There’s little argument that the Spanish-American War marked the debut of the United States as a world power and the U.S. Navy as a modern world-class force. Indelible images of the watershed conflict include the explosion of the battleship Maine, Commodore George Dewey’s Manila Bay victory, and the San Juan heights heroics of Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. For most people, the naval Battle of Santiago is farther down the list.
Lopsided though it was, however, the U.S. victory at the underappreciated 3 July 1898 battle sealed the fate of the Spanish in the naval-centric war. In this issue’s cover story, “‘We . . . Must Expect a Disaster,’” Navy Ensign Carlos Rosende examines the important fight by focusing on the Spanish commander, Rear Admiral Pascual Cervera. While the U.S. Navy had undergone a renaissance during the 1880s and ’90s (see “New Navy, New Power,” February, pp. 56–62), the Spanish navy was so unprepared for war in 1898 that Cervera did virtually everything he could to avoid battle.
Ninety years after flexing its muscle in the Spanish-American War, the U.S. Navy decisively reacted to Iranian challenges. Harold Lee Wise’s article, “One Day of War,” commemorates the 25th anniversary of what was a tumultuous year in the Persian Gulf by recounting Operation Praying Mantis, the largest sea/air battle since World War II. Wise’s story is based on his book Inside the Danger Zone (Naval Institute Press, 2007).
Praying Mantis had been triggered by the mining of the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58). In “Mined!” Bradley Peniston recounts the Herculean effort by the “Sammy B’s” sailors and officers to save their frigate. The article is adapted from Peniston’s award-winning book No Higher Honor (Naval Institute Press, 2006), which was recently selected as a “Title of Interest” in the Chief of Naval Operations Professional Reading Program (http://navyreading.dodlive.mil).
One of the most rewarding aspects of a magazine editor’s job is helping transform an idea into an article; that’s especially true with one of this issue’s stories. Almost two years ago I received a call from Sally Green, who had questions about an ancestor’s Civil War naval service. Years earlier her grandparents had given her a collection of wartime letters written by her great-grand-uncle, Charles H. Morrison.
Muster-roll research at ancestry.com, conversations with historian Craig Symonds, and a trip to the National Archives, where I was ably assisted by archivist Mark Mollan, resulted in answers to Green’s questions about “Charley” Morrison, an enlisted U.S. Marine on board the screw sloop Brooklyn for much of the war. Those endeavors also led to “‘New Orleans Is Ours,’” edited by Symonds, which is based on Morrison’s previously unpublished letters to his parents.
Finally, this issue marks the debut of two new Naval History departments as well as a freshened magazine design. “Armaments & Innovations” will feature an expert explaining a key naval weapon, ship system, or piece of equipment, starting with Norman Friedman’s examination of a World War II workhorse: the 5-inch/38-caliber gun. Meanwhile, “Pieces of the Past” will highlight an intriguing and unusual artifact such as the durable shipboard staple, featured in this issue, that an imaginative sailor sent home during the Spanish-American War. We hope you like the changes, and we welcome and value your feedback about them or other parts of the magazine.