The Armada Espanola, was one of the most powerful fleets in the world. The Spaniards were highly experienced sailors and expert seafarers who had some of the world’s most advanced warships in 1898. In the Philippines, they had ships and coastal artillery batteries capable of defending the Spanish-owned islands from any foreign usurpers. Low and behold, their seeming naval invincibility was challenged by an emerging power, wrought from a vicious Civil War. The United States merely three-decades after its vicious and bloody war with itself dared to take on a European superpower. This unassuming challenger made the Spaniards disregard and underestimate their foe—during that era no one dared challenge Spain.
On April 30, 1898, Commodore George Dewey, a commander of a small American flotilla sailed off from the Mirs Bay near Hong Kong–their destination Manila Bay…
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