Fernando Villaamil - The Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War

During the following years, Villaamil and some other forward-thinking colleagues tried to make the Spanish public aware of the critical deficiencies of the Navy.

Then, events rushed ahead: tension with the United States was rising quickly, and on February 16, 1898 —the day following the sudden explosion of the USS Maine in Havana— Villaamil was appointed Chief of the First Division of torpedo boats and destroyers.

Meanwhile, a totally unrealistic feeling of unbeatable naval power spread over Spain, and the Government decided that a whole fleet, commanded by Admiral Pascual Cervera, should be sent across the Atlantic, contrary to Cervera's and the Spanish Navy's own advice.

Villaamil and his First Division left Cadiz on March 13, and on April 18 they gathered with Admiral Cervera's fleet in the Cape Verde islands.

A month later, on April 24, the United States declared war on Spain, and Cervera received the order to go to the Antilles. Villaamil's Division was split, its destroyers integrated in Cervera's fleet, and the torpedo boats sent back to Spain.

Thus, Villaamil was left with no very specific responsibilities. He could have returned to Spain, but he chose to go forward with his fellows, even though he was totally aware of the disaster the ill prepared fleet was headed for.

He was always in disagreement with both the Spanish Government's shaky war direction and Cervera's rather passive strategy. Instead, he advocated trying to offset the superiority of the American forces by scattering the fleet and taking the initiative through quick and dispersed daring actions; and he even volunteered to lead an audacious diversionary attack to New York with his destroyers, but his proposals were not accepted.

Therefore, Villaamil had to resign himself unwillingly to be shut with all the fleet in the bay of Santiago de Cuba.

In the end, on July 3 the whole Spanish fleet came out through the narrow mouth of the bay, ship by ship, almost like a funeral cortege, to be easily destroyed by the waiting American fleet in an eerie kind of target shooting exercise.