USS Maine sunk in Havana Harbor - Cuba Politics News - Havana Journal USS Maine sunk in Havana Harbor Email this article | Print this article | Search Havana Journal Tweet Early 1900s photo showing remains of battleship USS Maine sunk in Havana Harbor | a catalyst to the start of the Spanish American War of 1898. Follow up post #1 added on February 01, 2004 by Dana In what year did the USS Maine sink? Follow up post #2 added on February 09, 2004 by keri febuary 15th 1898 Follow up post #3 added on March 08, 2004 by C.J. hey i was just wondering if any one could give me some good quick info. on this i am trying to find info on this stuff if any one can help tat would be great! thanks Follow up post #4 added on August 05, 2004 by CG I feel that Spain was unjustly lured into the war with America. The Spanish Government already settled an agreement with Cuba stipulating the withdrawal of its troops but leaving a few to protect its business interest.

Granted, the Cuban rebels wanted them out of the country completely, and I do understand that Spain did do some “seperation” camps—which cannot be compared to what Hitler and other regimes did during the 20th century. At this point, If Cuba would have been left alone, it would have received its full independence from Spain regardless, because during that time, Spain was going through a transformation of Government. Follow up post #5 added on October 28, 2004 by EK feb 15 1898 the USS maine sunk Follow up post #6 added on October 28, 2004 by EK Anyone know where i can find anything saying it was the construction problems that made the maine blow up? Follow up post #7 added on January 30, 2007 by Emily I had to watch a video in class and it was said to be that the furnace was over loaded with coal and the furnace/boiler was right next to the guns and weapons….so there you go Follow up post #8 added on January 30, 2007 by publisher with 3905 total posts Thanks for the post.

I understand that the explosion was a mystery yet Spain was blamed. Since Teddy Roosevelt was looking for a reason to invade Cuba he said Spain was responsible. The US would never make up an excuse to invade another country in this day and age would it? Follow up post #9 added on November 28, 2007 by yvonne how did the u.s.s manie blow up plz Follow up post #10 added on November 28, 2007 by publisher with 3905 total posts The US says that it hit a mine or a floating mine hit it. Some say it was a boiler explosion and that the US used it as an excuse to start the Spanish American war. Follow up post #11 added on November 29, 2007 by manfredz with 464 total posts definitely was an excuse, no matter which (in my opinion) Follow up post #12 added on March 27, 2008 by heidi how long was the maine in havana harbor before it blew up?????

Follow up post #13 added on August 25, 2008 by Anna McClendon what made the USS Maine sink? Follow up post #14 added on August 25, 2008 by manfredz with 464 total posts remember cuba was the base for spains weapons of mass destruction ... (or was that weapons of mass delusion since spain was a has-been on the world scene, just didnt know it yet) Agree, if it wasn’t the Maine, the US would have found another excuse - they really wanted Cuba. Follow up post #15 added on December 03, 2008 by Kare You all need to read “Remember the Maine” by Peggy and Harold Samuels. Their were construction problems because concrete had to be added to make the ship float evenly. Roosevelt was assistant secretary of the Navy in 1898. His agenda was most certainly concern for how the Navy would look if the Maine blew herself up. It isn’t just a threat from Spain herself that would have planted a mine under the ship, it could have been Spanish Weylerites. Many possibilities….

Follow up post #16 added on December 14, 2008 by kelsi why did the cubans blow up the maine?????????? Follow up post #17 added on December 22, 2008 by Bryan People say that it floated over a mine. Others say it could have been an old war missle that happened to launch underwater right into the base of the USS Maine. Follow up post #18 added on December 29, 2008 by Dewey (not related to the Admiral) Regardless of how the Maine went to the bottom—there were helpless American Sailors who died that day. Someone had to pay for that!! Introduction - The World of 1898: The Spanish-American War (Hispanic Division, Library of Congress) Photographic History of the Spanish American War , p. 36. On April 25, 1898 the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898.

As a result Spain lost its control over the remains of its overseas empire -- Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines Islands, Guam, and other islands. Background Beginning in 1492, Spain was the first European nation to sail westward across the Atlantic Ocean, explore, and colonize the Amerindian nations of the Western Hemisphere. At its greatest extent, the empire that resulted from this exploration extended from Virginia on the eastern coast of the United States south to Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America excluding Brazil and westward to California and Alaska. Across the Pacific, it included the Philippines and other island groups. By 1825 much of this empire had fallen into other hands and in that year, Spain acknowledged the independence of its possessions in the present-day United States (then under Mexican control) and south to the tip of South America. The only remnants that remained in the empire in the Western Hemisphere were Cuba and Puerto Rico and across the Pacific in Philippines Islands, and the Carolina, Marshall, and Mariana Islands (including Guam) in Micronesia. Cuba Following the liberation from Spain of mainland Latin America, Cuba was the first to initiate its own struggle for independence.

During the years from 1868-1878, Cubans personified by guerrilla fighters known as mambises fought for autonomy from Spain. That war concluded with a treaty that was never enforced. In the 1890's Cubans began to agitate once again for their freedom from Spain. The moral leader of this struggle was José Martí , known as "El Apóstol," who established the Cuban Revolutionary Party on January 5, 1892 in the United States. Following the grito de Baire, the call to arms on February 24, 1895, Martí returned to Cuba and participated in the first weeks of armed struggle when he was killed on May 19, 1895. The Philippines Islands The Philippines too was beginning to grow restive with Spanish rule. José Rizal , a member of a wealthy mestizo family, resented that his upper mobility was limited by Spanish insistence on promoting only "pure-blooded" Spaniards. He began his political career at the University of Madrid in 1882 where he became the leader of Filipino students there.

