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→The Navy in the Campaign for Santiago de Cuba
==The Navy in the Campaign for Santiago de Cuba==
==The Navy in the Campaign for Santiago de Cuba==
McKinley and his advisors had originally intended to wait until the end of the rainy season to send a major land expedition to Cuba. But, with the Spanish squadron bottled up at Santiago, U.S. leaders saw an opportunity to strike a damaging blow to the enemy's military capability in the Caribbean. On 1 June, Secretary Long informed Sampson that 25,000 men under Major General [[William Shafter]] were preparing to embark for Cuba from Tampa, [[Florida]], and that the North Atlantic Fleet should convoy the troops and assist a landing near Santiago. Meanwhile, Sampson took steps to tighten the blockade of Cervera's squadron.
McKinley and his advisors had originally intended to wait until the end of the rainy season to send a major land expedition to Cuba. But, with the Spanish squadron bottled up at Santiago, U.S. leaders saw an opportunity to strike a damaging blow to the enemy's military capability in the Caribbean. On 1 June, Secretary Long informed Sampson that 25,000 men under Major General [[William Shafter]] were preparing to embark for Cuba from Tampa, [[Florida]], and that the North Atlantic Fleet should convoy the troops and assist a landing near Santiago. Meanwhile, Sampson took steps to tighten the blockade of Cervera's squadron.
[[Image:Rough Riders.JPG|thumb|200px|right|Theodore Roosevelt (center) resigned his position as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and formed the 1st Volunteer U.S. Cavalry (the "Rough Riders"); he would take this unit and fight for San Juan Hill, near Santiago, Cuba, on July 1, 1898.]]
At the onset of the campaign Sampson seized on the idea of sinking a vessel in the narrow channel leading to the harbor of Santiago. He intended to keep the Spanish ships from escaping until the Army could capture the city or assist the Navy in passing the forts and mines at the harbor entrance. The Naval War Board in Washington approved, and Sampson selected the collier ''Merrimac'', commanded during the operation by naval constructor Richard Pearson Hobson. Hobson and seven volunteers took the ship into the channel during the early morning hours of 3 June. Gunfire from Spanish shore batteries shot away the vessel's steering gear and anchor chains, making it impossible for the Americans to sink the vessel in the proper location. Only two of the ten prepared scuttling charges went off, and ''Merrimac'' came to rest too far up the channel to pose a serious obstacle. The Spanish captured Hobson and his brave men.
At the onset of the campaign Sampson seized on the idea of sinking a vessel in the narrow channel leading to the harbor of Santiago. He intended to keep the Spanish ships from escaping until the Army could capture the city or assist the Navy in passing the forts and mines at the harbor entrance. The Naval War Board in Washington approved, and Sampson selected the collier ''Merrimac'', commanded during the operation by naval constructor Richard Pearson Hobson. Hobson and seven volunteers took the ship into the channel during the early morning hours of 3 June. Gunfire from Spanish shore batteries shot away the vessel's steering gear and anchor chains, making it impossible for the Americans to sink the vessel in the proper location. Only two of the ten prepared scuttling charges went off, and ''Merrimac'' came to rest too far up the channel to pose a serious obstacle. The Spanish captured Hobson and his brave men.