ll American Battle Ships.) First the Infanta Maria Teresa fled the seen. Next was the Almirante Oquendo, then the Vizcaya. Only the Cristobal Colon, the fastest in the Spanish fleet remained. The great chase began.The Colon, the newest and fastest ship in the Spanish inventory, was already six miles ahead when the Oregon and Brooklyn took up the chase. Slowly the two American warships gained on the Colon. The Colon at times looked for a safe haven somewhere on the beach but continued her flight down the coast. The Oregon and Brooklyn fired eight inch shells at Colon and Colon in turn replied. All shots fell short. As the Oregon came within main battery range, she commenced firing with her thirteen inch guns. The engineers heard the great guns fire and work furiously to speed Oregon up. Chief Engineer Milligan gave the order to use the precious Cardiff coal and the speed of the Oregon increased. Slowly but surely, the ship gained on the fleeing Spaniard. Shortly before 1:00 pm, a thirteen inch shell dropped in front of Colon at a range of five miles. She immediately turned to the coast. A few minutes later another shell struck under the stern of the evading Spanish ship. She lowered her colors and surrendered. The battle between the American fleet and the Spanish Fleet was decidedly one-sided in favor of the Americans and resulted in an overwhelming American victory. The entire Spanish fleet of four armored cruisers of modern European design and three destroyers were sunk or severely damaged. 160 Spanish sailors lost their lives and about 1700 sailors captured. The American Fleet of three battleships, two cruisers, and three gunboats, on the other hand, suffered minor damage to its ships, and one crewman killed and one wounded.On June 6, the U.S. military landed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. By July 3, the Spanish fleet in Cuba was destroyed. On July 25, the US Army invaded Puerto Rico. On August 13, U.S. troops took Manila in the Philippin...
