A depiction of three US Marines on a beach on one of the Azore Islands, shortly after a massive naval battle waged by the Navy's Atlantic Fleet against a combined Anglo-Portuguese fleet led by Admiral Jaime Leote do Rego that resulted in a resounding American victory on July 6, 1916. Several battalions of Marines (commanded by Colonel Thomas Holcomb) landed on the islands and engaged in a brief but fierce battle against the Portuguese garrison, culminating in the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines storming the town of Ponta Delgada on July 10. After the islands were deemed secure, the United States held control of the island for the rest of the war, using them as a fueling and coaling stop for its Naval and mercantile ships.