Talk:Action of 13 June 1898

Description of battle contradicts one of the sources
The last paragraph of the current description of the battle currently says, inter alia, "Diego Velázquez exited the port shortly after accompanied by the small gunboats or launches Lince and Cometa. The American ship decided to withdraw from the battle, and the Spanish vessels returned to Cienfuegos."

However, this source which is already cited elsewhere in the article, says "Yankee continued to fire her port battery as she passed the two gunboats and shore battery abeam at about 4,000 yards range. She completed one pass and then put the helm to port and came about for another pass, this time bringing her starboard battery into action for the first time. During Yankee's second pass, Diego Velazquez and Lince abandoned the fight and sought refuge in Cienfuegos harbor. Yankee continued firing on Sabanilla Battery until 1500 hours and then withdrew to her blockade station off the harbor."

We need to come to some consistent wording in the article, as to which side withdrew, or if both sides withdrew, or if different accounts of the battle disagree about that.

(The fact that one side was acclaimed as the victors, or claimed victory, is not inconsistent with any of those possibilities.)

--Demiurge1000 (talk) 04:01, 10 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks to ElBufon for updating the article with this info. I have tweaked the wording a little bit.


 * Another possible change. At present the infobox lists the result as "Spanish victory". Given the conflicting accounts of the end of the battle, this might be better worded as "indecisive" or "disputed". On the other hand, since the American objective was to intercept the Purísima Concepción - and even the American accounts admit that they were unsuccessful in this - then an argument could be made for it being more a Spanish victory than an American one. I'd welcome any thoughts on this.


 * --Demiurge1000 (talk) 11:34, 13 October 2010 (UTC)


 * What do you think about "American blockade lifted"? ElBufon (talk) 07:58, 19 October 2010 (UTC)