, Captain Francis Augustus Cook in...
, protected cruiser
Protected cruiser
The protected cruiser is a type of naval cruiser of the late 19th century, so known because its armoured deck offered protection for vital machine spaces from shrapnel caused by exploding shells above...
s Columbia
USS Columbia (C-12)
The fourth USS Columbia was an unarmored protected cruiser in the United States Navy during the Spanish-American War and World War I. She was the lead ship of her class of two cruisers; her sister ship was...
and Minneapolis
USS Minneapolis (C-13)
The first USS Minneapolis was a United States Navy protected cruiser. She was named for the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota....
, and several auxiliary cruisers; Schley's flagship was Brooklyn. While the North Atlantic Squadron operated in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
and Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
in support of the efforts of smaller U.S. ships blockading Cuba and Puerto Rico, the Flying Squadron would be based at Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, poised to defend the Atlantic coast against Spanish naval attack.
Operations From Hampton Roads
The Spanish Navy's First Squadron, commanded by Vice Admiral Pascual Cervera y TopetePascual Cervera y Topete
Pascual Cervera y Topete served as an admiral of the Spanish Caribbean Squadron during the Spanish-American War, and prior to this served his country in a variety of military and political roles....
, meanwhile began to concentrate at Sao Vicente
São Vicente, Cape Verde
São Vicente , also Son Visent or Son Sent in Cape Verdean Creole, is one of the Barlavento islands of Cape Verde. It is located between the islands of Santo Antão and Santa Luzia, with the Canal de São Vicente separating it from Santo Antão.- Geography :The island is roughly rectangular in shape...
in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
's Cape Verde Islands in April 1898, where it was when war broke out later in the month. It sortied from Sao Vicente on 29 April 1898, secretly bound for San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
, Puerto Rico, which the U.S. Navy assumed was its destination. But Cervera's departure and the lack of information thereafter about his squadron's whereabouts caused a panic on the U.S. East Coast, where hysterical press reports of the potential devastation that Spanish naval guns could wreak on U.S. coastal cities fed people's fears. Against its wishes, the Navy recommissioned eight old monitor
Monitor (warship)
A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...
s of American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
vintage and questionable fighting value and deployed them in major ports, and the Flying Squadron was tied down at Hampton Roads until Cervera's location and intentions could be determined.
The situation clarified on 10 May 1898, when Cervera's ships appeared in the Caribbean off Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
, seeking coal at Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France is the capital of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique. It is also one of the major cities in the Caribbean. Exports include sugar, rum, tinned fruit, and cacao.-Geography:...
. With Cervera now firmly committed to the Caribbean, Schley was ordered to shift the Flying Squadron's base from Hampton Roads to Key West, from which base it could hunt actively for the Spanish squadron while Sampson's North Atlantic Squadron continued its overall blockade support mission in the theater.
The Search for Cervera's Squadron
The Flying Squadron departed Hampton Roads for Key West on 13 May 1898. Meanwhile, Cervera's quest for coal had forced him to move from Martinique to call at WillemstadWillemstad, Netherlands Antilles
Willemstad is the capital city of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that forms a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Formerly the capital of the Netherlands Antilles prior to its dissolution in 2010, it has an estimated population of 140,000. The historic centre of...
in Curaçao
Curaçao
Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
. After he departed the latter island, the U.S. Department of the
Navy received faulty intelligence information that Cervera had with him a number of cargo ships, leading the Navy Department to conclude that he was bound for Cienfuegos
Cienfuegos
Cienfuegos is a city on the southern coast of Cuba, capital of Cienfuegos Province. It is located about from Havana, and has a population of 150,000. The city is dubbed La Perla del Sur...
, a port on Cuba's south coast which was a good choice for unloading military supplies for Spanish forces. On 18 May 1898, the Navy ordered Schley to blockade Cienfuegos, and the Flying Squadron sortied from Key West on this mission at 0700 hours on 19 May 1898, arriving off Cienfuegos on the afternoon of 21 May 1898.
At 0700 hours on 19 May 1898, two hours after the Flying Squadron left Key
West, Cervera arrived undetected at Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....
, on Cuba's southeastern coast, only an hour after the auxiliary cruiser USS St. Louis
USS St. Louis (1894)
SS St. Louis, was a transatlantic passenger liner built by the William Cramp & Sons Building & Engine Company, Philadelphia and was launched on 12 November 1894; sponsored by Mrs...
had reconnoitered the harbor, found it empty, reported Cervera's absence, and departed. Navy Department officials, aware of the report from St. Louis and still thinking that Cervera had cargo ships with him and was either at or en route Cienfuegos, doubted telegrams reporting his arrival at Santiago de Cuba. On 20 May 1898, however, Secretary of the Navy John D. Long came across intelligence information that seemed to make the possibility of Cervera's presence at Santiago de Cuba more credible, and cabled Sampson at Key West with instructions to inform Schley accordingly.
