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The Battle of Santiago de Cuba was a decisive naval engagement that occurred on July 3, 1898, between an American fleet led by William T. Sampson and Winfield Scott Schley, against a Spanish fleet led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, which occurred during the Spanish–American War. The significantly more powerful United States Navy squadron, consisting of four battleships and two armored cruisers, decisively defeated an outgunned squadron of the Royal Spanish Navy which consisted of four armored cruisers and two destroyers, sinking all the Spanish ships without losing a single ship of their own. The crushing loss sealed American victory in the Cuban theater of the war, alongside ensuring the independence of Cuba from Spanish rule.