The First Battle of Cardenas was a naval action fought in May 1898 during the Spanish-American war. A force of three Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 gunboat

Gunboat

A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...

s attempted to lift the blockade

Blockade

A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...

 of Cardenas, Cuba but were repulsed and sent back into harbor by two United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Navy warships.

Background

During the Spanish-American War, Cardenas proved to be one of Spain's strongholds though it was considered a minor port. When war was declared and the United States Navy began their blockade of Cuba, three Spanish gunboats were trapped within the river. These vessels skirmished with two American vessels on April 27 and in the brief action one of the Spanish vessels was damaged.
At the beginning of May 1898, the small 142 ton torpedo boat

Torpedo boat

A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...

 USS Winslow

USS Winslow (TB-5)

-External links:*...

, under Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 John Bernadou

John Bernadou

John Baptiste Bernadou was an officer in the United States Navy during the Spanish-American War. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bernadou graduated from the Naval Academy in 1880. He was promoted ten numbers for gallantry in action while commanding at the First and Second Battle of Cardenas,...

, and gunboat USS Machias

USS Machias (PG-5)

The first USS Machias , a schooner-rigged gunboat, was laid down in February 1891 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine. She was launched on 8 December 1891. She was sponsored by Miss Ethel Hyde, daughter of President Hyde of Bath Iron Works and commissioned at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, 20...

 blockaded Cardenas. On May 8, USS Machias left the blockade for a patrol, leaving the Winslow as the only American vessel at Cardenas. This tempted the Spanish gunboats to try to break the blockade. USS Winslow was armed with three rapid fire 1-pounders and three 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes with a crew of twently officers and men. Machias was a much larger gunboat armed with eight 4-inch guns, four 6-pounders and four 1-pounders. Machias had a crew of about 150 men and officers. She participated only in the last few minutes of fighting.

Spanish forces included the Antonio Lopez, the Alerta and the Ligeria. All armed with one rapid fire 6-pounder each and had a crew on average of twenty men. The Spanish garrison

Garrison

Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....

 of Cardenas manned two shore batteries, one was a stone battery occupied by a few guns and gunners, the other was filled with at least three field pieces and about 100 infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

 with long range rifles but neither of these forces were capable of engaging as the battle was fought outside of their range. American forces also suspected that the Spanish had laid a sea mine field around the harbor with only one avenue for entering or exiting the port. A buoy was placed beyond the mine field which marked the extent at which the Spanish gunboats could fire. Spanish naval forces were under the command of Lieutenant Antonio Pérez Rendón.

Battle

When the Machias set sail east for her patrol, a few hours later the Winslow sighted a lot of activity in the Spanish port so Bardanou steered his ship towards Cardenas. Seeing the Winslow all alone, the three Spanish gunboats sortied and headed towards the American ship. Lieutenant Rendon signaled his men and they opened fire with their three guns combined as the Winslow passed the buoy from a distance of about a mile. Instead of fleeing as suspected by the Spaniards, Lieutenant John Bernadou turned his ship right in the direction of the attacking squadron and opened fire with Winslows two bow guns. These rapid fire 1-pounders worked extremely well according to reports, shot after shot was lined up and struck the Spanish ships which were positioned close together. A duel continued for several minutes more until Winslow came to a closer range, Lieutenant Bernadou managed to maneuver his ship so that his two bow guns were firing and hitting all three Spanish vessels at the same time. After about forty minutes of combat the three gunboats scattered and made for port.

The American gunners continued firing and during the retreat gunboat Antonio Lopez was struck well just as they neared their safety zone under the batteries. The shot entered the aft section of the hull and exploded within the vessel. Antonio Lopez came to a stop and was disabled but continued firing with her 6-pounders. One of the other gunboats came to her rescue and attached a tow cable to the Antonio Lopez and began pulling her to safety. Having heard the sound of gunfire, the Machias turned around and headed back for Cardenas and arrived just as the fight was coming to an end. At a two mile distance Machias opened fire with her 4-inchers. Two shots were fired but neither hit, however the Spanish ceased firing and focused on their escape. Entering the safe avenue through the suspected mine field, the Americans could not follow the three gunboats. It was later discovered on May 11, that either there were no sea mines at Cardenas or the United States Navy forces simply couldn't locate them.

Aftermath

The shore batteries never engaged as the Americans did not come within their effective range. USS Winslow was not struck at all during the battle due to her commander which constantly kept the ship at a fast pace, also, the sea was rough that day so most of their fire was reportedly wild because their ships rolled back and forth too much. Spanish casualties are unknown though the three gunboats took damage, one of them apparently crippling. Over seventy-five shells were fired by American forces in a engagement that lasted just about fifty minutes. In reports of the battle, Lieutenant Barnadou is credited for his bravery in attacking a superior enemy force though his victory was overshadowed a few days later on May 11, 1898 when the more major Second Battle of Cardenas

Battle of Cárdenas

The Second Battle of Cárdenas was a secondary naval engagement of the Spanish–American War fought on 11 May of 1898 in the port of Cárdenas, Cuba, between an American squadron of 5 ships under Captain Chapman C. Todd and 3 small Spanish vessels under Mariano Mateu. The battle resulted in an...

was fought. Again Barnadou was recognized for bravery in battle and was commended and promoted.