For the next ten years he traveled in Europe and wrote several novels considered seditious by Filipino and Church authorities. He returned to Manila in 1892 and founded the Liga Filipina, a political group dedicated to peaceful change. He was rapidly exiled to Mindanao. During his absence, Andrés Bonifacio founded Katipunan , dedicated to the violent overthrow of Spanish rule. On August 26, 1896, after learning that the Katipunan had been betrayed, Bonifacio issued the Grito de Balintawak , a call for Filipinos to revolt. Bonifacio was succeeded as head of the Philippine revolution by Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy , who had his predecessor arrested and executed on May 10, 1897. Aguinaldo negotiated a deal with the Spaniards who exiled him to Hong Kong with 400,000 pesos that he subsequently used to buy weapons to resume the fight.

Puerto Rico During the 1880s and 1890s, Puerto Ricans developed many different political parties, some of which sought independence for the island while others, headquartered like their Cuban counterparts in New York, preferred to ally with the United States. Spain proclaimed the autonomy of Puerto Rico on November 25, 1897, although the news did not reach the island until January 1898 and a new government established on February 12, 1898. United States U.S. interest in purchasing Cuba had begun long before 1898. Following the Ten Years War, American sugar interests bought up large tracts of land in Cuba. Alterations in the U.S. sugar tariff favoring home-grown beet sugar helped foment the rekindling of revolutionary fervor in 1895. By that time the U.S. had more than $50 million invested in Cuba and annual trade, mostly in sugar, was worth twice that much. Fervor for war had been growing in the United States, despite President Grover Cleveland 's proclamation of neutrality on June 12, 1895.

But sentiment to enter the conflict grew in the United States when General Valeriano Weyler began implementing a policy of Reconcentration that moved the population into central locations guarded by Spanish troops and placed the entire country under martial law in February 1896. By December 7, President Cleveland reversed himself declaring that the United States might intervene should Spain fail to end the crisis in Cuba. President William McKinley , inaugurated on March 4, 1897, was even more anxious to become involved, particularly after the New York Journal published a copy of a letter from Spanish Foreign Minister Enrique Dupuy de Lôme criticizing the American President on February 9, 1898. Events moved swiftly after the explosion aboard the U.S.S. Maine on February 15. On March 9, Congress passed a law allocating fifty million dollars to build up military strength. On March 28, the U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry finds that a mine blew up the Maine. On April 21 President McKinley orders a blockade of Cuba and four days later the U.S. declares war.

The War Following its declaration of war against Spain issued on April 25, 1898, the United States added the Teller Amendment asserting that it would not attempt to exercise hegemony over Cuba. Two days later Commodore George Dewey sailed from Hong Kong with Emilio Aguinaldo on board. Fighting began in the Phillipines Islands at the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1 where Commodore George Dewey reportedly exclaimed, "You may fire when ready, Gridley," and the Spanish fleet under Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo was destroyed. However, Dewey did not have enough manpower to capture Manila so Aguinaldo's guerrillas maintained their operations until 15,000 U.S. troops arrived at the end of July. On the way, the cruiser Charleston stopped at Guam and accepted its surrender from its Spanish governor who was unaware his nation was at war. Although a peace protocol was signed by the two belligerents on August 12, Commodore Dewey and Maj. Gen. Wesley Merritt, leader of the army troops, assaulted Manila the very next day, unaware that peace had been declared.

In late April, Andrew Summers Rowan made contact with Cuban General Calixto García who supplied him with maps, intelligence, and a core of rebel officers to coordinate U.S. efforts on the island. The U.S. North Atlantic Squadron left Key West for Cuba on April 22 following the frightening news that the Spanish home fleet commanded by Admiral Pascual Cervera had left Cadiz and entered Santiago, having slipped by U.S. ships commanded by William T. Sampson and Winfield Scott Schley. They arrived in Cuba in late May. War actually began for the U.S. in Cuba in June when the Marines captured Guantánamo Bay and 17,000 troops landed at Siboney and Daiquirí , east of Santiago de Cuba, the second largest city on the island. At that time Spanish troops stationed on the island included 150,000 regulars and 40,000 irregulars and volunteers while rebels inside Cuba numbered as many as 50,000. Total U.S.

army strength at the time totalled 26,000, requiring the passage of the Mobilization Act of April 22 that allowed for an army of at first 125,000 volunteers (later increased to 200,000) and a regular army of 65,000. On June 22, U.S. troops landed at Daiquiri where they were joined by Calixto García and about 5,000 revolutionaries. U.S. troops attacked the San Juan heights on July 1, 1898. Dismounted troopers, including the African-American Ninth and Tenth cavalries and the Rough Riders commanded by Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt went up against Kettle Hill while the forces led by Brigadier General Jacob Kent charged up San Juan Hill and pushed Spanish troops further inland while inflicting 1,700 casualties. While U.S. commanders were deciding on a further course of action, Admiral Cervera left port only to be defeated by Schley. On July 16, the Spaniards agreed to the unconditional surrender of the 23,500 troops around the city.

A few days later, Major General Nelson Miles sailed from Guantánamo to Puerto Rico. His forces landed near Ponce and marched to San Juan with virtually no opposition. Representatives of Spain and the United States signed a peace treaty in Paris on December 10, 1898, which established the independence of Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States, and allowed the victorious power to purchase the Philippines Islands from Spain for $20 million. The war had cost the United States $250 million and 3,000 lives, of whom 90% had perished from infectious diseases. The Price of Freedom: Printable Exhibition Deaths: 2,446 A New Navy, A New War After the Civil War, the United States neglected its navy, which ranked twelfth in the world by 1880. Although the United States had no overseas colonies to protect, business and government leaders realized that a strong navy was essential to defend trade and growing international interests. Beginning in 1881, Congress supported a modernization program that would make the American navy effective. The new ships would have steel hulls, steam engines, and large, rifled guns.

