As the Spanish ships
followed they were almost sure to become separated, some sailing faster
than others. The Oregon having a heavy stern battery, could do effective
fighting as she sailed; and if the enemy's ships came up one at a time,
there might be a chance of damaging one before the next arrived.
Through two oceans and three zones, fifteen thousand miles without
mishap, the Oregon sailed in fifty-nine days. When she joined the fleet
where it lay off Cuba, she came sweeping in at fifteen knots an hour,
the winner of the mightiest race ever run, cheered at the finish by
every man of the American squadron. All honor should be given to her
wise captain and brave crew and to the Western workmen who made her so
stanch and true.
On a fair May day, while California children were rejoicing over their
baskets of sweet May flowers, the first battle of the war was fought,
the first, and for California the most important. When Dewey destroyed
the Spanish fleet on that Sunday morning (May 1, 1898) in Manila Bay, he
not only won an important victory, but a greater result lay in the
change of attitude of the United States toward the rest of the world.
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