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У
EL PROFIL
By Billy Arthur
Acts Of Valor
A Richmond County native played a key — but not always
acknowledged — role in a decisive engagement of the
Spanish-American War.
Victor Blue’s entire 32-year ca¬
reer in the U.S. Navy was dis¬
tinguished. but none of the
Richmond County native’s deeds
earned him greater honors than his
role in a key engagement of the Span¬
ish-American War.
Check through a library shelf full of
historiesofthe war, however, andyou’ll
find only a few that record the exploits
that won him substantial promotion
and a reputation for daring.
Lieutenant Blue was the Naval offi¬
cer who ventured behind enemy lines
to supply U.S. forces with an accurate
count of the ships of the Spanish
armada in the Santiago. Cuba, harbor
in June 1898.
In fact, the 32-year-old Blue, who was
assigned to the USS Suwanee. was se¬
lected not once but twice to steal ashore
and penetrate the Cuban countryside
to gather military intelligence.
The two trips — the firstof more than
70 miles and the second of 60 miles —
provided the key information that
enabled the U.S. Navy to first bottle up
the Spanish fleet and ultimately de¬
feat it a few weeks later.
Blue was selected for the two spying
missions, in part, because he had pre¬
viously been ashore to contact insur¬
gent Cuban forces on the island.
U.S. Admiral William Sampson
learned, partly from Blue’s meeting
with the insurgents, that the Spanish
fleet under command of Admiral Pas-
cual Cervera was likely anchored in
and operating out of the harbor of
Santiago. If so, the admiral reasoned,
it could be bottled up there.
Blue planned and executed the mis¬
sion. Put ashore, he planted an Ameri¬
can flag on Cuban soil, traveled 70
miles on the back of a mule through
Spanish ranks and got close enough to
Santiago harbor to count, classify and
pinpoint the location of enemy ships.
In a second trip a few days later, he
gathered even more precise details of
the Spanish positions.
The ultimate result of his missions
was the spectacular American victory
over Admiral Cervera's fleet and a force
of about 1,000 sailors and marines at
Santiago on July 3. 1898.
On that Sunday morning, six Span¬
ish warships attempted a break for
open water, but within four hours the
superior forces of the U.S. Navy had
sunk or left dead in the water those
that tried: theCristobal Colon, Infanta
Maria Teresa, Oquendo, Vizcaya, Fu¬
ror and Pluton. The final Spanish
vessel in the port, the Aetna Mercedes,
tried to escape at midnight of the fol¬
lowing day and was also sunk.
Perhaps ironically, Lieutenant
Blue's vessel, the Suwanee, wasn't
present for the battle of July 3. It left
early on that morning to take on coal at
Guantanamo Bay, about 40 miles from
Santiago.
But for his heroism in going behind
enemy lines. Blue was awarded the
Navy’s Special Meritorious Medal and
promoted by President William McK¬
inley four ranks ahead, to the position
of commander.
Blue went on to a distinguished
career that demonstrated that his
promotion was well deserved.
After the war. Blue successively
captained the cruiser Yorktown, was
chief of staff of the Pacific Fleet and
served as a member of the General
Board of the Navy.
While still a commander in 1913, he
was given the unusual assignment of
Chief of the Bureau of Navigation —
unusual because the post was normally
reserved for officers of higher rank.
Blue held that position until 1916.
During World War I. Blue com¬
manded the battleship Texas, a unit of
the American fieet and a part of the
British Grand Fleet. 1 le also took part
in receiving the surrender of the Ger¬
man fleet on November 21, 1918.
For his service, he was awarded the
Distinguished Service Medal "for ex¬
ceptionally meritorious sen-ice in a
duty of great rcsponsibility."To top that
off. the King of Belgium decorated him
a commander in the Order of Leopold.
Immediately after World War I, Blue
was reappointed Chief of the Bureau of
Navigation and held that job until he
retired as a rear admiral in 1919.
Born December6. 1865. in Richmond
County, Blue grew up near Marion,
South Carolina. As a young boy, he
showed an interest in ships by sailing
and skimming on the homestead mill¬
pond boats he had whittled from pine
wood. He was appointed to the Naval
Academy in 1883 and graduated with
honors in 1887.
His sea duty began in the Mediterra¬
nean and carried him into all the U.S.
squadrons in the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans. His shore assignments in¬
cluded Norfolk. Washington, Char¬
leston, Honolulu and Annapolis. The
battleships Oregon and Texas were
built under his supervision.
Blue died in July 1919 at the age of
53. In 1935. a destroyer at Norfolk
Navy Yard was commissioned the USS
Blue, in his honor and memory. t
The Slate/Dccember'89
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