At first, the ships still used sails as a backup to steam power. But by the 1890s, the U.S. Navy had converted to all-steel and -steam, and ranked among the top five navies in the world. Naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan stated, Americans must now begin to look outward. The growing production of the country demands it . . . . This Means War! On February 15, 1898, a mysterious explosion sank the battleship USS Maine in Havana Harbor, triggering a war between the United States and Spain. The Maine had come to Cuba to protect American citizens while Cuban revolutionaries were fighting to win independence from Spain. The United States supported their cause, and after the Maine exploded, demanded that Spain give Cuba freedom. Instead, Spain declared war, and America quickly followed suit, moving Commodore George Dewey into position in the Phillipines and Commodore Winfield Scott Schley into Santiago Bay. War fever was fanned by the press, particularly publishers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. Although the United States claimed it had no designs on Cuba, many believed the war would be an opportunity to seize other overseas possessions and begin building an American empire.

Newspapers printed maps to help Americans follow the war. The United States now entered an era of overseas expansion. Exhibition Graphics Sinking of the battleship Maine Alfred Thayer Mahan, leading American naval strategist and professor at the U.S. Naval War College, 1890 Protected cruiser Atlanta, first ship of the new steel navy, which used sail power as well as steam power Sailors in an engine room on USS Massachusetts Cuba Libre! from Harper�s Weekly Headline from the New York Journal Strategic map of our war with Spain Related Artifacts The War in Cuba To win in Cuba, the United States had to defeat the Spanish Navy. As the war began, Spanish Admiral Pascual Cervera concentrated his small squadron in Santiago Bay to help protect the forts. The United States Navy, commanded by Commodore Winfield Scott Schley, trapped the squadron when it blockaded Santiago along with other major Cuban ports. American land forces began to attack the city from the north on July 1, 1898. Cervera was ordered to try to break out of the harbor to save his ships. Although realizing this maneuver would probably fail, Cevera attempted it early on July 3.

All of his ships were destroyed, one after another. The Cuban Land Campaign Like the naval campaign, the land campaign in Cuba centered on Santiago. On July 1, 1898, General William Shafter attacked the San Juan heights that overlooked Santiago. In a series of fierce engagements, the Americans pushed the Spanish off the hills. The American troops were better equipped and employed the decisive use of Gatling guns, which had multiple barrels revolving around a central axis and were fired rapidly by turning a crank. Having suffered heavy losses, the Americans now besieged the city rather than attack it further. The fall of Santiago on July 17 convinced Spain to concede defeat in Cuba. Following the victory, the person who attracted the greatest public attention was not General Shafter, but Theodore Roosevelt, a flamboyant Rough Rider who had charged up San Juan Hill. Exhibition Graphics Related Artifacts Defeating Spain in the Philippines The opening battle of the Spanish American War took place in the Philippines. As soon as the United States declared war, Commodore George Dewey led his Asiatic squadron from Hong Kong to the Philippines.

With the words, You may fire when you are ready, Gridley, Commodore Dewey ordered Captain Charles V. Gridley to fire on the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. On May 1, 1898, Dewey decisively defeated the Spanish squadron in Manila Bay, sinking or capturing every Spanish ship with no loss of American life. It was dramatic evidence that the United States was now a major naval power. Celebrating Dewey Following his victory at Manila Bay, Commodore George Dewey became an overnight sensation in the United States. His picture appeared everywhere, and young people, like those seen here, honored and emulated him. Becoming an International Power The United States relied greatly on assistance from Filipino revolutionaries led by Emilio Aguinaldo, who already controlled much of the countryside and had proclaimed a Philippine republic. American troops did not arrive in large numbers until July. They negotiated Spains surrender of Manila in August, as the war ended. But, instead of liberating the Philippines from Spanish domination, the United States chose to annex the islands and begin building an American empire. A Filipino-American War Many Americans strongly opposed this new trend of imperialism, as did the Philippine revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo.

He turned from fighting Spain to resisting American domination. Defeating Aguinaldos guerillas took longer than defeating the Spanish. The United States combined tactics of pacification and social improvement with brutal military strikes. Aguinaldo was captured in 1901, and then in 1902 President Roosevelt officially declared an end to the conflict. However a Filipino-American War continued on until 1915. In years to come, Americans remained divided over the nations actions and imperial ambitions. Theodore Roosevelts Big Stick Theodore Roosevelt became the twenty-sixth president after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901. Roosevelt strongly supported American expansionism, and increased the size of the military to implement it. His policy was epitomized in the phrase, Speak softly, but carry a big stick. Following the fall of Cuba, the Spanish possessions of Puerto Rico, Samoa, Guam, and Wake Island became American territories. Exhibition Graphics Havana Harbor Havana Harbor Havana Harbor, Cuba- "Maine" wreck in the distance. For a number of years before 1898 the Cubans had been very unhappy under Spanish rule, and had been struggling for independence.

In the last Cuban Rebellion the measures used by the Spanish to subdue the Cubans were so very cruel that our government felt that we should interfere. After protests from our government, Spain promised better conditions in Cuba, but matters grew steadily worse. The US Battleship Maine was sent to Cuba in January 1898 and on February 15 it was blown up and sunk in Havana Harbor. Two officers and 258 men were killed. This view shows the wrecked battleship. Spain denied all knowledge of the cause of the explosion and though, in the investigation which followed, it was never proved, still many Americans believed that the Spanish officers in Cuba were responsible for the disaster. The people of the United States urged war, crying "Remember the Maine!" Congress felt that Spanish rule in Cuba must end, and on April 25 declared war on Spain. The memorable events of the Spanish-American War were: the sea victory at Santiago, Commodore (later Admiral) Dewey's great victory at Manila Bay, the distinguished service of "Roosevelt's Rough Riders" on land, and the record breaking trip from the Pacific Coast around Cape Horn made by the Battleship Oregon to join our ships in the Atlantic.

