Sampson's command.

In West Indian waters the Spaniards had only a few light craft and the old
cruiser "Reina Mercedes" at Santiago, with her boilers and engines in such
a state that she could not go to sea. For many years the Spanish Navy had
been sadly neglected, but since 1890 some armoured cruisers had been built,
and a flotilla of torpedo-boat destroyers added to the navy. A number of
antiquated units figured on the Navy List, including useless "battleships"
dating from the 'sixties, and small unarmoured cruisers little better than
gunboats. There was one fairly modern battleship, the "Pelayo," dating from
1887, but expert opinion was very divided about her value.

When the war broke out the Spanish Pacific Squadron, under Admiral Montojo,
was at Manila. To use the words of an American naval officer, it was made
up of "a number of old tubs not fit to be called warships." It was promptly
destroyed by Commodore Dewey's squadron from Hong Kong (Battle of Manila
Bay, Sunday, 1 May, 1898). It was the first American victory in the war,
and in the national rejoicing there was much exaggeration as to Dewey's
exploit, which was compared to Nelson's victories!

On the eve of the war a Spanish fleet, officially known as the Atlantic
Squadron, had been concentrated, under the command of Admiral Cervera, in
the Portuguese harbour of St. Vincent, in the Cape de Verde Islands, and
the local authorities somewhat strained the laws of neutrality by allowing
Cervera to use the port to complete his preparations for some time after
the outbreak of the war.

The composition of the squadrons was as follows:--

Displacement. Date of Speed.
Tons. Launch. Knots.

Armoured cruisers--
_Infanta Maria Teresa_ (flagship) } { 1891 }
_Vizcaya_ } 6890 { 1891 } 20
_Almirante Oquendo_ } { 1890 }
_Cristobal Colon_ 6480 1896 20

Torpedo-boat destroyers--
_Terror_ }
_Furor_ } 400 1896-7 28
_Pluton_ }

Torpedo-boats--
_Azor_, _Ariete_, _Rayo_.

Auxiliary cruiser--
_Ciudad de Cadiz_ (an armed liner acting as mother-ship to the
torpedo-boats).

The armoured cruisers were all of the same