The Spanish-American War and US naval identity

How would US naval development change without the Spanish-American War?

The US Navy could lose a key modern founding myth and a useful basis for seeking pre-First-World-War funding.

The Spanish-American War mattered to the US Navy as more than a brief campaign. Victories at Manila Bay and Santiago supplied the modern service with a powerful institutional origin story. Removing that experience would change how officers and the public understood the Navy's value. It could also weaken the political case for expansion before the First World War. Naval growth depends on remembered success as well as strategy and technology.