As a result of the war, Spain lost the Philippines and all her possessions in the New World. The Battleship Maine remained in Havana harbor until 1910. THen it was towed to deep water and with a scout cruiser and a battleship to do the honors, it was given a sea burial. Guns fired salutes and with its flag flying the Maine went gently to the bottom of the sea. USS Maine Navy Battleship Sunk Havana Harbor Cuba | Maine Vacations Lodging Dining Attractions Realty Living The First USS Maine Launched from New York and Sunk in Havana Harbor Cuba The USS Maine – the original naval ship named for the great state of Maine sank in Havana Harbor. The ship took longer than expected to build but sank in just a few minutes killing most of the American servicemen on-board. Read about the first ship called “The Maine”. Ask us about Maine or share your Maine comments. Feature your Maine business in Maine’s Internet Magazine, contact us . US Battleships: USS Maine The phrase was “Remember the Maine – The Hell with Spain”. The Spanish-American war began within the next year as Spain was blamed for the sinking of the first US Naval Ship to be named the USS Maine.

Controversy still surrounds the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor. The exact cause of the explosion that quickly sank the vessel is still unclear as to whether it was a mine or an internal blast. The fact remains on the evening of February 15, 1898 the Maine exploded suddenly and sank quickly killing nearly three-quarters of her crew. The USS Maine crew was comprised of 355: 26 officers, 290 sailors, and 39 marines. Of these, there were 261 fatalities: Of the 94 survivors, only 16 were uninjured. Four ships of the United States Navy have borne the name USS Maine. This ship that sank in Havana Harbor was the first. A gun recovered from the USS Maine is now located at Fort Allen Park on the Eastern Promenade of Portland , Maine.

Maine 1/350 Plan and Profile (BIG .pdf file - 800 Kb) (Courtesy of Jose Pillet - Requires substantial download time and Adobe Acrobat reader) Click here for a link to Albert Shaw's April, 1898 Review of Reviews article on the loss of the MAINE Click here for the (state of ) Maine Public Broadcasting Company's page on the Battleship MAINE GENERAL: The USS MAINE was one of the first United States battleships to be constructed. The vessel's destruction in the Cuba Harbor of Havana was a catalyst in bringing war between the United States and Spain. The loss of the ship was tremendous shock to the United States since it represented virtually the state of the art of naval shipbuilding in the United States, only recently eclipsed by newer vessels. "Remember the Maine" became the battlelecry of the United States Military Forces in 1898. BACKGROUND: The USS MAINE was the second "second-class battleship" constructed for the U.S. Navy. The construction of the vessel was authorized by the U.S. Congress on August 3, 1886. MAINE took nearly nine years to complete.

Three years had been spent waiting for her armor plating alone. The USS MAINE was unique at the time in that she was purely the product of American naval design, and was built at a U.S. Naval Yard. By contrast, her contemporary, the USS TEXAS , was the product of a design competition, based on an English design, and constructed by a naval contractor. In fact, the USS MAINE is the largest vessel to be actually built in a U.S. Navy Yard. The new battleship MAINE was a showpiece for the United States Navy and was given many ceremonial tasks. For instance, it took part in the 1897 Mardi Gras ceremony in New Orleans, Louisiana along with the USS TEXAS . Between June and December 1897, the vessel could be found cruising off the coast of the United States between Virginia and Connecticut. On December 15, 1897, she got underway, heading south toward Florida and her final destiny. The USS MAINE arrived in Cuba's Havana harbor on January 24, 1898. Because of propaganda from the U.S.

newspapers and the Cuban Insurgents, the situation in Cuba was not fully understood in Washington DC. The U.S. Consul in Havana, Fitzhugh Lee , was also somewhat out of touch with the country in which he was living. In response to a small protest by Spanish officers, not affecting the United States, Washington sent the USS MAINE, under the command of Capt. Charles Sigsbee , to Cuba on a "friendly" visit. At about 9:30 PM on February 15, the MAINE was shattered by two separate explosions and rapidly sank. Two hundred and fifty-two men were killed. Ammunition continued to explode for hours after the blast. After the disaster, U.S. newspapers were quick to place responsibility for the loss on Spain. In spite of the newspaper propaganda, an official court of inquiry was held by the U.S. Navy to determine the cause of the blasts. The Navy concluded that the ship was sunk by a mine which ignited the forward magazines, but stated that it could not fix responsibility upon any person or persons, including the government or military forces of Spain.

Regardless of the reality of the situation, the loss of the USS MAINE had turned American popular opinion strongly in favor of war with Spain. Despite of his efforts to avoid war, President McKinley finally decided to militarily intervene in Cuba to end the ongoing unrest and "liberate" Cuba from Spanish rule. Later studies have indicated the possibility that the USS MAINE sunk as a result of a coal bunker fire adjacent to one of its ammunition magazines, and not a result of a Spanish mine. The USS MAINE rested on the floor of Havana Harbor until 1911. In that year, a cofferdam was built around the wreck. The hull was patched enough to enable it to float. Based on what was found, a second inconclusive court of inquiry was held, one of many to come. The wreck was then towed out of the harbor and sunk in sea. It now lies at a depth of thirty-six hundred feet. Many momentos of the USS MAINE still exist. The mainmast is in Arlington National Cemetery, just outside of Washinton DC, and her foremast is near the seawall at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

One of her bow anchors is located in Reading, Pennsylvania's City Park at the first block of North 11th Street. Her capstan rests in the Battery in Charleston, South Carolina, and her bow scroll is in Bangor, Maine. Many pieces of the USS MAINE were made into small collectibles such as ashtrays, plaques , models, etc. ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES: The USS MAINE was the United States' first armored ship to be authorized and the second to be completed. The USS MAINE and the USS TEXAS represented a great step forward in American naval technology. One major problem with this type of vessel, and a common problem aboard warships of the time period, was that the coal bunkers were used as additional "armor" to protect the magazines. The bunkers were placed around the perimeter of the ship, and magazines were placed inboard of this extra layer of protection. Spontaneous combustion fires in coal bunkers were a possibility, though, unlike some naval vessel, MAINE had no history of coal bunker fires. A burning coal bunker on the opposite side of a bulkhead from a magazine full of ammunition presented a real and great danger.

