Action of 13 June 1898 Action of 13 June 1898 The Action of 13 June 1898 was a minor naval engagement of the Spanish–American War fought near Cienfuegos, Cuba, between the American auxiliary cruiser USS "Yankee" under Commander Willard Herbert Brownson and the Spanish gunboat "Diego Velázquez" under Teniente de Navío de 1ª clase Juan de Carranza y Reguera, which had exited the port to inspect a suspicious steamer which proved to be "Yankee". "Diego Velázquez", markedly inferior to "Yankee" in armament, managed to return to Cienfuegos, where it was joined by the small gunboats "Lince" and "Cometa". After the appearance of the latters, "Yankee"
Spanish cruiser Baleares detonating her forward magazine and sinking her. Out of her crew of 1,206, she had 765 seamen killed or missing, among them Vice-Admiral Manuel Vierna Belando, commander of the cruiser division. The British destroyers and rescued part of the survivors, although a Republican air attack interrupted the rescue and caused one British fatality. A monument to the crew killed in the sinking of "Baleares" has been erected in Palma de Mallorca. In the Basque town of Ondárroa, from which many of the crew members came, there are two monuments honoring "Baleares", in the port and the cemetery. Spanish cruiser Baleares