Torpedo-boats-- _Cushing_ 105 1890 22 1/2 _Ericsson_ 120 1892 23 _Rodgers_ } 142 1896 { 25 _Foote_ } { 24 1/2 _Porter_ } 185 1896 { 28 1/2 _Dupont_ } { 27 1/2 _Winslow_ 142 1897 24 1/2 (Besides gunboats and tenders.) FLYING SQUADRON. Armoured cruiser (flagship)-- _Brooklyn_ 9,153 1895 17 Battleships-- _Texas_ 6,315 1892 21 _Massachusetts_ 10,231 1893 16 Cruisers-- _Columbia_ } 7,475 { 1892 } 23 _Minneapolis_ } { 1893 } These were the two fleets available for the blockade of Cuba, and the operations of attacking coast fortifications, covering the transportation of the army of invasion, and dealing with any naval force Spain might send to these waters. Other units were subsequently added to the fleet after both squadrons had concentrated under Sampson's command. In West Indian waters the Spaniards had only a few light craft and the old cruiser "Reina Mercedes" at Santiago, with her boilers and engines in such a state that she could not go to sea. For many years the Spanish Navy had been sadly neglected, but since 1890 some armoured cruisers had been built, and a flotilla of torpedo-boat destroyers added to the navy. A number of antiquated units figured on the Navy List, including useless "battleships" dating from the 'sixties, and small unarmoured cruisers little better than gunboats. There was one fairly modern battleship, the "Pelayo," dating from 1887, but expert opinion was very divided about her value. When the war broke out the Spanish Pacific Squadron, under Admiral Montojo, was at Manila. To use the words of an American naval officer, it was made up of "a number of old tubs not fit to be called warships." It was promptly destroyed by Commodore Dewey's squadron from Hong Kong (Battle of Manila Bay, Sunday, 1 May, 1898). It was the first American victory in the war, and in the national rejoicing there was much exaggeration as to Dewey's exploit, which was compared to Nelson's victories! On the eve of the war a Spanish fleet, officially known as the Atlantic Squadron, had been concentrated, under the command of Admiral Cervera, in the Portuguese harbour of St. Vincent, in the Cape de Verde Islands, and the local authorities somewhat strained the laws of neutrality by allowing Cervera to use the port to complete his preparations for some time after the outbreak of the war. The composition of the squadrons was as follows:--