The action of 13 June 1898 was a minor naval engagement of the Spanish–American War fought near Cienfuegos, Cuba, between the American auxiliary cruiser USS Yankee under Commander Willard Herbert Brownson and the Spanish gunboat Diego Velázquez under Teniente de Navío de 1ª clase Juan de Carranza y Reguera, which had exited the port to inspect a suspicious steamer which proved to be Yankee. Diego Velázquez, markedly inferior to Yankee in armament, managed to return to Cienfuegos, where it was joined by the small gunboats Lince and Cometa. After the appearance of the latters, Yankee decided to withdraw. Background At the outbreak of the Spanish–American War Cienfuegos was a strategically important port due to its facilities and good communications with Havana. Some prewar plans recommended its prompt capture, but instead it was blockaded, along with some other important ports of the southern coast of Cuba such as Santiago de Cuba and Manzanillo. The most powerful Spanish naval units of the island, meanwhile, had been gathered in Santiago, and submarine defenses consisting mainly of torpedoes had been installed in the major ports of Havana, Cienfuegos, Santiago and San Juan de Puerto Rico. The naval units based in Cienfuegos consisted of the 541-ton torpedo gunboat Galicia under Teniente de Navío de 1ª clase Ariño, the 300-ton torpedo gunboat Vasco Núñez de Balboa under Teniente de Navío de 1ª clase Izquierdo, the 318-ton torpedo gunboat Alsedo under Teniente de Navío Suences, and the 200-ton torpedo gunboat Diego Velázquez under Teniente de Navío de 1ª clase Carranza, plus the 179-ton gunboat Contramaestre and the 43-ton small gunboats Gaviota, Cometa, Lince and Satélite, commanded respectively by Tenientes de Navío Freire, Rivero, Gómez Aguado and Moreno Eliza. Various engagements were fought near Cienfuegos during the war. On 29 April the American protected cruiser Marblehead and the auxiliary Eagle exchanged fire for half an hour with the Spanish small gunboats Satélite, Lince and Gaviota. On 2 May the gunboat Alcedo and the small gunboats Almendores and Gaviota escorted several transport vessels to Casilda, delivering to the town more than 3,000 men and about 800 horses and mules. A week later two small boats of Marblehead and the gunboat Nashville tried to cut telegraph cables linking Cienfuegos with Madrid. Two undersea cables were cut, but a third cable near the shore remained untouched. On 1 June a convoy of blockade runners and the transport María Cristina were successfully