The Third Battle of Manzanillo was a naval engagement that occurred on July 18, 1898, between an American fleet commanded by Chapman C. Todd against a Spanish fleet led by Joaquín Gómez de Barreda, which occurred during the Spanish–American War. The significantly more powerful United States Navy squadron, consisting of four gunboats, two armed tugs and a patrol yacht, overpowered a Royal Spanish Navy squadron which consisted of four gunboats, three pontoon used as floating batteries and three transports, sinking or destroying all the Spanish ships present without losing a single ship of their own. The victory came on the heels of a more significant American success at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, and was the third largest naval engagement of the war after Santiago de Cuba and the Battle of Manila Bay.
Tensions between Spain and the United States worsened over Spanish behavior during their efforts to quell a revolution in their colony of Cuba, with the American public being agitated by largely falsified reports of Spanish atrocities against the Cuban population. In January 1898, in the interest of safeguarding American interests in Cuba, the cruiser USS Maine was dispatched to the island. In February 1898, the Maine exploded while lying at anchor in Havana harbor, killing more than half her crew and inflaming American opinion against Spain, with the Spanish being portrayed as the culprit in the American media regardless of the actual source of the explosion. Two months later, war was declared.[1]
After defeating the largest Spanish squadron stationed in Cuba, the United States Navy continued dispatching warships to defeat the remaining Spanish naval presence on the island, as they had done upon the outbreak of war. The port of Manzanillo contained a significant Spanish naval presence in addition to being a haven for Spanish blockade runners, and the Americans had attempted twice before to destroy the squadron lying at anchor, with both the first and second attempts having been repulsed. On the third attempt, all U.S. naval elements in the area, reinforced by two Wilmington-class gunboats combined forces under the command of Chapman C. Todd to destroy the Spanish vessels once and for all.
The seven-ship force split into three different groups and entered the harbor at the same time to ensure the Spanish vessels had no path of escape. They first targeted the three transports and destroyed them while they were lying at anchor, alongside repulsing several gunboats who moved to repulse the Americans. The seven ships then moved further in the harbor to engage the gunboats and the immobile pontoon. All gunboats and transports were quickly destroyed or sunk, with minimal casualties for the Americans, with the only casualty being damage incurred to the lone armed tug.[2][3] Although the battle destroyed the small Spanish squadron in the harbor, the Spanish defenders inside the town refused to relinquish control of the city to the Americans, leading to the Fourth Battle of Manzanillo, resulting in the town falling into American hands.
^Knight, pg. 709
^Keenan, pg. 238
^Everett, pg. 143
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