CHAPTER VI.

THE STORY OF THE TEXAS.

HER PART IN THE NAVAL BATTLE OF SANTIAGO.

BY

CYRUS S. RADFORD, Lieut. U. S. Marines.

R. K. CRANK, Ass't Engineer, U. S. N.

EFORE proceeding to describe the naval battle of Santiago, the precautions taken by Admiral Sampson to make the blockade of Santiago effective and to prevent the escape, by day or by night, of any of the enemy's vessels, should be noted.

On June 2nd, the day after his arrival off Santiago, Admiral Sampson issued an "Order of Battle." By this order, the American naval force was divided into the First and Second Squadrons. The First Squadron, under Admiral Sampson, comprised the New York, Iowa, Oregon, New Orleans, Mayflower and Porter. The Second Squadron, under Commodore Schley, comprised the Brooklyn, Massachusetts, Texas, Marblehead and Vixen. These ships were stationed on a semicircle around the Morro, a fort at the entrance of the harbor on the east, each ship lying six miles from the entrance, the ships on the extreme east and west keeping two miles from shore. At night the vessels were to close in nearer. The accompanying sketch shows the arrangement of the ships under this first order. The First Squadron was on the east, the Second Squadron on the west, of the entrance. The Admiral also said: "If the enemy tries to escape, the ships must close in and engage as soon as possible, and endeavor to sink his vessels or force them to run ashore in the channel."

On June 7th, when the dark nights came on, the Admiral adopted the following plan for night blockade; three armed picket-launches were stationed at dark at a distance of one

mile from the Morro, one launch to the east, one to the west and one south of the entrance. Outside of the launches, at a distance of two miles from the Morro and disposed in a similar manner, were stationed, naming from west to east, the Vixen, the Suwanee and the Dolphin, the eastern and western vessels being about three-fourths of a mile from shore. The larger remaining vessels, in their regular blockading order, lay four miles from the entrance.

On June 8th, the Iowa, Oregon and Massachusetts took turns of two hours each, in keeping a search-light on the entrance

of the harbor. This proving to be a success, these ships were ordered to go in, each in turn for two hours, to a distance of two miles and keep the beam of a search-light directly up the narrow harbor entrance, taking care not to expose the picket launches. On June 12th, the blockading distance was reduced to three miles in the daytime and to two miles at night. After the landing of the Army, when the position of the

enemy became critical, one battle-ship always lay in the shadow near the ship that was using the search-light, with the men at the guns, ready for immediate action.

The morning of Sunday, July 3rd. 1898, was slightly cloudy and sultry. The ships of the American blockading squadron lay in their usual positions around the harbor-mouth of Santiago, anticipating nothing beyond the usual, quiet, uneventful day of routine duties. The ships lay, as they had done for weeks in compliance with the order of Admiral Sampson, in a large semi-circle, with the Morro for its center. The little Vixen lay farthest to the west and closest in shore;

VIXEN

MARBLEHEAD

MAYFLOWE

\NEW ORLEANS

Blockading positions of ships according to Admiral's order of June 2nd. These were relatively the positions in which the ships lay on July 3rd, except that the distance from the Morro was three miles instead of six.

then came the Brooklyn,-she was out of position, outside the semi-circle and about 7,000 yards distance from the Morro; almost due east of the Brooklyn, and 5,100 yards S. S. W. from the Morro, lay the Texas; she was heading nearly east, with her port broadside to the shore. To the east of the Texas and in the order named came the lowa, Oregon and Indiana. These ships lay in their positions on the semi.