From which navy was the cruiser "Reina Mercedes" captured by the USA in 1898?
USS Reina Mercedes (IX-25) USS "Reina Mercedes" (IX-25) was an unprotected cruiser of the Spanish Navy which was captured in Cuba in 1898 by the U.S. Navy during the Spanish–American War. She was refurbished and used by the U.S. Navy as a non-self-propelled receiving ship at Newport, Rhode Island, and subsequently as a detention vessel and barracks ship for the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, until 1957.
Cámara's Flying Relief Column During the Spanish–American War of 1898, Cámara's Flying Relief Column was a naval task force of Spain's most powerful warships, under the command of Rear Admiral Manuel de la Cámara, tasked with relieving Spanish forces in Manila after the defeat of Spanish Pacific Squadron under Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón by the American Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey in the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898. The Spanish fleet, consisting of the battleship "Pelayo", armored cruiser "Emperador Carlos V", auxiliary cruisers "Patriota" and "Rapido", destroyers "Audaz", "Osado", and "Prosepina", and transports "Buenos Aires" and "Panay", left Spain in June 1898. The squadron was far more powerful than that commanded by Dewey, which only consisted of four protected cruisers and two gunboats. The monitor USS "Monterey" had been ordered from the U.S. to the Philippines, and departed on 11 June.