Spanish-American War Battle of Manila Bay

Spanish-American War Battle of Manila Bay

Summary:

Dewey received a news from consul williams in manila. It was noth worth the wait on Mirs bay. Upon receiving this news, Dewey proceed to China Sea. Dewey knew that submarine mines from madrid have arrived in Manila, but he underestimated the capability of the submarine mines; Because he knows that this strategy was ineffective to seal the entrance of Manila. Spanish Admiral Patricio Montojo was advised by Madrid to make up for these deficiencies with “zeal and activity”.

Dewey navigated at such safe speed of eight knots while waiting for Consul Williams. Combat drill was regular, and so were the Sousa tunes played by the military band; “There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight” that Filipinos would later named into a soup called “Hototay”.

Instead of meeting Dewey troops in Subic, Montojo decided to move his fleet back to manila, because some ships have defects that cause some of them to sink by 40 meter deep, so they have to move in shallow waters in Manila.

Dewey passed Subic, Corregidor and El Fraile islands, but there was no spanish fleet to meet them. By daylight Dewey and the squadron reached intramuros by the spanish fleet was not there. After looking around the area, they spotted the spanish fleet six miles away to the southwest in Cavite. Upon meeting the Spanish fleet, Dewey described their first day in manila, “A typical day, scarcely a breth of air and a haze that resembled that which one observes arising from a hot steel plate; A fireman coming on deck for a breath of air described it perfectly when he remarked to a seaman: We people don’t have to worry, for Hell ain’t no hotter than this”. Montojo knows that he had no chance to stand against a superior enemy, so he move his fleet to Cavite to save the pearl of the orient “Philippines”. They dropped anchor in shallow water and waited for disaster.

1^st Analysis:

The Story mainly talks about how Dewey entered Manila despite of having a spanish fleet guarding the area of the bay. It is also shown here what skills Dewey have in planning how to cross the Subic Bay and Manila Bay. Dewey have a strong faith that those submarine mines that guards the bay of Subic and later moved to Manila Bay, will not be that efficient in that area because of the depth of water and the span of time in the water.

Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón have fleet of ships but some of the ships have damaged. Some ships have useless propeller that made them disable. Some of the ships hull have hole that made it sink a little. So they have to move to Manila bay to have a more shallow water; And there they’ve waited Dewey with its squadron and faced their end. Although Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón knows that they have nothing to do to stop the american fleet, they still meet them in Manila Bay just to save the pearl of the orient “The philippines”.

2^nd Analysis

After reading this story by Ambet Ocampo, I also read the same story but is written in wikipedia. Ambet Ocampo have failed to include information such as: He did not include what happened when the fleet of Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón and Dewey have met. He failed to include that two mines explode when the american fleet was approaching the Manila bay, but were ineffective. He did not also mention that the American fleet headed by Dewey have the victory against the Spanish fleet headed by Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón.

Source:

http://www.wikipedia.org