Sampson, who still thought that Cervera was at Cienfuegos and interpreted Long's cable as advisory rather than directive, ordered Schley and the Flying Squadron to continue to Cienfuegos and remain there. For his part, Schley, his squadron's view of Cienfuegos harbor apparently an obstructed one, could not confirm whether or not Cervera's squadron was at Cienfuegos. Correct information Schley received on 19 May 1898 from a passing neutral merchant ship that Cervera was at Santiago de Cuba was cancelled out by the same ship's false report that Cervera had departed Santiago de Cuba on 20 May. For all Schley knew, Cervera could have slipped into Cienfuegos sometime between 20 May 1898 and the Flying Squadron's arrival there the next afternoon.
On 21 May 1898, the Navy Department received intelligence information confirming that Cervera's ships were at Santiago de Cuba, and cabled Sampson at Key West. Sampson sent the information to Schley by despatch boat, which Schley received about 24 hours later, on 22 May 1898. Sampson's orders, however, left much up to Schley's assessment of the situation at Cienfuegos; Sampson told Schley to take the Flying Squadron to Santiago de Cuba if he was satisfied that Cervera indeed was not at Cienfuegos, something which Schley had not yet been able to confirm. Schley opted to keep the Flying Squadron off Cienfuegos.
On 23 May 1898, repeated light displays during the evening from the hills above Cienfuegos drew the attention of Flying Squadron lookouts. Not until the next day were they identified as secret signals from Cuban insurgents. Commander Bowman H. McCalla
Bowman H. McCalla
Rear Admiral Bowman H. McCalla was an officer in the United States Navy, who was noted for his roles in the Spanish-American War and putting down the Boxer Rebellion.-Biography:...
, captain of cruiser Marblehead
USS Marblehead (C-11)
The second USS Marblehead was an unarmored cruiser in the United States Navy which served in the Spanish-American War and World War I....
went ashore on the morning of 24 May 1898 and learned from the insurgents that Cervera's squadron was at Santiago de Cuba. He returned to the squadron and informed Schley later that day. Schley, who still believed that Cervera might be at Cienfuegos, ordered the Flying Squadron to move to Santiago de Cuba to see if Cervera was there.
At 0755 hours on 25 May 1898, the Flying Squadron began its voyage to Santiago de Cuba, moving at a leisurely pace because of the low maximum speed of some of its ships. At 1725 hours on 26 May 1898, it hove to 25 to 30 miles south of Santiago de Cuba to receive reports from cruisers that had been scouting the area. The commanding officer of one of them, Captain Charles D. Sigsbee of USS St. Paul, incorrectly reported that Cervera was not at Santiago de Cuba, based both on his own observation of the harbor over the past week and incorrect information gleaned from the captain of a Spanish collier
Collier (ship type)
Collier is a historical term used to describe a bulk cargo ship designed to carry coal, especially for naval use by coal-fired warships. In the late 18th century a number of wooden-hulled sailing colliers gained fame after being adapted for use in voyages of exploration in the South Pacific, for...
St. Paul had intercepted.
Sigsbee's report confirmed Schley's doubts about Cervera being at Santiago de Cuba, and at around 1800 hours Schley ordered the Flying Squadron to reverse course and steam westward south of Cuba, passing Cienfuegos en route Key West, where the squadron would coal. But at about 2000 hours, the conflict in Schley's mind between his own conviction that Cervera was at Cienfuegos and Sampson's orders to move to Santiago de Cuba led him to order the Flying Squadron to heave to once more. It drifted westward with the current overnight and all the next morning, some of the ships taking on coal. At 1200 hours on 27 May 1898, Schley ordered it to resume its voyage to Key West. Abruptly, at 1325 hours, Schley had a change of heart, and ordered the Flying Squadron to again reverse course and steam east for Santiago de Cuba, off which it arrived at 1940 hours on 27 May 1898.
At dawn on 28 May 1898, the Flying Squadron saw that the Spanish armored cruiser
Armored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...
Cristobal Colon
Spanish cruiser Cristobal Colon
Cristóbal Colón was a Giuseppe Garibaldi-class armored cruiser of the Spanish Navy that fought at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War.-Technical Characteristics:...
was anchored in the entrance channel under the guns of the harbor's coastal fortifications. This finally confirmed that Cervera's squadron, missing for 13 days since its departure from Curaçao, was at Santiago de Cuba.
