Mencey, entiendo que las piezas costeras de Cuba y Puerto Rico se quedaron todas allí al terminar la guerra, no hubo "repatriación" de ninguna... Lo digo por eso que recuerdo haber leído no sé dónde, de unos Ordóñez de 150 mm repatriados de Puerto Rico, lo que a priori me suena un poco extraño...
En la carta náutica de Subic 1902, aparece la punta de Calaclan (ó Kalaklan), en la orilla oriental de la bahía (cerca del Arsenal de Olongapó). En esta vista aérea de 1978 (orientada hacia el Sur), se aprecia a la derecha Kalaklan Point (junto a la desembocadura del río Kalaklan), lugar donde los insurrectos filipinos instalaron el cañón Ordóñez 150 mm que sacaron de Isla Grande (esta última, fuera de la imagen; quedaría al fondo a la derecha), y que como hemos visto los norteamericanos tuvieron que destruir mediante las cargas colocadas por una columna de desembarco...
A la izquierda, la Base Naval de Subic (antiguo Arsenal de Olongapó). En segundo término, la Estación Aeronaval de Cubi Point.
"Spanish Gate", la puerta del Arsenal español de Olongapó, que sigue existiendo hoy día. Una foto de 1966, y el letrero que tenía cuando pertenecía a la Base Naval norteamericana.
En el citado libro "Subic Bay. From Magellan to Mt. Pinatubo" (1991), Gerald R. Anderson describe así cómo era el Arsenal español de Olongapó (1898):
Seawalls, causeways and a short railway for the transportation of lumber were built across the swampy tidal flats. The Spaniards removed thousands of tons of rock and dirt from Kalalake Hill on the south bank of the drainage canal to use as fill for these projects. In later years the hill was so extensively used that the hill disappeared and a lagoon was formed in the area we know today as Bicentennial Park.
The West Gate,, which still-stands today and is commonly known as the Spanish Gate, was the main entrance to the navy yard. Defenders could fire small arms through gunports, while remaining protected in two small keeps, one on either side of the entrance way. These keeps also served as a kalaboso to lock up insurrectos and common criminals. A high wall of locally kilned brick connected it to the South Gate near the water front.
Inside the wall the Spanish constructed a foundry and other shops necessary for ship repair and construction. The buildings were laid out in two rows on Rivera Point, sandy spit projecting into the bay, named for the Captain-General of the Philippines, Fernando Primo de Rivera. The ship Marques de la Victoria, provided electricity and steam for the naval yard.
The Arsenal had one unique structure, a three-story building of iron and brick. This building, the station hospital, was constructed on a radically different plan from any previously built in the Philippines and was an attempt to get away from the typical Spanish thick-walled construction. It was built of brick supported in place by huge iron posts cast in Barcelona, Spain. Handrails and other grilled iron work were fabricated locally. The hardwood flooring was of large mahogony boards, hand sawn, trimmed and finished.
Captain Don Julio del Rio, Commandant of the 2nd Commendencia at Subic Bay, had his headquarters in a one-story building of magnificent native hardwoods - molave, narra and tundalo. The building stood near today's Alava Pier and had beautiful colored glass windows. It was the showpiece of the naval station. His garrison consisted of about 30 marines in addition to the ship's crews. He was also in charge of the civilian workers at the yard.
The entire Spanish naval yard was constructed in the area now-occupied by the U.S. Navy Ship Repair Facility. A narrow road lined by large mango trees led from the West Gate a few hundred yards across tidal flats to Olongapo. With the construction of the Arsenal the former fishing village soon grew into a town of almost 300 residents, stretching along the beach from the area around today's Subic Bachelor Officers Quarter ' s to the Kalaklan River. Construction in Olongapo was in accordance with the general Spanish pattern of the day - a plaza forming the nucleus around which was located schools and civic buildings. The. plaza at Olongapo was what we now call.
Con respecto a la llegada de Montojo a Subic...:
On the morning of the 27th the wooden cruiser Castilla was towed to the northeast point of Grande Island -where her guns could help control the western entrance to Subic Bay. The shallower eastern entrance, between Grande Island and her smaller companion Chiquita Island, had been blocked- earlier by the scuttling of the gunboat San Quentin and two old merchant vessels. The San Quentin remains where she went down over 90 y ears ago and is a popular dive site today.
Coming ashore at Grande Island with Captain del Rio to inspect the defense works, Montojo was disappointed to find that four Krupp 15 centimeter (six-inch) guns that had been shipped earlier to Subic Bay from Sangley Point at Cavite were still not installed and that nothing had been done to fortify the island. Captain del Rio told him that the guns could not be emplaced until cement for their bases had been poured. But no one could tell him if the cement was available or when it could be poured.
