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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