text: Following the explosion of the battleship  in Havana harbor in February 1898, the U.S. declared war on Spain in support of the Cuban insurgents. Havana harbor was blockaded, and by the end of May the Spanish fleet was bottled up in Santiago Bay,  west of Guantánamo Bay, by Rear Admiral William T. Sampson. In the U.S., an army expeditionary force was rapidly being readied at the same time for action in Cuba. Thus, America was allied with the Cuban insurgents. Guantánamo Bay had a measure of commercial importance because of the sugar port of Caimanera on the western shore of the inner bay, some five statute miles (8 km) from the sea.
  Spanish positions
  Despite the nominal offensive position of the insurgents in the vicinity of Guantánamo Bay, Spanish regulars and guerrillas held Guantánamo City, the port of Caimanera and the railroad connecting the two cities, the large sugar mills, and other outlying strong points. The Guantánamo garrison consisted of some 5,000 men under the command of General Felix Pareja. A Spanish blockhouse stood on the hill overlooking the village on Fisherman's Point near the entrance to the bay, and a fort on Cayo del Toro commanded the relatively narrow channel leading from outer to inner bay. The Spanish gunboat Sandoval was based at Caimanera on the inner bay, and a string of blockhouses defended the railroad to Guantánamo City,  inland.
  The Cuban insurgents maintained coastal outposts from the mouth of the Yateras River, east of the bay, to a point  west of Santiago, and were in undisputed possession of the western point at the entrance to the bay.
  Battle
  Naval battle of Guantánamo Bay