Two American gunboats attempted unsuccessfully to destroy the Spanish ships in the harbor of Manzanillo, Cuba.

The Americans then proceeded to open fire on the vessels but could not get close enough to destroy them, due to the shallow water that lay in between the harbor and the two warships.

Wrote one American sailor:[2] We have been in two of the bombardments off Santiago and helped clear the way for the troops at Daiquiri, yet we had seen nothing before to equal the accuracy, rapidity, and uniformity of the fire that the Spanish forces gave us at Manzanillo.

And we give them credit for it.Scorpion and Osceola met the American squadron which had attacked the previous day and waited for reinforcements to arrive, before finally managing to destroy the Spanish naval force at Manzanillo on 18 July.

United States Armed tug Patrol yacht Spain Gunboats Pontoons