Cuban War of Independence Santiago, and established a base. The port of Santiago became the main target of naval operations. The U.S. fleet attacking Santiago needed shelter from the summer hurricane season, thus nearby Guantánamo Bay, with its excellent harbor, was chosen for this purpose and attacked on June 6 (1898 invasion of Guantánamo Bay). The Battle of Santiago de Cuba on July 3, 1898 was the largest naval engagement during the Spanish–American War, resulting in the destruction of the Spanish Caribbean Squadron (Flota de Ultramar). Resistance in Santiago consolidated around Fort Canosa, All the while, major battles between Spaniards and Americans took place
USS Santiago de Cuba (1861) public auction in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 21 September 1865. She was redocumented on 16 November 1865. For more than two decades, she operated in mercantile service. On 7 December 1886, her engines were removed, and she was rigged as a schooner. Records of her subsequent career have disappeared. Pictures of the USS "Santigo de Cuba" USS Santiago de Cuba (1861) USS "Santiago de Cuba" (1861) was a brig acquired by the Union Navy during the first year of the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat with powerful 20-pounder rifled guns and 32-pounder cannon and was assigned to