First Battle of Manzanillo
series of naval engagements during the Spanish–American War in and outside of the harbor of Manzanillo, Cuba
The First Battle of Manzanillo was a series of naval engagements during the Spanish–American War on 30 June 1898 in and outside of the harbor of Manzanillo, Cuba. Three American gunboats were forced to retire after attacking a squadron of Spanish gunboats and auxiliaries.
Background
After the blockade of Santiago, the Spanish attempted to resupply the city by taking in provisions from ports on the southern coast of Cuba that were not blockaded. Aware of the situation, the American consul at Kingston sent word to the military that the Spanish were preparing to send a resupply convoy from that city to the southern coast. To thwart these efforts, on 28 June President McKinley extended the blockade to include the southern coast of Cuba as well as Puerto Rico. In order to enforce the blockade, a flotilla of gunboats and auxiliaries — including the USS Hist, Hornet, and Wompatuck—was sent to patrol the area. The three American vessels began operations by conducting reconnaissance of the area between Santa Cruz and Manzanillo.
Battle
Action at Niguero
While patrolling near the Niguero Bay, the small, 30 long tons (30 t) Spanish gunboat Centinela was sighted, and the Americans decided to engage her. Since Wompatuck had a deep draft, Hornet and Hist moved in close to engage the vessel. Upon nearing her, Centinela opened fire with her two Maxim guns.
The public source identifies “First Battle of Manzanillo” as series of naval engagements during the Spanish–American War in and outside of the harbor of Manzanillo, Cuba. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around First, Battle and Manzanillo.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5452522. Authority coordinates are 20.343, -77.125. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1898.
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This entry incorporates text from “First Battle of Manzanillo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.