Tensions between Spain and the United States worsened over Spanish behavior during their efforts to quell a revolution in their colony of Cuba, with the American public being agitated by largely falsified reports of Spanish atrocities against the Cuban population. In January 1898, in the interest of safeguarding American interests in Cuba, the cruiser USS "Maine" was dispatched to the island. In February 1898, the "Maine" exploded while lying at anchor in Havana harbor, killing more than half her crew and inflaming American opinion against Spain, with the Spanish being portrayed as the culprit in the American media regardless of the actual source of the explosion. Two months later, war was declared.