The Battle of Manila Bay was over in 6 hours
George Dewey made a promise that he would defeat the Spanish fast and with few fatalities when he set off from China with orders to attack them at Manila Bay. He is famous for the saying "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley" during an attack.
He went from Hong Kong to the Philippines when war finally broke out in April 1898. And on the evening of April 30, his squadron reached Manila Bay where the Spanish force was anchored close to Cavite Island. The following morning, just before 6:00 AM, Dewey began to fire with his two gunboats, four cruisers, and four cruisers in line. By the time the squadron retreated at around 7:35 AM, the majority of the Spanish warships had been sunk or destroyed by American naval gunfire. A few hours later, the American ships picked up where they left off in order to destroy the remaining Spanish ships and the shore batteries surrounding Cavite. Spanish resistance was ineffective, and Dewey was able to overpower them without losing a single man.
The battle lasted about six hours. The result showed that Theodore Roosevelt's persistence in securing Dewey the job in Asia was well-founded, and Theodore Roosevelt congratulated George Dewey for it.
