Montojo's squadron moved from Manila to Subic Bay expecting mines and shore batteries to provide a defensible base. Finding those works unfinished, the ships returned to another poorly defended anchorage at Manila, where shallow water at least offered some hope of limiting casualties if they sank. Don Juan de Austria tried to close the American ships and assist the burning Castilla before concentrated fire forced her scuttling. The United States later raised the wreck, commissioned it as USS Don Juan de Austria, and retained the former Spanish cruiser until 1919. Her long second career as an American gunboat shows that she remained useful as a presence vessel or sloop, though an unprotected cruiser of her type was unsuited to fleet action.
Chapter · 15:13-18:07
Don Juan de Austria fights and survives Manila Bay
Trace the failed move to unfinished Subic Bay defences, Don Juan de Austria's gallant but hopeless attack, and her later American service.