But the Spanish ships were rent and torn like deer when lions get among them, and their men fell by dozens at a time. It was one of the most one-sided fights ever seen.
Admiral Montojo, of the Spanish fleet, could not stand this. He started out with his flagship, named the Reina Cristina, straight for the Olympia, which he hoped to cut in two. But as soon as his ship appeared all the American ships turned their guns on it, and riddled it with a frightful storm of iron.
The brave Spaniard saw that his ship would be sunk if he went on. He turned to run back, but as he did so a great eight-inch shell struck his ship in the stern and went clear through to the bow, scattering death and destruction on every side. It exploded one of the boilers. It blew open the deck. It set the ship on fire. White smoke came curling up. The ship fought on as the fire burned, but she was past hope.
Two torpedo-boats came out, but they could not stand the storm any better than the Reina Cristina. In a few minutes one of them was cut through and went like a stone to the bottom. The other ran in faster than she had come out and went ashore.
For two hours this dreadful work went on. Then Dewey thought it was time to give his men a rest and let them have some breakfast, so he steamed away. Three of the Spanish ships were burning like so much tinder, and it was plain that the battle was as good as won.
A little after eleven o'clock the American ships came back fresh as ever, all of them with the Stars and Stripes afloat. The Spanish flag was flying too, but nearly every ship was in flames. But the Spaniards were not whipped yet. They began to fire again, and so for another hour the fight went on. At the end of that time the guns were silenced, the flags had gone down, and the battle was won.
That was the end of the most one-sided victory in the history of the American navy. All the Spanish ships were on fire and had sunk in the shallow bay. Hundreds of their men were dead or wounded. The American ships were nearly as good as ever, for hardly a shot had struck them, and only eight men were slightly hurt. The Spaniards had fired fast enough, but they had wasted nearly all their shot.
When the people of the United States heard of this great victory they were wild with delight. Before that very few had heard of George Dewey; now he was looked on as one of our greatest naval heroes. "Dewey on the bridge," with shot and shell screaming about him, was as fine a figure as "Farragut in the shrouds" had once been.
Congress made him a rear-admiral at once, and soon after they made him an admiral. This is the highest rank in the American navy. Only Farragut and Porter had borne it before.