【2nd Update】

After the United States declared war on Spain on March 2, Spain also declared war on the United States, but before the Chinese Navy intervened, it was clear that there was no room for the Spaniards to speak along the entire western coast of America...... However, all of them were reversed on March 8, 1898!

Biscayne Bay, as the southernmost important trading port on the west coast of the United States, was suddenly attacked by the Spanish fleet at about 12 noon that day, and six cruisers flying the red and yellow Spanish naval flag recklessly entered the bay, and two 600-ton American gunboats and three torpedo boats on the periphery of the bay resolutely launched an active attack in the face of the Spanish fleet far superior to them.

The battle lasted only half an hour, and in the end, the Spanish fleet destroyed all the American maritime forces in Biscayne Bay at a slight cost of four casualties, and then Rear Admiral Sevila personally commanded the heavy cruiser Casimi to take the lead in the port of Miami, and under the watchful eyes of dozens of merchant ships from various countries, four 9-inch guns and 12-inch 102mm rapid-fire guns on the battleship swept all the merchant ships flying the American flag in the harbor.

What surprised Rear Admiral Sevilla even more was that on the special dock of the Miami Punk Shipyard, the American armored ship Monterey was unexpectedly found undergoing deck building repairs, and the battleship was directly hit by a 640-kilogram high-explosive bomb on the bridge in the battle with the Chinese Navy 6 days ago, causing a fire in the entire cockpit and the outer covered bridge, so that the bridge command room had to be dismantled and rebuilt.

The Spanish rear admiral gave an order, and the four 9-inch main guns on the battleship, which were not in full play, bombarded the armored ship of more than 4,000 tons at close range below the waterline. Another Spanish unprotected cruiser approached to give the armored ship a torpedo. It's just under 10 minutes. The U.S. armored ship was blown off its keel and capsized in the harbor.

According to the figures released by the Miami government at the time, a total of more than 140 large and small American ships were destroyed or damaged by the Spanish fleet, more than 700 casualties, including 180 soldiers, and the fire that burned in the entire Miami port took a whole day and night to be extinguished.

By the time the U.S. Western Pacific Squadron stationed in Key West received a telegram and arrived urgently from more than 200 kilometers away, it was already after nightfall. The Spanish fleet had withdrawn from the port three hours earlier, and he was nowhere to go, and in the face of the ruined port of Miami, Commodore Sampson was completely enraged......

He quickly judged that the Spanish fleet was all cruisers suitable for long-distance voyages, and although it was impossible to judge the range of the entire Spanish fleet, he finally decided that the Spaniards would definitely not only attack the closest port of Miami, but would inevitably march north along the West Coast, further threatening the entire West Coast cities of the United States!

Brigadier General Sampson immediately made a tactical report from Miami to the Admiralty, stationed at the Admiralty. The Western Pacific Defense Fleet stationed in St. Augustine was asked to immediately go south to intercept a possible counterattack by the Spanish fleet, and he arrived at the port of Miami two hours after he arrived. In the darkness of night, he commanded five American warships all the way out of the harbor and pursued the Spanish fleet all the way north.

In the early morning of March 9, the sun had just jumped out of the sea level, and the port of St. Lucie, 190 kilometers north of Miami, was once again destroyed, and the Spanish fleet led by Rear Admiral Sevila rushed into the port with a history of more than 100 years with complete impunity at the first ray of sunlight.

The Italian merchant ship Figier, which was anchoring in the harbor that day, described it afterwards...... The Spanish fleet sailed into the harbor in an orderly manner, ordered all the personnel on the American ships to leave within 5 minutes in the attitude of a victor, and then destroyed about 100 more merchant ships and ship docks in the port in the next 20 minutes, and shelled the customs house set up by the United States government in Port St. Lucy, the customs building was quickly engulfed in flames, and the American fleet arrived in a hurry two hours after the shelling ended!

Commodore Sampson finally saw Port St. Lucie, a sea of fire at 8 a.m., and according to the port description, he learned that the Spanish fleet was continuing to go north, and this news gave the American general hope of annihilating his opponent, and after less than 20 minutes, he pursued north with the three most advanced battleships and two armored ships of the United States Navy.

Just as the American battleship sailed out of the burning port of St. Lucie, Commodore Sampson did not even notice that in the sky next to the eastern sun's rays, something looming was hanging next to the clouds, and then the latest news of the American fleet was sent to the battlecruiser Regulus, which was now 50 kilometers away.

At this moment, Tang Zhen, the captain of the Xuanyuan, immediately ordered to lift anchor and leave, and at about 10 o'clock in the morning, near the Mastin's Reef, 80 kilometers east of Port St. Lucy, found the Spanish fleet that was replenishing coal from a Dutch-flagged coal carrier.

