On 27 April, Dewey ordered his fleet at the temporary anchorage of Mirs Bay: "The United States and Spain have started a war, and this fleet will immediately go to the Philippines to attack the Spanish fleet, and you must do your best to capture and destroy the Spanish warships." ”

John Barrett, a reporter for the New York Daily News, who witnessed the departure of the U.S. Asian squadron from the shores of China, later wrote: "When Dewey's fleet sailed out of Mirs Bay, I remembered the thoroughbred racehorses that had been carefully trained by experts, and knew not only their opponents, but also what the conditions of the race were, and what to do if they were going to race." ”

During the voyage, Dewey did not miss any opportunity to train his fleet, and he was still making final combat preparations, including day and night combat exercises, practicing ship fire extinguishing and damage management, and inspecting artillery and other equipment.

On 29 April, Dewey's fleet began to control the lights, turning off all the lights except for a few small vapor lamps that were barely observable from the outside.

At noon on April 30, when the fleet arrived in the waters near Luzon, Dewey ordered: "All warships are in a state of imminent battle, all the boilers of each battleship are fired, the lightning nets are raised one by one, the fire hoses are prepared on the decks of each ship, the ammunition hoisters are checked, the ammunition depots are opened, the wooden columns, fences and other moving parts are received under the deck, so as to prevent the formation of scattered fragments after the shells are hit, kill the sailors on the surface of the ship like grenades, remove the excess sail cables and rigging, and tie the masts with metal cables and tension. To avoid being hit by shells and falling on the deck to hinder the gun's fire, the wooden lifeboats were lowered and towed by the "McCulloch", all the round timbers and ladders that could not be placed under the deck were thrown and hung on both sides, etc.

It can be said that Dewey did what he could for this naval battle, which is also where he is helpless, the US Navy is still very young, and compared with the old Britain, France, Germany and other countries, the young ones are not even qualified to become other people's apprentices, even with the emerging small naval power Japan, it is not comparable, this is not that its ships are not as good as those countries, but that his navy is so young that in addition to the civil war, there is no slightly more modern war experience, what is the way of fighting between steam ironclad ships? The whole fleet was confused.

On the afternoon of April 30, 1897, under the leadership of Commodore Dewey, the young and energetic but inexperienced and shaggy new navy, the American Asian Squadron first reached Subic Bay, and Dewey sent the USS Boston and Concord and the USS Baltimore to search Subic Bay, and in the afternoon, the three ships returned.

"General, the three ships report that no main force of the Spanish fleet has been found in Subic Bay, only a few sloops and brigs. Where do we go next? "Captain Glidley of the USS Olympia, the flagship of the American Asian Fleet, looked at the bridge standing, the only one who was not fully armed in a naval uniform and a military cap, but with a golf cap. Brigadier General Dewey, who had a confident smile on his face, asked respectfully.

There is no way for him not to use a respectful tone, but this Commodore Dewey can only be regarded as a relatively good commodore and proficient in modern battleship combat skills, but there are many officers who are stronger than him in the United States Navy, however, Commodore Dewey has a general military man who is not very good at himself, that is, he can ****** and pull relationships, and has made a lot of powerful friends, such as Roosevelt, assistant secretary of the United States Navy Department, etc., his connections are too wide, This was also the main reason why he became the commander of the US Asian Fleet when he was about to retire at the age of nearly 60.

Brigadier General Dewey put away the smile on his face, and after pretending to think for a while, he replied in the affirmative in a tone of great conviction. "There is no Spanish fleet in Subic Bay, so now that we know where they are, they must be waiting for us in Manila Bay."

"General, the entire Far East considers Manila Bay to be impregnable, mines have been laid on the channel of the harbor, how are we going to break through the minefield?" Captain Gridley asked cautiously.

There is a reason why Captain Gridley asked, Manila Bay is really easy to defend and difficult to attack, the inner sea of this harbor is wide, surrounded by islands on three sides, there is only one entrance, and this entrance and exit is divided into two waterways by Corregidor Island, the northern waterway is between Corregidor and the Bataan Peninsula, called the Boca Chica Strait, which is only two nautical miles (about 7 kilometers) wide, and the southern waterway is called the Boca Grande Strait with a width of about five nautical miles (2 kilometers), and the Spanish have built strong fortifications on Corregidor Island, And the Krupp cannon (Krupp cannon, caliber 280 mm) was arranged. The barrel is 2 meters long, weighs 44 tons, the elevation angle can reach 30 degrees, the effective firing range is 19,760 meters, the shells can penetrate 8mm steel plates within 3,000 meters, and can fire 1-2 shells per minute), and the batteries in Cavite, Manila and other places can block Manila Bay.

Both waterways are narrow and shallow and full of dangers, the south waterway is relatively wider than the north, and it is also the main waterway in and out of Manila Bay, but if it is defended by Krupp artillery with a range of nearly 20 kilometers, the strait is too narrow with a width of only 2 kilometers, and if the waterway is mined by the enemy, it will be a nightmare for the fleet that wants to get through Guò.

"Captain Gridley, 30 years ago, my old boss, Farragut, once broke through a minefield and sailed into Mobile Bay to defeat the Southern Fleet, and although the performance of mines has improved greatly since then, I do not think that Manila has sappers who can accurately lay mines on the deep-water waterway away from Correhill Island, so we should use the cover of night to sail the fleet into Manila Bay." Commodore Dewey put away his stiff face, turned his head and smiled, and said in an affirmative tone to Captain Gridley.

Dewey's self-confidence was reasonable, and the information he had painstakingly collected in the early stage made him very aware of the Spanish preparations for war, especially the information on the shipping lanes brought back by the American consul in Manila, and the Spanish fleet did not lay mines on the southern main channel of Manila Bay, let alone sink a few old ships to block the shipping lane, let alone block the shipping channel with large logs and iron chains.

In particular, the information brought back by the American consul about the preparation of the Spanish war, this information was very important to Dewey, the Spaniards were converging the fleet to Subic Bay, thirty nautical miles north of Corregidor Island, instead of Manila Bay as he and the captains had originally envisioned, (Subic Bay and Manila Bay are very similar in geographical structure, also surrounded by islands on three sides, and the entrance and exit are only two nautical miles wide is also divided into two by an island, Grand Island is divided into two), which is why he led the fleet to Subic Bay to find the Spanish fleet first, It was also the reason why he had to wait 36 hours after the declaration of war before leaving for the Philippines.