The U.S. Navy's first two-ocean war was the Spanish-American War of 1898. A war that was global in scope, with the decisive naval battles of war at Manila Bay and Santiago de Cuba separated by two months and over ten thousand miles. During these battles in this quick, modern war, America s New Steel Navy came of age. While the American commanders sailed to war with a technologically advanced fleet, it was the lessons they had learned from Adm. David Farragut in the Civil War that prepared them for victory over the Spaniards. This history of the U.S. Navy s operations in the war provides some memorable portraits of the colorful officers who decided the outcome of these battles: Shang Dewey in the Philippines and Fighting Bob Evans off southern Cuba; Jack Philip conning the Texas and Constructor Hobson scuttling the Merrimac; Clark of the Oregon pushing his battleship around South America; and Adm. William Sampson and Commodore Scott Schley ending their careers in controversy. These officers sailed into battle with a navy of middle-aged lieutenants and overworked bluejackets, along with green naval militiamen. They were accompanied by numerous onboard correspondents, who documented the war.In addition to descriptions of the men who fought or witnessed the pivotal battles on the American side, the book offers sympathetic portraits of several Spanish officers, the Dons for whom American sailors held little personal enmity. Admirals Patricio Montojo and Pasqual Cervera, doomed to sacrifice their forces for the pride of a dying empire, receive particular attention. The first study of the Spanish-American War to be published in many years, this book takes a journalistic approach to the subject, making the conflict and the people involved relevant to today s readers. This work details a war in which victory was determined as much by leadership as by the technology of the American Steel Navy.

Based on a pocket diary from the Spanish-American War, this tough-as-nails 1899 memoir abounds in patriotic valor and launched the future President into the American consciousness.

The Spanish American War of 1898 is often viewed as a disjointed series of colorful episodes; young Americans who would later become famous, fighting a Spanish colonial army putting up a token resistance. Military commentator and historian Albert A. Nofi presents the war as a coherent military narrative, showing the confluence of the American command's Civil War experience and recent developments in technology. Serious attention is also given to the Spanish forces, the army of an empire in decline, but well-equipped and tactically sophisticated.Detailed coverage is given of both American and Spanish aims, assumptions and strategy. The author's colorful narrative is supplemented by 50 illustrations, most of which have not appeared in print since the era of the war.Specially commissioned maps highlight the most tactically significant land and naval engagements, such as the Spanish defense of El Caney and the Spanish fleet's dramatic but futile attempt to break out of Santiago harbor.Military operations are placed in the context of a growing American nation in a wider world, 35 years after the Civil War. The Spanish American War features a detailed treatment of the war in Puerto Rico. This theater was under the command of Indian fighter Nelson A. Miles and included some of the best tactical maneuvering of the war. The Puerto Rican aspect has not been covered in detail in modern works.Albert Nofi has made use of works covering the Spanish that have not been widely used in English-language works, as well as American eyewitness accounts that have not been examined in nearly a century.

This documentary history is intended for specialist and non-specialist alike. The introductions to the book’s sections, together with introductions to each document, provide a general history of the war. The contents cover the pre-war, war, and post-war periods in Cuba, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Spain, the Philippines, and the United States. Included are documents on the main battles and diplomatic history of the war, along with internal situations in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Spain, the Philippines, and the United States. Of particular interest is the section on Black Americans’ views and participation in the war, and the section on the views of many participants, military and non-military.

A compact volume on a key, early battle in US American history. Labelled a 'splendid little war' by Senator John Hay, the Spanish American War was a peculiar event in America's history, provoked as much by the press as by political pressures. Here, aided by superbly detailed maps and artwork, Angus Konstam deals with the clashes at Las Guasimas and El Caney, the capture of San Juan Hill, and the naval battle and siege of Santiago. The war was to mark the end of Spanish sovereignty in her 'New World', and the establishment of the United States of America as a world power.