On that day, the news of the heavy shelling of Miami and Port St. Lucie had already detonated tensions throughout the West Coast of the United States, and people felt utter despair at the attack from the huge artillery from the sea, and telegrams, letters, and politicians representing the threatened areas poured into the War Department, demanding that the coastal cities be armed, and that heavy artillery be equipped against the Spanish fleet, which was exaggerated in the newspapers.

What's more, many radical newspapers and politicians have already asked Washington to lay mines on all the rivers and ports that can be found on the map, so as to prevent Spanish warships from taking advantage of the situation, and how can the wealthy Boston financiers, because they are worried about the safety of their investment bonds, leave the big cities on the coast one after another and move inland after learning the news of the bombardment of the West Coast by the Spanish fleet.

President McKinley could not have allowed the imminent national tensions to erupt and instructed the Admiralty to make new arrangements on the same day, and the day after the bombardment, Secretary of War Russell Brownley. Alger immediately announced that he would assemble the third West Coast Squadron of other warship components along the Delaware coastline to patrol the entire West Coast and cooperate with the entire West Coast Fleet to encircle and annihilate the Spanish fleet.

In order to appease the coastal cities, on March 10, the War Department and the Navy Department respectively announced that they would distribute weapons to the west coast cities of Florida, St. Georgia, and South Carolina, and that the local garrison would be responsible for immediately deploying large-caliber artillery in the port to ensure the safety of the port!

The tough statement from the White House immediately had an immediate effect, and Secretary of the Navy John ? On the same day, Takashi issued an order to Commodore Sampson, commander of the West Coast Squadron, asking the American fleet to find and annihilate the Spanish fleet within one month...... The telegram reached the port of Key West on March 12, but at this moment Commodore Sampson was leading the American fleet in search of the Spanish fleet near St. Augustine.

However, on the same night, the heavily guarded military port of Key West was suddenly attacked by the Spanish fleet that broke into the port, and six Spanish warships ghostly raided this important military port in the southernmost part of the United States, and after a heavy fire, completely ignored the counterattack from the military port battery, and quietly withdrew.

After dawn, the indiscriminate firing of the batteries and the harbor at night almost turned the harbor upside down, and at least eight torpedo boats and gunboats in the harbor were sunk, and it is not known whether they were sunk by their own batteries or by Spain.

After getting the news, Commodore Sampson couldn't believe that such a bizarre thing would happen, the other side could easily evade the possibility of almost all ships on the west coast of the United States, and at the same time he marched to the north, he waved his troops south, and launched a surprise attack on the key west military port, which is vital to the Western Pacific Fleet. This is undoubtedly fatal for the Western Pacific Squadron, which is based in Key West.

Commodore Sampson had to set sail back at once, and at the same time asked the Admiralty to ask Commodore Winfield, the Second Squadron stationed in Norfolk, to immediately move south to intercept the Spaniards' possible northward movements, and before the Second Squadron, which had six cruisers and coastal defense ships, could complete the West Coast Interception, he had to use the forces at hand to blockade the Florida Strait and prevent a sneak attack by the Spanish fleet.

On March 15, a fleet of three battleships of the Royal Navy finally sailed into Chesapeakes Bay in the afternoon of the same day, and British Minister Bliss met with Secretary of State Sherman on the same day, proposing that the British Empire mediate a military conflict between the United States and China.

The White House, which is worried about the anger from Beijing, although it does not want the British to intervene in the Spanish-American war, has to fully consider how to calm the Sino-American naval conflict! After exchanging views with British Minister Bliss, the British put forward what they called four proposals for resolving the Sino-US conflict, but after less than three days of consultations, Bliss's proposal was rejected by Chinese Minister to the United States Huang Zunxian.

Ambassador Huang Zunxian proposed an amendment based on the Chinese government's 15-point request, which was reduced to a few articles and submitted to the White House, and soon President McKinley rejected Huang's proposal, and Secretary of State Sherman proposed to Huang Zunxian that the military hostilities between the United States and China should be immediately stopped, and at the same time the United States, China, and the United Kingdom should establish a trilateral consultative committee to negotiate the conflict between the two countries.

In this regard, Huang Zunxian naturally did not buy the Yankees' account, this condition was not discussed, just thinking about our ceasefire, he proposed a package of solutions to the White House on March 20, that is, the US government reparations, apologies, and promised not to deploy warships of more than 4,000 tons on the east coast, not to participate in the Cuban War and other 7 requirements, which is already the minimum condition that Qin Kai can give at present, but ...... There is no doubt that it was also vetoed by the US government on the same day.

The tick-tock telegram reached the 13th Squadron, which was being anchored and repaired in Jamaica, and Liu Hetu immediately ordered the cancellation of all temporary rests, and sent several telegrams on the night of March 20, and waited until three o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st, when Zheng Donghe excitedly handed over the new telegram to him, he immediately ordered to take anchor and set off immediately! (To be continued......)