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That's right. It was Dewey and not Perry. TR pulled a few strings in the Senate so that Dewey would be in command of the Pacific fleet. The other officer who wanted the job was from an outdated school of thought and was either unwilling or unable to adapt to modern naval warfare whereas Dewey saw things Roosevelt's way. All this politicking went on while the Secretary of the Navy (TR's boss) was away on one of his many extended vacations. As soon as relations with Spain began deteriorating, TR ordered Dewey to sail to Hong Kong and to be ready to go into battle. Do these actions sound like our current Secretary of Defense?