George Dewey had been a bit of an undersized hellion in his youth, testing himself against nature by swimming in the Winooski River at flood stage and fighting with the other boys in his childhood home of Montpelier, Vermont. He lost his mother at the age of 5 and was raised by a stern but supportive father. In the finest New England tradition, frivolity was banned and self-discipline enforced. Once while attending a minstrel show, young George laughed so hard that his father told him to stand outside. Still, he believed the elder Dewey made him who he was and shaped him into a future US Navy admiral.While attending the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Dewey beat up another cadet who called him a name until the two were restrained. Later when brought before his commanding officer, he said that the other young man had insulted him in such a bestial manner that he could not tolerate it and had to resort to fists. The C/O agreed and the other cadet was disciplined.He graduated the academy in 1858 at age 21 and was apprenticed as a seaman under War of 1812 veterans. Dewey first saw combat during Admiral David Farragut's capture of New Orleans in April 1862 and had several brushes with death during the Civil War, including a miraculous escape from a shellburst that killed the captain of his ship and four other officers but left him without a scratch. Farragut was his hero and he said while the training at Annapolis was nice, it didn't compare to what he learned from the old admiral.
>>16805416based
After the adrenaline rush of the war was over, Dewey settled down to the dull drudgery of peacetime naval service. It wasn't easy as the postwar Navy was cut down to a shoestring budget while foreign powers were building powerful, state-of-the-art fleets. In 1885 Dewey became the skipper of USS Pensacola, a museum piece that entered service shortly after he graduated Annapolis and which had seen service in the Civil War. He lamented that even a fourth rate British cruiser of recent build could have sent Pensacola to the bottom of the ocean within 30 minutes of enaging her. Not only the Royal Navy, but even Italy and some South American countries had better and more modern fleets.Unlike many of his peers who resigned in frustration to go into civilian life, Dewey stuck it out and at last Congress authorized the construction of modern all-steel warships. In 1897, a year before war broke out with Spain, Dewey assumed command of the Asiatic Squadron at age 60. He was known among his sailors as being a strict but fair commander; the fleet was freshly painted white and its brass spotlessly polished--the US Navy was famous for its exceptionally tidy ships. However, the fleet would still have been no match for the navies of the European powers.
The scramble for China was on in the 1890s and all the European powers plus Japan were in on the grab. Tensions were running high and it seemed as if war was inevitable. Dewey rather thought the United States would be better for Asia than the European powers. Territorial concessions would not be extracted, unless perhaps rights to a naval base, and the main goal was free trade for all nations and instilling the values of democratic government and individual initiative in the people of East Asia. Japan was the prime example since Matthew Perry had ended that nation's 300 year self-imposed isolation back when Dewey was a boy. He was granted an audience by the Japanese emperor and came back impressed at the progress Japan had made over the last several decades.Dewey was not one to wait around for orders and he decided to position USS Olympia at Hong Kong. The flagship left February 11, 1898 and arrived at Hong Kong on the 17th. There he learned that Maine had exploded in Havana Harbor on the 15th. Shortly after that, a German fleet arrived in the harbor. Britain had been been America's traditional antagonist, and as recently as three years ago President Cleveland threatened war during a boundary dispute between Venezuela and British Guyana. But now London was increasingly seeing the US as an ally against German aggression.
It went beyond simple barroom brawls. One of the ranking German officers was the Kaiser's brother Prince Henry of Prussia, a rear admiral although only in his 30s. Dewey was charmed by him but there were several awkward happenings which he interpreted as a degree of disrespect shown to Americans. On one occasion a group of German sailors visited USS Olympia and an officer recognized one of them as a deserter from the US Navy. As he was now serving on a German warship, they did not arrest him but it was later asked that the German authorities turn him over to the US. This request was curtly refused. That the Germans would be so arrogant as to openly send a deserter onto an American warship seemed to be deliberate.Later at a festive dinner given aboard the German flagship Deutschland, Dewey also noticed other deliberate slights to the US, including a toast of several world leaders in which President McKinley was listed last and then playing "The Star Spangled Banner" out of tune. Believing this was being done on purpose, Dewey left the party early and issued an order forbidding his officers to attend any of the subsequent entertainments given in Prince Henry's honor. The German prince apologized and Dewey began exchanging visits again, perhaps testing each other through frank discussions about the changing political situation in both the Caribbean and the Far East. At one point, over cigars and glasses of Liebfraumilch about the Deutschland, Prince Henry cautioned Dewey that the European powers would not permit the US to annex Cuba.
"Ah, but we only need a bay," said Dewey, remembering how the Germans bristled at the international reaction to their taking of Kiaochow. Still, Germany was not the immediate war risk, Spain was and Dewey knew if SHTF that he would be attacking the Philippines and his ships needed coal. The United States was constrained in its power projection ability through lack of overseas bases. Should war break out, even a friendly neutral like Britain would have to deny the US fleet the use of Hong Kong. Many times Dewey lamented how far he was from home bases.
>>16805444>>16805441After the US capture of Manila some British and French ships arrived apparently out of curiosity and to take a look around. The Germans however continued to act haughty and disrespectful. Dewey prophetically told a reporter that the next war the US fought was likely to be against Germany.
>>16805444>Prince Henry cautioned Dewey that the European powers would not permit the US to annex CubaUm...what exactly did they propose to do about it if we did annex the place?