Interestingly, when the USS MAINE was finally launched and loaded with supplies, it was found that the bow had a draft three feet greater than the stern. This imbalance was the result of a mistake in the loading plan. Forty-eight tons of ballast had to be installed near the stern to put the ship back on an even keel. The USS MAINE therefore had a greater draft than planned as well as valueless additional weight. MAINE was caught between two separate roles in the navy and could not actually fulfill either. She did not have the armor nor the firepower to slug it out as a ship-of-the-line as was the intended role of a battleship. She did not have the speed required to serve as cruiser. Cruisers were intended to be commerce raides, and therefore had to have guns large enough to attack anything smaller (which MAINE had) but she did not have the speed to be able to get away from something larger, as was expected of a cruiser. As a result, her intended role in the navy was ill-defined.

Her coal capacity was quite low at 895 tons (significantly lower capacity than either that of a cruiser such as OLYMPIA or a battleship like OREGON ) As a result the length of time she could spend at sea was limited, and her ability to run at flank speed, where coal consumption increased dramatically, was limited. MAINE's overhanging turrets did not permit her to be coaled at sea from a collier without risk of damage to both her and the collier except in the smoothest of seas. This compounded her range/coal capacity problem The greatest problem MAINE faced was her odd turret configuration. The guns were not counterbalanced. If both sets were turned one direction, the ship heeled over that direction, reducing the range. Firing the turret on one side of the ship toward the opposite side of the ship was possible, and intended. This required firing across the deck and through the superstructure. The vacuum created by the passing shell would damage deck and superstructure alike. Also if there was a mistake and the gun was fired prematurely, MAINE could actually shoot itself! TECHNOTES: Jeffers, H.

Paul, Colonel Roosevelt: Theodore Roosevelt Goes to War, 1897-1898. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996). Millis, Walter, The Martial Spirit . (Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1931). Naval History Department, Navy Department, "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships", Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1959. Peña, Félix Alfonso (location of the MAINE's bow anchor) Samuels, Peggy and Harold, Remembering the Maine . (Washington: The Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995. Support this Site by Visiting the Website Store ! (help us defray costs!) We are providing the following service for our readers. If you are interested in books, videos, CD's etc. related to the Spanish American War, simply type in "Spanish American War" as the keyword and click on "go" to get a list of titles available through Amazon.com. Search: Maine For crew memories of the sinking of the MAINE, click here .

The Significance of the Destruction of the MAINE The explosion which destroyed the battleship USS MAINE in the harbor of Havana, Cuba on the night of February 15, 1898 was a blast which would continue to echo around the Americas for many years to come. In response to the destruction of the ship, Washington sent American troops and warships to intervene in the Cuban revolt against Spanish colonial rule, and to attack other parts of the Spanish colonial empire, including the Philippines. This attack on Spanish possessions was the first American war against a foreign power since the Mexican-American War of 1845-48. It marked a major change in American foreign policy away from isolationsim and toward a more active role in international affairs, a trend which has continued through the twentieth century. The American victory over Spain, a great power since the time of Columbus which had once dominated much of the world, marked the entrance of the United States into the arena of world powers. As a result, Washington assumed a greater role in the Americas, well beyond the immediate borders of the United States. Americans now had interests in the entire Western Hemisphere, and were no longer occupied with the westward expansion across North America.

The war also marked the beginning of American international involvement beyond the Americas. The achievement of new, world power status brought increased respect from the other European world powers to the United States, and gave the United States a much larger role in the international affairs of the new century. For example, the United States would intervene in the First World War, becoming directly involved in a conflict between the European great powers for the first time. Due to the impact of this one event, in both the short and long term, it is appropriate to attempt to determine the cause and responsibility for the blast which destroyed the ship, on its one hundredth anniversary. Based on any conclusions reached in response to this question, we can also decide if the United States had a valid reason for going to war with Spain in 1898. The Arrival of the USS MAINE in Havana Harbor This entire process of the United States assuming the roleof a new great power began with the arrival of the battleship MAINE in Havana harbor as a result of a problem which had begun the year before.

Having lived under Spanish colonial rule for four hundred years, the people of Cuba had launched the latest in a series of rebellions, with American sympathy and support, beginning in the late 1860's. In 1897, the senior American diplomat in Havana, Consul General Fitzhugh Lee , was becoming concerned for the safety of Americans in Cuba during the insurrection. There was a fair number of them, both businessmen interested in the sugar trade and rebel sympathizers working as mercenaries or smugglers of munitions and supplies. Beginning in December 1897, the MAINE was based at Key West, Florida in response to the Cuban situation, and for six weeks held in readiness to go to Cuba if Lee called for help. When no call for help had been received by the third week in January 1898, the commander of the MAINE , Captain Charles D. Sigsbee , had been told to join the other ships of the Navy's North Atlantic Squadron when it arrived there, and go with them to their winter base at the tiny islands of Dry Tortugas at the tip of the Florida Keys.

The Squadron arrived at Key West on January 23, 1898, en route to Dry Tortugas, but they brought with them orders for Sigsbee from Washington, telling him to procede with the MAINE to Havana on a "friendly" visit. While the intention of this visit may have been no more than sending the MAINE on the completion of her mission to protect Americans in Cuba, it may also have been an attempt to influence Spanish policy in the rebellious colony, an early example of American battleship diplomacy. Another reason for the presence of the American warship was to enforce the Monroe Doctrine and ensure that another European power such as Germany did not attempt to take advantage of the instability on the island during rebellionto seize Cuba. The USS MAINE in Havana Harbor Whatever the motive, every attempt was made to make the visit appear friendly. The ship arrived in Havana harbor on January 25, 1898.

