Battle of Santiago on 3 July 1898. During this naval engagement, Spanish Admiral Pascual Cervera's fleet was chased down and totally destroyed by the American fleet waiting just outside the harbor. Due to her position at the extreme eastern end of the blockade, the Indiana could not participate in the initial chase after the enemy cruisers made their sortie without cutting across the bow of the , which Captain Taylor, the ship's commander, wisely decided not to do. The battleship and the Marines manning her secondary batteries were, however, able to engage and aid in the destruction of the Furor and the Pluton, the fifth and sixth ships bringing up the rear of Spanish line, as they left the bay. Still too close to his squadron to risk using his big guns, Taylor called on Waller and his Marines to take the destroyers under fire with the six-inch batteries. Captain Waller ran from gun to gun, shouting orders and encouragement, as his Leathernecks pulverized the Spanish ships. "The only trouble experienced at that time was the difficulty in keeping the men not actually engaged under cover", Waller later wrote. "They would creep up to the guns, waiting for the chance to take part in the action." Within minutes both destroyers were ablaze and sinking. Still moving west, the Indiana finally got to use her thirteen-inch rifled guns, as she opened up on the Almirante Oquendo. The bombardment disabled many of the Spanish cruiser's guns and triggered the detonation of some of its shells. Wreathed in flame, Oquendo ran aground. By now the rest of the Spanish ships had also fallen to American fire. The fighting was over, and it was one of the most lopsided victories in naval history. Every Spanish ship was destroyed and no American vessel had suffered more than token damage. Waller's gun crews reportedly fired 500 rounds from their 6-inch guns during the 61-minute melee. In their moment of triumph, the Americans now performed an act of mercy. Captain Taylor directed Waller to launch the Indiana's whaleboats and pick up as many of the shipwrecked Spanish sailors as possible. With sailors at the oars and Marines in bow and stern to haul the swimmers aboard, Waller's detail worked all day. Men who were already weary from passing ammunition, now sunburned and with hands swollen and cracked from salt water, saved their enemies from death. Admiral Sampson