Subic Bay History
CHAPTER TWO
THE SUN SETS ON A SPANISH DREAM
On April 25th, 1898, Commodore George C. Dewey, Commander of the U.S. Asiatic Squadron, received word that war with Spain had been declared. He was to leave Hong Kong immediately to attack the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay.
Meanwhile in the Philippines, Rear Admiral Don Patricio Montojo y Pasaron surveyed his fleet of antiquated ships and decided that Subic Bay with its narrow entrance, easily commanded by Grande Island, would provide a more defensible position than Cavite. He planned to employ his smaller ships and the batteries in Manila Bay to resist the American fleet and deny them entrance to Manila Bay. His other fleet units would then use Subic Bay as a sally port to constantly threaten the attacking fleet's rear and cut off its long supply line.
Montojo sailed that day for Subic Bay aboard his flagship, Reina Christina, with seven other ships, arriving the next morning.
On the morning of the 27th the wooden cruiser Castilla was towed to the northeast point of Grande Island -where her guns could help control the western entrance to Subic Bay. The shallower eastern entrance, between Grande Island and her smaller companion Chiquita Island, had been blocked- earlier by the scuttling of the gunboat San Quentin and two old merchant vessels. The San Quentin remains where she went down over 90 y ears ago and is a popular dive site today.
Coming ashore at Grande Island with Captain del Rio to inspect the defense works, Montojo was disappointed to find that four Krupp 15 centimeter (six-inch) guns that had been shipped earlier to Subic Bay from Sangley Point at Cavite were still not installed and that nothing had been done to fortify the island. Captain del Rio told him that the guns could not be emplaced until cement for their bases had been poured. But no one could tell him if the cement was available or when it could be poured.
An English cable laying ship had been commandeered to lay mines in the bay's entrance but Montojo found that only 4 of the 15 available mines were in place and there was no guarantee that they would work.
With no guns on Grande Island and no reliable mines in the water, Montojols ships would have to bear the full fury of any American attack. Still, Montojo hoped that' Dewey would bypass Subic Bay and sail directly to Manila, allowing the Spaniards time to prepare the defense works at Subic Bay.
Dewey delayed in Hong Kong only long enough to await the arrival of the U.S. Consul General in Manila, Oscar F. Williams with information of enemy strength and disposition. Williams brought news that the Spanish fleet had moved to Subic Bay, preparing to fight the battle there. This information upset Dewey.
"Unfortunately," Dewey later reflected, "the Spanish commander, at the last moment, seemed to realize the strategic advantage of Subic Bay over Manila."
The Spanish consul in Hong Kong was as good an intelligence agent for his government as Consul Williams was for the United States. On the 28th of April he sent a telegram to Admiral Montojo in Subic Bay informing him,
ENEMY SQUADRON SAILED AT 2 P.M. ACCORDING TO RELIABLE SOURCES THEY SAILED FOR SUBIC BAY TO DESTROY OUR SQUADRON AND WILL THEN GO TO MANILA.
Montojo immediately convened a war "junta" of his captains and, with the exception of Captain del Rio, all agreed that their position at Subic Bay was untenable. Morale was low the following morning as the Spanish ships weighed anchor and set sail for Manila.
Early April 30th, Commodore Dewey sighted the verdant shore of Luzon Island north of Subic Bay. Dewey anticipated Montojols strategy, considering Subic Bay an "invaluable aid" to the defense of Manila. With this "strategic point effectively occupied no hostile commander-in-chief would think of passing it and leaving it as a menace to his lines of communication.''
Dewey ordered the cru ser USS Boston and the gunboat USS Concord, with crews standing by their guns, to race ahead at full speed to search Subic Bay for enemy ships. The American ships cautiously approached the entrance to the bay. Williams had warned that a battery of six-inch guns had been installed on Grande Island but all remained silent as the ships moved through the channel and into the bay. After satisfying themselves that there were no enemy vessels there, the Boston and Concord rejoined the squadron enroute to Manila. When they signaled the Olympia "NO ENEMY SIGHTED," Dewey turned to his chief-of-staff, Captain B.P. Laiiibertonl and said, "Now we have them!"
As dawn broke on May 1, 1898, the American warships entered Manila Bay and steamed for the enemy. When Dewey's ships had closed to within 5000 yards of the Spanish fleet, he began the attack with his celebrated order to the captain of the USS Olympia, "You may fire when ready, Gridley."
Montojo’s fleet was totally destroyed with a loss of 167 men killed, 214 wounded. The Americans had not lost a single man killed and only a handful were wounded.
Not only did the Spanish lose the strategic advantage of Subic Bay, they also lost the use of the guns when they met the Americans in Manila Bay. Dewey wrote in his diary, "Reached Manila at daylight. Immediately engaged the Spanish ships and batteries ... the battery at Sangley Point was well served and several times reopened fire before being finally silenced. Had this battery possessed its four other six-inch guns which were lying uselessly on the beach at Subic Bay, our ships would have had more casualties to report."
Dewey's problems were far from over with the destruction of Spanish sea power in the Far East. Although he controlled Manila Bay, Dewey did not have sufficient manpower to secure the city. He established a blockade of Manila and awaited the arrival of American troops.
News of Dewey's victory spread quickly through the capitals of Europe. Germany, France and England rushed ships, to the Philippines to "show the flag" and observe the situation there. Rumors were wildly circulating in Manila that the Germans would intercede in the conflict on behalf of Spain. There was even a report, later proved false, that 10,000 German troops had landed at Subic Bay.
The Filipino revolutionaries were also active during this time,, attacking the Spanish. On July 5, 1898, the Compania de Filipinas, an 800-ton tobacco carrier, sailed from Aparri in northern Luzon. Once out of port the Filipino crew, led by Vicente Catalan, a Cuban-Spaniard, mutinied and killed her Spanish officers. They hoisted the flag of the Philippine Republic and sailed to Manila to join the Filipino's mosquito fleet.
The Filipinas was loaded with armed men, fitted with pieces of boiler pipe to look like artillery and sailed to Subic Bay to aid in the capture of the Spanish garrison. The navy yard at olongapo had been abandoned in June and about 1300 Spaniards - soldiers, friars and civilians - sought refuge on Grande Island.
The Filipinas stood into Subic Bay and Catalan, who had assumed the title "Admiral of the Filipino Navy," ordered the garrison to surrender. The Spaniards refused and as the ship was preparing to land her armed force,, the German cruiser Irene appeared in the bay. The Germans ordered the Filipinas to haul down the Filipino f lag and run up a white flag. The tiny ship, hopelessly outgunned, withdrew. A report-of the incident reached Dewey.
Dewey ordered the USS Raleigh and the USS Concord to sail that night for Subic Bay "to demand the immediate surrender of Grande Island and to fight whomever necessary to do it."
The ships, arriving at Subic Bay the next morning, spotted the Irene at Grande Island. The Americans immediately cleared for action and started in her direction but the Irene fled around the other end of the island,, cutting loose her anchor and dropping it in the bay in her haste: The American ships came around to Grande Island and fired a few shots from their light guns. The Spanish garrison offered no resistance and immediately surrendered to Captain Joseph Coghlan of the Raleigh. Following Dewey's orders the prisoners and their arms were turned over to Catalan. As the American ships returned to Manila, the Filipinas steamed across the bay to Olongapo and delivered the Spanish prisoners to the Filipino commander there. Fifty-two of them, including the friars, remained in -the village and the rest were marched inland.
Source: SUBIC BAY From Magellan to Mt. Pinatubo; by: Gerald R. Anderson; pp. 12-16
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