An English cable laying ship had been commandeered to lay mines in the bay's entrance but Montojo found that only 4 of the 15 available mines were in place and there was no guarantee that they would work.
With no guns on Grande Island and no reliable mines in the water, Montojols ships would have to bear the full fury of any American attack. Still, Montojo hoped that' Dewey would bypass Subic Bay and sail directly to Manila, allowing the Spaniards time to prepare the defense works at Subic Bay.
Dewey delayed in Hong Kong only long enough to await the arrival of the U.S. Consul General in Manila, Oscar F. Williams with information of enemy strength and disposition. Williams brought news that the Spanish fleet had moved to Subic Bay, preparing to fight the battle there. This information upset Dewey.
"Unfortunately," Dewey later reflected, "the Spanish commander, at the last moment, seemed to realize the strategic advantage of Subic Bay over Manila."
The Spanish consul in Hong Kong was as good an intelligence agent for his government as Consul Williams was for the United States. On the 28th of April he sent a telegram to Admiral Montojo in Subic Bay informing him,
ENEMY SQUADRON SAILED AT 2 P.M. ACCORDING TO RELIABLE SOURCES THEY SAILED FOR SUBIC BAY TO DESTROY OUR SQUADRON AND WILL THEN GO TO MANILA.
Montojo immediately convened a war "junta" of his captains and, with the exception of Captain del Rio, all agreed that their position at Subic Bay was untenable. Morale was low the following morning as the Spanish ships weighed anchor and set sail for Manila. (...)
Y sobre la rendición de Isla Grande, unas semanas después del combate de Cavite:
The Filipino revolutionaries were also active during this time,, attacking the Spanish. On July 5, 1898, the Compania de Filipinas, an 800-ton tobacco carrier, sailed from Aparri in northern Luzon. Once out of port the Filipino crew, led by Vicente Catalan, a Cuban-Spaniard, mutinied and killed her Spanish officers. They hoisted the flag of the Philippine Republic and sailed to Manila to join the Filipino's mosquito fleet.
The Filipinas was loaded with armed men, fitted with pieces of boiler pipe to look like artillery and sailed to Subic Bay to aid in the capture of the Spanish garrison. The navy yard at olongapo had been abandoned in June and about 1300 Spaniards - soldiers, friars and civilians - sought refuge on Grande Island.
The Filipinas stood into Subic Bay and Catalan, who had assumed the title "Admiral of the Filipino Navy," ordered the garrison to surrender. The Spaniards refused and as the ship was preparing to land her armed force,, the German cruiser Irene appeared in the bay. The Germans ordered the Filipinas to haul down the Filipino f lag and run up a white flag. The tiny ship, hopelessly outgunned, withdrew. A report-of the incident reached Dewey.
Dewey ordered the USS Raleigh and the USS Concord to sail that night for Subic Bay "to demand the immediate surrender of Grande Island and to fight whomever necessary to do it."
The ships, arriving at Subic Bay the next morning, spotted the Irene at Grande Island. The Americans immediately cleared for action and started in her direction but the Irene fled around the other end of the island,, cutting loose her anchor and dropping it in the bay in her haste: The American ships came around to Grande Island and fired a few shots from their light guns. The Spanish garrison offered no resistance and immediately surrendered to Captain Joseph Coghlan of the Raleigh. Following Dewey's orders the prisoners and their arms were turned over to Catalan. As the American ships returned to Manila, the Filipinas steamed across the bay to Olongapo and delivered the Spanish prisoners to the Filipino commander there. Fifty-two of them, including the friars, remained in -the village and the rest were marched inland.
las piezas mas pesadas embarcadas son los 2 obuses de bronce de 150mm arriba mencionados), aunque si que fueron desmontados con un monton de trabajo y costo y preparados para su embarque( ( los americanos pusieron mil trabas para los trabajos de desmontaje de los 240, no permitiendo el uso del vehiculo locomóvil porque estropeaba el césped, hubo que usar una gran grua aumentando los gastos).Al final saco en conclusión que a ultima hora los compraron los americanos , ya que la partida de las 35 piezas compradas por 50.000 pesos, el 3 de octubre, por los americanos para dedicarla a batería de salvas, se descompone en, " 22 cañones lisos de hierro de 15cm de avancarga, 9 obuses de hierro de 21 cm de avancarga, y 4 obuses de 24cm de retrocarga", estos ultimos tienen que ser los Elorza mod.1881.
