nine o'clock
The _ Brooklyn _ lay farthest to the westward , and the _ Indiana _ at the eastern end of the line , with the _ Texas _ , _ Iowa _ , and _ Oregon _ between them . Inshore of these were the two yachts . In Santiago Bay , about to rush out on these unsuspecting ships , were four of the finest cruisers in the world , possessed of greater speed than any of the Americans except the _ Brooklyn _ , and under a full head of steam : with them were two torpedo-boat destroyers , ranking among the most powerful and swiftest of their class . At half-past nine o'clock of that peaceful Sunday morning , as the _ Speedy _ was still some five miles to the eastward of Santiago Bay , with the _ New York _ just completing her turn , two miles farther down the coast , a shot from the _ Iowa _ drew attention to her fluttering signal , `` The enemy is escaping . '' Almost at the same moment the same startling signal broke out from a masthead of the _ Texas _ , which opened the battle with the mighty roar of a twelve-inch shell . The _ Brooklyn _ was also flying signal 250 -- `` The enemy is escaping '' -- and within three minutes from the discovery of that moving smoke behind the Morro her forward eight-inch battery was in full play against the _ Maria Teresa _ , first of the Spaniards to show her glistening hull around the point . Dashing at full speed from the harbor-mouth , outlined by the smokeless flames of her forward turret and port batteries , Admiral Cervera 's flag-ship was quickly headed to the westward , and for the most open point of the blockade .