The Blockade of Santiago de Cuba
Schley sent word of Cervera's whereabouts to Samspon and the Flying Squadron established a blockade of Santiago de Cuba. On 30 May 1898, Secretary Long ordered Schley to "hold on at all hazards" and informed him that Sampson had set out with units of the North Atlantic Squadron to reinforce the Flying Squadron.At 1400 hours on 31 May 1898, Schley had the Flying Squadron make its first offensive move, sending battleships Iowa
USS Iowa (BB-4)
| The second half of the 19th century saw radical changes in shipbuilding design. Wood-built sailing ships with cannons were replaced by steam-powered warships armored with steel...
and Massachusetts
USS Massachusetts (BB-2)
USS Massachusetts was an and the second United States Navy ship comparable to foreign battleships of the time. Authorized in 1890 and commissioned six years later, she was a small battleship, though with heavy armor and ordnance. The ship class also pioneered the use of an intermediate battery...
and cruiser New Orleans
USS New Orleans (CL-22)
USS New Orleans was a United States Navy protected cruiser.She was laid down in 1895 as Amazonas for the Brazilian Navy by Armstrong, Mitchell and Company, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, launched on 4 December 1896, purchased by the Navy while building on 16 March 1898; and commissioned 18 March 1898...
in to bombard Cristobal Colon and the coastal forts. The two sides exchanged fire at the extreme range (by 1898 standards) of 7,000 yards (6,400 m) without any results. The American ships ceased fire at about 1410, although the Spanish continued firing until about 1500.
Sampson arrived on 1 June 1898 aboard his flagship, armored cruiser New York
USS New York (ACR-2)
USS New York was a United States Navy armored cruiser. The fourth Navy ship to be named in honor of the state of New York, she was later renamed Saratoga and then Rochester ....
, bringing with him battleship Oregon
USS Oregon (BB-3)
USS Oregon was a pre-Dreadnought of the United States Navy. Her construction was authorized on 30 June 1890, and the contract to build her was awarded to Union Iron Works of San Francisco, California on 19 November 1890. Her keel was laid exactly one year later...
, armed yacht
Armed yacht
An armed yacht was a yacht that was armed with weapons and was typically in the service of a navy. Their speed and maneuverability made them useful as patrol vessels. In the United States Navy armed yachts were typically private yachts expropriated for government use in times of war. Armed yachts...
Mayflower
USS Mayflower (PY-1)
USS Mayflower was the second ship in the United States Navy to have that name. Mayflower — a luxurious steam yacht built in 1896 by J. and G. Thompson, Clydebank, Scotland — was purchased by the Navy from the estate of Ogden Goelet and commissioned at New York Navy Yard on 24 March 1898,...
, and torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
Porter of the North Atlantic Squadron. This created an awkward command arrangement in which Sampson, who had a substantive rank of captain in peacetime but a temporary rank of rear admiral during the war, became overall commander off Santiago de Cuba. Schley, who was a commodore and senior to Sampson in the Navy but temporarily of lower rank, became second-in-command. It also created a situation in which elements of two squadrons, North Atlantic and Flying, operated together off Santiago de Cuba under the two awkwardly juxtaposed flag officers. This led to friction and some confusion during the blockade.
The blockade was to drag on for 37 days. But Sampson was more aggressive than Schley, and immediately set a plan in motion to block the harbor's entrance channel using collier USS Merrimac as a blockship. Attempted on 3 June 1898, the plan went awry when Merrimac sank in a location that did not block passage through the harbor entrance. On 6 June 1898, the blockading
squadrons conducted a major bombardment of the coastal forts and Spanish ships in the harbor.
Disbandment
During the blockade of Santiago de Cuba, a new Spanish threat arose in mid-June 1898, when the Spanish Navy's 2nd Squadron, under Rear Admiral Manuel de CamaraManuel de Camara
Manuel de la Cámara y Libermoore was a rear admiral of the Spanish Navy during the Spanish-American War.Immediately after the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in April 1898, the Spanish Navy ordered major units of its fleet to concentrate at Cadiz to form the 2nd Squadron, under the command of...
, left Spain for the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
to attack the U.S. Navy Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey
George Dewey
George Dewey was an admiral of the United States Navy. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War...
there. To force Spain to recall Camara to Spanish waters, the Department of the Navy developed a plan for a U.S. Navy squadron to raid the Spanish coast. The plan to raid the Spanish coast lead to a reorganization of the U.S. fleet in which the Flying Squadron was abolished on 18 June 1898. Schley was reassigned as commander of a new Second North Atlantic Squadron.
The dissolution of the Flying Squadron made little practical difference in the waters off Santiago de Cuba, where the blockade would continue until 3 July 1898 with the ships of the former Flying Squadron on duty and Schley present as second-in-command of the blockade under Sampson. And, in the end, no raid on the Spanish coast ever took place; Camara was recalled to Spain without reaching the Philippines after the disastrous defeat of Cervera's squadron in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba
Battle of Santiago de Cuba
The Battle of Santiago de Cuba, fought between Spain and the United States on 3 July 1898, was the largest naval engagement of the Spanish-American War and resulted in the destruction of the Spanish Navy's Caribbean Squadron.-Spanish Fleet:...
fifteen days after the Flying Squadron was dissolved.