Then, after sitting in Havana harbor for three weeks, the MAINE was torn apart by one or two explosions at 9:40 PM on the night of February 15, 1898, two days before the ship had been scheduled to leave Havana and return to New Orleans to show the flag at the upcoming Mardi Gras. Out of acrew of 374, approximately 260 Americans were killed. What Sank the Ship ? An External Explosion ? Ever since this catastrophe, there has been a mystery about what sank the ship. At first, it seemed that the ship had been attacked, either by gunfire or a mine in the harbor. Once it was determined that it had been a magazine explosion which actually destroyed the ship, the question remained of what caused the magazine to explode. There were two basic categories for all answers to this question. The explosion could have been triggered by a blast outside the ship, or by a blast or accident inside the ship. One possible cause for an external blast was a mine. It could have been a part of the harbor defenses which had broken loose from its mooring and accidentally drifted into the ship. It could also have been deliberately placed where it would explode under the ship's keel.

This second explanation of the intentional use of a mine was favored, based on the extent of theanti-Spanish feeling in the United States at that time, and on the coverage of the event by the " yellow press ". Many people felt that when the MAINE arrived in Havana harbor, she had been directed by the Spanish authorities to a mooring where a mine had been planted for use against her. Another possible cause of an external explosion was sabotage. A saboteur could have placed a homemade bomb on the hull of the ship or he could have left a homemade mine floating in the water near the MAINE , where she would strike it as she swung at her mooring. Because Cuba was in the midst of a violent revolution, this saboteur could have come from one of the factions fighting for control of the island. There were the Cuban rebels who were trying to gain their independence and could have attempted anything which they felt would hurt Spanish colonial rule. Fighting the rebels, in addition to the Spanish authorities, there were right wing radicals who also favored continued Spanish rule and hated the Americans for aiding the rebels and trying to influence Spanish policy. An Internal Explosion ?

While most people have reached the conclusion that the MAINE was sunk by the external explosion of a mine, there was also the possibility that the explosion of the magazines was triggered by an internal fire or explosion. Like all warships, the MAINE was loaded with explosives and flammable materials, including the shells and powder for her guns, the coal used to fuel her engines, and paint supplies. As a result, the explosion could have been caused by an internal accident or intentional internal sabotage. Immediately after the explosion, this explanation was favored both by the Spanish authorities in Havana, as the one for which they could not have been blamed, by other foreign naval experts, and by some American observers. This disagreement over the cause of the disaster was a primary reason for the extent of the official and unofficial investigations into the disaster. When the first investigation into the event was being conducted, there was evidence against the external blast of a mine which seemed to indicate that the explosion was internal. While most members of the MAINE 's crew and other witnesses reported having heard two explosions, some did say that there was only one explosion. Before it had been determined that the magazine had exploded, one explosion could have indicated that all the damage had been caused by one large, powerful mine.

Once it had been proven that the magazine had exploded, a single explosion would have indicated that the magazine explosion had not been triggered by the external blast of a mine but rather by a fire on board the ship or by an accident in the magazine itself. The validity of these conclusions is based on the assumption that the witnesses were able to distinguish the explosions. If the magazine explosion was indeed sparked by the external detonation of a mine, the two blasts could have occurred in such quick succession that some witnesses thought that they saw or heard one long, drawn out explosion rather than two distict blasts. One hundred years later, lacking the audio or video evidence upon which we have come to rely in so many more recent cases, there is no way to determine the nature of the explosion(s). In addition, two circumstances had been missing which many observers believed would have been noticed in the event of an external, underwater explosion. One was a splash or geyser of water which none of the witnesses reported having seen being thrown up beside the ship at the time of the explosion. Many felt that this would have been indicative of an external explosion of a mine. The other was dead fish, which no one reported having found floating in Havana harbor on the morning after the disaster.

Assuming that there were fish living in the polluted water of the harbor, it seemed that if there had been an explosion in the water, quite a few fish would have been killed and then found the next day. Spontaneous Combustion An internal explosion could have been caused by a fire on board the ship. One possible source for such a fire was spontaneous combustion of the coal in the bunkers, some of which were located next to the magazines, separated only by a bulkhead. This was a frequent problem on board coal-fired warships during the late nineteenth century. When a ship like the MAINE was carrying soft, bituminous coal, and the temperature in the bunker reached a high level, the coal could spontaneously ignite. This could be particularly dangerous in the bunkers near magazines. If there were a fire in such a bunker, it could heat the magazine enough to ignite the powder and cause an explosion. This explanation has been favored by those who believed that the blast was internal, from the time of the disaster. More recently, this was the theory which Admiral Hyman Rickover presented in his book, How the Battleship MAINE Was Destroyed, in 1976.

Spontaneous combustion in coal bunkers was a problem which had affected several US Navy ships built since the Civil War, apparently making this a reasonable explanation for an internal fire which could have triggered the magazine explosion. However, unlike the MAINE , none of these ships was known to have been lost as a result of these fires. Two years earlier, there had been spontaneous combustion on board the cruiser CINCINNATI while she was based at Key West. The fire had started in a bunker next to a magazine, heating the magazine to the point where the wooden boxes containing shells burned, and the loaded shells became charred, but they did not explode. It was soon noticed that a bulkhead had become red hot, and the bunker and magazine were quickly flooded. The CINCINNATI carried old-fashioned but chemically stable brown powder which did not explode even when heated to this point. Although the MAINE was armed mostly with the same type of powder when she exploded in 1898, she was also carrying between 1500 lbs. and one ton of less stable black powder, used for saluting, in the Reserve magazine.

Apparently, the CINCINNATI was not carrying any black powder at the time of her fire. In addition, experience with the hazard of spontaneous combustion had made the Navy aware of the problem, causing officers and crew to periodically check coal bunkers. The MAINE and other Navy ships also carried a thermostatically controlled fire alarm system in the coal bunkers which was designed to trigger fire alarms if the temperature in the coal bunkers reached a certain level, indicating that spontaneous combustion had occurred. These alarms could have been disregarded, however, because they had been known to have been triggered when temperatures in the bunkers reached levels below that at which they were set. In the months after the MAINE disaster, there were at least two cases of spontaneous combustion on board other Navy ships, the battleship OREGON and the armored cruiser BROOKLYN . In mid-March 1898, the OREGON had been ordered to leave San Francisco and travel around Cape Horn to reinforce the US Navy in Caribbean. Spontaneous combustion occurred one week later, while she was steaming off the coast of Peru during this voyage. Her crew noticed smoke and heat in the forward section of the ship, which were traced to a coal bunker.

