SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

Photo: U.S. Coast Guard

Revenue cutter Manning off Cabanas, Cuba, in what is believed to be only photo in Coast Guard archives showing a cutter engaged in combat during the Spanish-American War.

War fervor in New York; historians today consider the Maine an accident  

Image: U.S. Coast Guard

Revenue Cutter Hudson in Cuba

The painting "Battle of Manila" Bay by W. G. Wood, circa 1898, depicts Spain's Reina Cristina in foreground against the American naval squadron, which included the Revenue Cutter Hugh McColloch.

Photo: U.S. Coast Guard

Revenue Cutter Winona 

Photo: U.S. Coast Guard

Revenue Cutter Hugh McCulloch  

By Vinny Del Giudice

The Revenue Cutter Service steamed into combat during the 1898 Spanish-American War, a conflict that slashed Spain’s colonial empire and enhanced the U.S. standing as a military power.

Alongside the U.S. naval forces, revenue cutters played a prominent role in Cuba and the Philippines, with the Hudson in action at the Battle of Cardenas, Cuba, and the Hugh McCulloch at the Battle of Manila Bay.

The Hudson, a steel-hulled and triple-plated tug, won praise for steaming to the rescue of the damaged torpedo boat USS Winslow.

"The enemy kept up a constant fire during this time, which appeared to be especially directed toward the Winslow, and which was returned at every opportunity by the Winslow and Hudson," First Lieutenant Frank H. Newcomb, in command of the Hudson, wrote in his report on the incident.

At Manila Bay, the McCulloch was assigned to cover others and tow disabled vessels, Wikipedia said. McCulloch inadvertently alerted the Spanish to the American fleet's approach when soot in the cutter's funnel ignited, illuminating the night.  

Additionally, the cutter Manning engaged in combat off Cabanas, Cuba, as well as blockade, escort and coastal patrol duty, according to Coast Guard archives, while while the cutter Winona policed waters off Mobile, Alabama - a key port 600 miles north of Havana.

The immediate cause of the Spanish-American War was, well, pretty shaky. Hostilities began after the suspected bombing of the armored-cruiser USS Maine in Havana Harbor - an incident that led to U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence and the battle cry "Remember the Maine!"

The conflict escalated globally as tension had been building before the Maine. The press, particularly newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, fueled war fervor. Today, by-and-large, the Maine explosion is thought to have been an accident, perhaps a fire or ignition of coal dust.

The Spanish-American War started April 21, 1898 and ended Dec. 10, 1898, with 0ut-gunned Iberians ceding Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, and the U.S. joining the ranks of imperialist nations.

The Revenue Cutter Service merged into the Coast Guard in 1915.