1898: The Battle of Manila Bay
By Doug McNair
May 2006

On May 1st, 1898, Rear Admiral George Dewey took the U.S. Navy's Asiatic Squadron into Manila Bay, steamed up to within point-blank range of the Spanish cruisers anchored in line of battle there, and annihilated them.

Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasaron knew his ships were no match for the Americans, and had hoped to give them a more formidable welcome by fortifying Subic Bay and placing his ships there instead. But when he arrived at Subic, Montojo discovered that the ordered fortifications had never been emplaced. Stunned, he made the worst of a bad situation by steaming back to Manila Bay (from whence he had just left) and positioning his ships in shallow water so his crews would have the best chance of survival when the ships sank. Scuttling the ships and mounting the guns on shore would not satisfy Spanish honor, and placing the ships where the shore batteries at Manila could defend them best was rejected because it guaranteed that the U.S. Navy would shell the city.

USS Olympia leads the Asiatic Squadron into Manila Bay. Painting by Fred S. Cozzens.

Had Montojo had any confidence in his own abilities, he might have left Subic and headed for open water, hoping to delay American invasion plans by acting as a “fleet in being” and playing on American fears of a surprise attack. This far more interesting scenario will be the subject of my next article. Today, I commemorate the anniversary of Manila Bay by running the battle scenario of the same name from Great War at Sea: 1898.

The notes say that for maximum historical accuracy, the Spanish ships Castilla, Velasco and General Lezo should be considered dead in the water (they were in terrible repair). I applied this rule to the game, but to compensate a bit I also gave the Spanish some firepower from the Manila shore batteries. Accounts of the battle indicate that the modern 9.4-inch guns in and around Manila opened up on Dewey's squadron as they entered the bay, but only scored a near miss on the USS Baltimore. So I let the Spanish roll two primaries in every combat impulse when American ships are in the shaded southwest setup hex row, and the two hex rows adjacent to it (to the northeast and southwest). Any farther northeast is too close for the shore batteries to fire, since they can't depress to a low enough angle. I highly recommend players use this as a variant rule when playing Battle Scenario #1, because it makes the scenario very interesting, as you'll see. . . .

Setup

The scenario instructions say the Americans have the initiative and enter from the southwest. The shaded setup hexes in the southwest portion of the battle board are the only hexes by which ships may enter or exit the battle. The Spanish ships must set up first since they don't have initiative.

There are eight Spanish ships, and per the setup rules at least four of them must set up in each of the two shaded center hexes that are closest to the numbered shaded set up hexes to the southwest. The Spanish player places the dead-in-the-water ships Castilla, Velasco and General Lezo plus the cruiser Don Juan de Austria in the northwestern setup hex, and the cruisers Reina Cristina, Don Antonio de Uloa, Isla de Luzon and Isla de Cuba in the southeastern setup hex.

The Americans roll a 4 and must use the numbered 4-5 setup hex in the southwestern section of the board as their first set up hex. Per the rules, they must set up at least four ships in the first hex, and can place no more than eight there. They choose to place their seven ships with a speed of 1 Fast in the 4-5 setup hex, and the remaining 1 Slow ship (the protected cruiser Boston) in the adjacent 3-4 setup hex to the northwest. This allows all 1 Fast ships to move together on the same impulse, while the 1 Slow Boston will bring up the rear.

Admiral George S. Dewey.

Game Summary

The scenario instructions state that the American player wins if he scores three times the victory points of the Spanish player. The Spanish player also gets the full VP value of any Spanish ships that escape from Manila Bay by sailing southwest.

The scenario went as follows:

Round 1

Impulses 1 - 4: The Spanish shore batteries fire at the Americans but miss.

Impulses 5-8: All U.S. ships except Boston move northeast to close range on the Spanish to three hexes. The shore batteries fire and miss.

Impulses 9 - 12: The one fast U.S. ship group moves northwest to close the range to two hexes, while Boston moves northwest to close the range to three hexes. The Spanish shore batteries can now only fire at Boston, and they miss. U.S. ships Olympia and Baltimore can now fire secondaries, as can Spanish ships Castilla and Reina Cristina. They do, and Olympia takes one hit to its Secondaries, dropping its Secondary strength to 2.

Impulses 13 - 16: The Spanish ships (at least those that aren't dead in the water) can move now, and so Reina Cristina and the three ships with her move due west. This puts the American fast group one hex to the southwest of them, meaning all Spanish tertiary guns can fire. This also puts them directly between the American ships and the DIW Spanish ships, meaning the Americans can't close to within tertiary range of the DIW ships without risking a torpedo run from the mobile Spaniards. The only mobile ship in the other Spanish setup hex, Don Juan de Austria, moves due west to close range on USS Boston to two hexes.

Boston holds position to block Spanish ships from escaping. This means she’s still in range of Spanish shore batteries, but glory is all . . . The other U.S. ships move northwest to get between Reina Cristina’s group and Don Juan de Austria.