A damage control team was then able to dig into the bunker, expose the smoldering coal, and douse the fire. There was a similar fire in a bunker next to a magazine on board the BROOKLYN on May 16, 1898 while she was en route from Charleston, South Carolina to Key West in the middle of the night. The fire was detected by the thermometers in the bunkers, which activated the alarm system, giving the crew enough time to remove ammunition from the adjacent magazine and spew steam into the bunker to extinguish the fire. Since the same alarm system had been fitted on board the MAINE , it would seem that it would have been effective if spontaneous combustion had occurred on board the battleship in Havana harbor. In addition to these standard Navy procedures which would have reduced the likelihood of a bunker fire, there were other arguments against such an occurrence that night on the MAINE . While there were coal bunkers next to the magazines which exploded, some of these bunkers were not full on the night of the blast, and had been recently cleaned and painted. Also, Commander Wainwright, executive officer of the MAINE , had a reputation for caution and thorough safety procedures.

As a result, the crew members had instructions to check the coal bunkers at regular intervals and to feel the bulkheads of bunkers for any sign of unusual heat when in passageways besidethem. However, there was one bunker, A-16, which was full ofcoal and abutted the Reserve magazine. It could have been the site of spontaneous combustion because ventilation, though good enough to allow combustion to occur, was not sufficient to prevent heat from rising to the point at which the coal could have begun to smolder. Magazine Explosion Another possible cause of the blast was the explosion of a magazine beginning in the magazine itself. This was the cause of accidental explosions which heavily damaged or destroyed nine other battleships around the world between 1900 and the end of the Second World War. There was one significant difference between these other, later explosions and the explosion on board the Maine in Havana harbor. Most of the later accidents involved ships carrying early smokeless powders which were chemically unstable and prone to explode as a result of chemical deterioration.

The Maine, however, still carried the old fashioned brown and black powders which, though smoky when used, were much more stable and safer on board ship than the early smokeless powders. This made such a magazine explosion less likely. Other factors against the possibility of an internal magazine explosion on board the MAINE were the strict safety procedures ordered by the cautious Captain Sigsbee . Whenever the magazines were opened, lights were put out, cigarettes extinguished, and the galley was sealed off. Sigsbee had even gone so far as to devise an item which he had added to the regular safety procedures. Anyone who went into the magazines had to wear soft cloth "antistatic slippers" over their shoes, which were intended to prevent the generation of static electricity sparks by regular shoe soles scraping the deck. Other Causes of an Internal Explosion There were several other possible causes of an internal explosion. One of these would have been a fire in the other flammable materials carried on board, such as the large quantity of paint needed each time the ship was painted, stored in the paint locker on board the ship.

There was also little chance of this, though, because no one could gain access to this material without Sigsbee 's knowledge, the key to the paint locker having been kept in the cautious Captain's cabin. The use of flammable paint in the recently painted coal bunkers near bunker A-16 could also have been a cause for trouble. If the combustibles which had entered the air as the paint dried had entered A-16, this could have increased the likelihood of spontaneous combustion there. Another possible cause could have been internal sabotage, if a visitor to the ship had managed to smuggle a bomb on board and leave it where it would ignite a magazine, a coal bunker, or the paint locker. This could have happened if the crew of the ship had not watched visitors closely enough and had allowed them access to sensitive areas of the ship. Commander Wainwright's strict safety procedures also meant that there was little chance of internal sabotage on board the ship in Havana harbor. Because the visit was a friendly one, the ship could not be kept sealed off and visitors had to be allowed on board. Sigsbee had ordered several tight security measures while in Havana, though.

One of these was that all visitors to the ship had to be kept under close surveillance, greatly reducing the possibility that one of these visitors could have left a bomb on board without being noticed. Thus, while an internal explosion was possible, it seems unlikely given the arguments against the possible causes for such an event. The Sampson Board's Court of Inquiry This question of what destroyed the Maine was addressed by the two official inquiries conducted by the US Navy into the matter. The first US Navy Court of Inquiry to investigate the MAINE disaster, known as the Sampson Board and consisting of Captain William T. Sampson and three other officers, arrived at Havana on February 21, 1898. They listened to testimony from Captain Sigsbee , the officers and crew of the Maine, and other witnesses of the explosion. In addition, they also listened to the statements of divers who had been sent down to examine the wreck of the MAINE . These divers had a very difficult job, working around the jagged wreckage in the dirty, dark, almost opaque waters of the harbor.

After the Sampson Board completed its investigation and inquiries in 1898, it came to the conclusion that the MAINE had been destroyed by the explosion of the forward and reserve magazines of six-inch ammunition, both located in the forward part of the ship. The divers had reported that the port side of the ship where the forward reserve magazine for six-inch ammunition had been located was entirely gone. Apparently that magazine of secondary battery ammunition was a location of the explosion. Most of the testimony of the witnesses and the observations of the divers seemed to indicate that the explosion of these magazines had been triggered by an external blast. The majority of the witnesses testified that there had been two explosions, as would have been the case if the explosion of the magazines had been triggered by the blast of a mine outside the ship. Lt. John Blandin , officer of the deck at the time of the explosion, reported that he heard an explosion coming from the port side, forward. Another officer, Cadet Cluverius, was in his cabin writing a letter when the explosion occurred.

