America was not ready for war. Americans had an eager spirit, they needed military quality. The naval force, albeit improved, was mostly an excuse for what it would move toward becoming by World War I.
The bigger, wooden Spanish fleet was no counterpart for the new American steel naval force. After Dewey's weapons stopped firing, the whole Spanish squadron was a colossal fiasco. The leading American setback originated from sunstroke. The Philippines stayed in Spanish control until the military had been enrolled, prepared, and shipped to the Pacific.