Olympia and Baltimore fire and do one hull damage to Reina Cristina and knock out her only gun. USS Raleigh KO’s Don Juan de Austria’s only gun. Spanish cruiser Isla de Luzon then fires and sinks the American gunboat Petrel for 2 VPs! However, USS Boston then fires her secondaries and sinks Reina Cristina, the only mobile Spanish ship with secondary guns, for 5 VPs. The score is now U.S. 5, Spain 2.

With Reina Cristina gone, the Olympia and Raleigh decide to save their torpedoes for later. The Spanish ships save theirs to continue the threat of a point-blank torpedo run if the Americans enter the hex next to the DIW Spanish ships.

Impulses 17 - 20: Don Juan de Austria moves west to get adjacent to USS Boston, while the rest of the Spanish ships stay put to guard the immobile ones. Boston stays put, while the rest of the U.S. ships move northwest to get adjacent to all Spanish ships (two groups to the east, Don Juan de Austria to the west).

The Spanish shore batteries miss Boston again. USS Raleigh destroys Spanish cruiser Don Antonio de Uloa’s only gun. U.S. gunboat Concord does 1 Hull to Spanish cruiser Isla de Luzon. U.S. revenue cutter McCullough does 1 Hull to Spanish cruiser Isla de Cuba. Then the two Islas plus Don Antonio de Uloa fire back and wipe out both of Concord’s guns. There is no torpedo combat.

Don Juan de Austria, Spanish cruiser.

Round 2

Impulses 1 - 4: The U.S. gets the initiative again. Nobody can move, so everyone fires. Boston KO’s the torpedo mount of Don Juan de Austria, meaning the Spanish ship can do no damage and can only gain VPs by running for the sea. Olympia and Baltimore fire and sink Castilla for 5 VPs. Raleigh fires and eliminates Isla de Cuba’s only gun.

Spanish shore batteries miss Boston again, but the Spanish gunboat General Lezo plus the immobile cruiser Velasco fire and destroy two of Raleigh’s three guns. The Islas then fire and knock out McCullough’s only gun. That’s five U.S. guns gone in one round — an excellent showing for the Spanish!

Olympia and Raleigh are getting concerned about these surprisingly tough Spaniards, so they fire their torpedoes (which are deck-mounted) at the two Islas in the next hex to the southeast. Both torpedoes hit on rolls of 6! Olympia’s sinks Isla de Luzon for 4 VPs, but Raleigh’s is a dud and does no damage to Isla de Cuba. The Islas also have deck-mount torpedoes so they shoot back, but they don't hit.

Impulses 5 - 8: The fast U.S. ships pull back west to get out of the tertiary gunnery range of the Spanish ships. The Spanish can’t move, and all fire misses.

Impulses 9 - 12: USS Boston advances northeast to get point-blank fire on Isla de Cuba and Don Antonio de Uloa. This also gets it out of the fire zone of the shore batteries. All fire misses.

Impulses 13 - 16: The remaining mobile Spanish ships run southwest for the sea. Don Juan de Austria enters the hex row northeast of the U.S. setup row, while Isla de Cuba enter the same hex with USS Boston. The U.S. fast group does not pursue the Spanish southwest, as doing so would put it back into the fire zone of the shore batteries. Boston, if she stays put, will be subject to hull-mounted torpedo fire from Don Antonio de Uloa, so she moves one hex southeast. All fire misses.

Impulses 17 - 20: The Spanish keep running southwest. Using the Crippled Ships rule, Raleigh separates from her group and heads southwest into the shore battery fire zone to pursue. All fire misses.

Round 3

Impulses 1 - 4: The U.S. gets initiative again. USS Boston fires and sinks Don Antonio de Uloa for 3 VPs.

Impulses 5 - 8: USS Raleigh moves southwest and gets into the same hex with Don Juan de Austria, but the Spanish shore batteries finally hit, smashing Raleigh’s last gun and doing a hull hit. All U.S. fire misses.

Impulses 9 - 12: The now-toothless Raleigh heads back northeast to try to get out of the shore battery fire zone. All fire misses.

Impulses 13 - 16: The last two mobile Spanish ships keep running southwest, and Olympia and Baltimore move southeast to concentrate fire with Boston on Isla de Cuba. But they all miss the light, tough to hit ship.

At this point, the U.S. would have to re-enter the fire zone of the shore batteries to be able to keep firing on the Spanish. Doing that would subject them to multiple rounds of fire this and next turn from Primary guns before they'd have a chance to head back northeast. So they let the valiant Spaniards go. They do head back northeast to destroy the remaining DIW ships, and will wait to exit the bay under cover of darkness tonight.

The final victory point totals (with hull damage to still-afloat ships taken into account) are USA 23, Spain 10. Since the U.S. must get three times Spain's VPs to win . . .

SPAIN WINS!

Click here to order 1898 right now!