The Battle of Nipe Bay on July 21, 1898, was an engagement of the Spanish–American War. The battle was fought in Nipe Bay, Cuba, by four United States Navy warships against the Spanish sloop-of-war "Jorge Juan" and three gunboats which were supported by forts guarding the harbor.
Battle.
Nipe Bay had been designated as a rendezvous point for American naval forces delegated to attack Puerto Rico. Upon finding the harbor still occupied by Spanish forces, the American squadron, consisting of the gunboats USS "Annapolis" and USS "Topeka", the armed tug USS "Leyden" and the armed yacht , maneuvered through a minefield to engage the Spanish forces. "Jorge Juan" opened fire on "Wasp" and "Leyden", but they quickly sank her with help from "Annapolis". While the other three ships were engaging "Jorge Juan", "Topeka" silenced the harbor forts and fired on other Spanish works in the harbor.
Aftermath.
Seeing the hopelessness of the situation, the Spanish sailed the small gunboat "Baracoa" upriver and scuttled her to prevent her capture by the superior American force. Just as the fighting came to an end, U.S. Navy personnel boarded "Jorge Juan"'s sinking hulk, stripping several items from it as trophies. One such trophy was the "Jorge Juan"'s battle-flag, which was taken by one of the sailors from "Annapolis" and now resides in the United States Navy Trophy Flag Collection. The Americans suffered few, if any, casualties and a few days after the battle the small squadron received orders to depart. The United States later decided that the bay was not necessary for operations U.S. operations in Puerto Rico, but the battle did cause significant damage to the Spanish Navy and denied the Spanish the use of the port for the remainder of the war.