Cuba was the objective; and Cuba must be cut off from Spain by blockade, and the seas must be made safe for the passage of the American Army.

If the navy were to accomplish all these purposes, it must destroy the Spanish Navy.

To achieve this end, it would have to work upon the principle of concentration and not dispersion.
For several months before the actual declaration of war with Spain, the Navy Department had been effecting this concentration.

On the 21st of April, Captain William T.Sampson was appointed to command the forces on the North Atlantic station.

This included practically the whole fleet, except the Pacific squadron under Dewey, and the Oregon, a new battleship of unusual design, which was on the Pacific coast.