Review of "Manila and Santiago: The New Steel Navy in the Spanish-American War," by Jim Leeke
Review of
Manila
and Santiago: The New Steel Navy in the Spanish-American War, by Jim Leeke, ISBN 9781591144649
Five out
of five stars
Step by
step description of very significant battles
When battle fleets of the United States and Spain
met in both Manila Bay in the Philippines and Santiago bay in Cuba, the results
were likely the most one sided in naval history. In Manila, all of the Spanish
ships were destroyed with 167 killed and 214 wounded. The Americans had only 7 men
slightly wounded and little battle damage to the ships. This was in spite of the
Spanish also having active shore batteries. In the battle of Santiago, all of
the Spanish ships were lost with 474 Spanish dead and wounded. The American
ships had 1 dead and 8 wounded.
These stunning and total defeats sent shock
waves through naval commanders around the world. Before the engagements, the
general belief was that the Spanish had a reasonable chance of achieving a draw
or even claiming a victory.
The Spanish defeats had two major consequences
to the world. The first was that the United States emerged as a global colonial
power due to the acquisition of Spanish colonies. The second was that it was
clear that building a fleet of modern naval ships was the only way to win naval
battles in the future. The major shipbuilding programs of the European powers that
resulted was a component of the national rivalry that led to World War I.
This book is an excellent descript of these
two key battles, from the backgrounds of the main commanders, the incredible
weakness of the American Navy after the Civil War to the relative strengths of
the two belligerent navies at the end of the nineteenth century. It is
difficult to understate the significance of these battles, from this book you
will learn the events that set the stage as well as how the battles unfolded.
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