(A) The US were extremely lucky navigating the ocean tides
(B) ** The US had an iron fleet of ships
(C) The Spanish naval commanders were extremely inexperienced.
(D) Commander Dewey launched a surprise attack.
EXPLANATIONS BELOW
Concept note-1: -At Manila Bay in the Philippines, the U.S. Asiatic Squadron destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the Spanish-American War. Nearly 400 Spanish sailors were killed and 10 Spanish warships wrecked or captured at the cost of only six Americans wounded.
Concept note-2: -The American victory at the Battle of Manila Bay was complete. All the Spanish ships were sunk or destroyed, and the damage done to Dewey’s Asiatic Squadron was negligible. Moreover, the annihilation of the Spanish fleet signaled the end of Spanish rule in the Philippines.
Concept note-3: -Tensions between Spain and the United States worsened over the Spanish conduct during their efforts to quell the Cuban War of Independence, with many Americans being agitated by largely falsified reports of Spanish atrocities against the Cuban population.
Concept note-4: -Dewey’s decisive victory cleared the way for the U.S. occupation of Manila in August and the eventual transfer of the Philippines from Spanish to American control. In Cuba, Spanish forces likewise crumbled in the face of superior U.S. forces, and on August 12 an armistice was signed between Spain and the United States.