He Fired When Ready-- Part 5: It Wasn't Much of a Battle

The Battle of Manila Bay was a one-sided slaughter.  Outgunned and under-armored, the only real hope of the Spanish fleet was to ram the American vessels, but concentrated fire tactics made that impossible.  

In fact, the only real problem with the American side during the action came at 7:45 am,  when a garbled message from the quartermaster forced Charles Gridley  to message Dewey that only  15 rounds of ammunition remained for each gun.  The squadron withdrew to the middle of the bay  and had an impromptu breakfast for the enlisted men while the ammunition was counted.

It was eventually determined that the report had been reversed --  in fact, only 15 rounds of ammunition had been expended per gun.

So, breakfast was suspended and the action resumed.  At 12:40 pm, after seven hours of battle, the Spanish surrendered.  Their fleet had been annihilated.

--Cooter