He recalled hearing a report like the firing of a gun, followed by all the ship's lights going out, and then there was an "indescribable roar, a terrific crash, intense darkness ..." Other witnesses on board other ships in the harbor alsoobserved two explosions. The American passenger steamer CITY OF WASHINGTON was moored aft of the MAINE . After 9:30 PM, two American tobacco dealers were sitting in deck chairs on her deck. One of them had just joked that they were well protected with the guns of the Maine commanding the city when he heard a sound like a cannon shot. He looked up and saw the bow of the MAINE rise up out of the water, apparently as a result of the force of the first blast beneath the forward end of the ship. Then he saw a huge, fiery explosion in the center of the ship, followed by thick black smoke and debris falling everywhere as they ran for cover. At the same time, the captain of their ship, Frank Stevens, heard a muffled blast which seemed to comefrom underwater, followed by a second explosion. When he saw what had happened, he ordered the ship's boats launched.

Frederick Teasdale, captain of the British bark DEVA, was below deck on board his ship, berthed about one half mile south of the MAINE at a wharf in Regla, across the harbor from Havana. He felt his ship stagger, and he was afraid that she had been rammed by a steamer. This was apparently caused by a shock wave from the first blast, under water. He then ran on deck, in time to see the explosion of the Maine's magazines hurling debris and smoke across the harbor. While inspecting the wreckage on the day after the disaster, several officers of the MAINE had noticed bottom plates, identifiable by their green anti-fouling paint, thrust up out of the water. Later, the divers had found the keel of the ship in an "inverted V" shape thrust upward to within eighteen inches of the harbor surface, more than thirty feet above its original position. They placed this bent section of the keel at about frame eighteen, near the bow, and it was interpreted as having been driven into the ship, and upwards, by a powerful outside force, such as the explosion of a mine, beneath the keel.

Based on this evidence of an external explosion, the Sampson Board reached the conclusion that the MAINE had been destroyed by an external, submarine mine. If the mine had been a Spanish naval mine, it assumed that the mine was large, with a charge of several hundred pounds of high explosive guncotton which triggered the explosion of the magazines. With deliberations completed by the third week in March, their report was delivered to the Navy Department in Washington on March 25, 1898. The plating at frames 17, 18, and 19 protrude from the water above and to the right of the small boat. In addition, there were two pieces of information which the Sampson Board did not accept as evidence. One was that otherdivers had reported finding a hole in the ship's side with the edges bent inward, which seemed to indicate an external blast. The second was a hole in the harbor floor, filled with soft mud, opposite the hole in the ship's side, which some observers interpreted as having been caused by the same external blast. The Vreeland Board's Investigation Twelve years later, in 1910, a second inquiry into the fate of the MAINE was begun.

At this time, many Americans wanted the remains of the men which had been left on board the Maine removed from the wreck and brought back to the United States for burial. Others wanted a second, more thorough investigation of the disaster. In addition, the Cubans wanted the wreck removed from Havana harbor, where it was a hazard to shipping. In response, Congress authorized the raising of the MAINE and appropriated funds for the project. The job was given to the US Army Corps of Engineers, which constructed a water-tight elliptical cofferdam on the floor of Havana harbor around the wreck of the MAINE . After its completion in November, 1911, the water was pumped out from around the wreck inside the cofferdam. This left the wreck in the open air, where it was more easily and thoroughly examined by the new investigators, for the first time since it had sunk. A second board of inquiry, lead by Rear Admiral Charles E. Vreeland met on November 10. Their investigation was finished in several weeks and the report was sent to President Taft on December 14, 1911.

The remains of the crewmen had been removed from the ship and taken back to the United States on board the armored cruiser NORTH CAROLINA for burial at Arlington National Cemetery. The wreck of the ship was then refloated, towed out to sea, and ceremonially scuttled on March 16, 1912. When the Vreeland Board began their investigation in 1911, they were able to take a much better look at the wreck of MAINE . They reached essentially the same conclusion as the Sampson board, differing only in detail They agreed that the magazine explosion had been triggered by an external blast, but that that the original charge was a low form of explosive, and that the original blast did not occur at frame eighteen as decided by the Sampson court. Instead, they placed the explosion further aft, between frames twenty-eight and thirty-three, where about 100 square feet of plating was dented in as much as two feet and torn irregularly, with the torn edges bent inward into the ship. According to the Vreeland Board, a large high explosive charge would have punched a clean hole in the side of the ship, rather than the large dent and ragged tear which they found.

They decided that the bending of the keel into the "inverted V" shape had been caused by the explosion of the magazines. Thus, the conclusion that the explosion which destroyed the ship was triggered by an external blast, as reached by both the Sampson and Vreeland inquiries, seems to be a valid one. Having reached that same conclusion, we still don't know what actually caused the blast. Was the MAINE destroyed by a Spanish mine, as so many believed in 1898, by sabotage, or by some kind of "infernal machine" ? Battleship Maine explodes in Havana Harbor - February 15, 1898 - Cuba Politics News - Havana Journal Source unknown Most US citizens remember the destruction of the US battleship Maine a little over a century ago in Havana harbor as an act of enemy aggression but, could there have been greedy homegrown minds behind the explosion? On Tuesday February 15, 1898 shortly after 9:40 p.m. the Maine sunk to the bottom of the harbor in the capital of Cuba. Out of a company of 355, 260 including only two officers lost their lives.

Great effort and manpower were spent by both Spain and the US trying to determine whether the explosion came from the inside or from the outside. Nevertheless, the action lent a great service to some greedy politicians seeking expansionism, war with Spain, and the annexation of Cuba. Around 1890 Captain Mahan published a famous book in which sea power was portrayed as the key to greatness, and the US built its first modern battleship while dreams of supremacy ran throughout the country. Theodore Roosevelt (TR) then US Civil Service Commissioner was among many fervent supporters of expansionism. In 1892 TR demanded the annexation of Hawaii and a canal thru Nicaragua. Powerful pressure groups got organized including TR, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (intimate friend of TR), Navy Secretary Ben Tracy, Chief of Naval Intelligence Charles Davis and Mahan. In March 1895 a note from Lodge to Roosevelt: From the Rio Grande to the Artic Ocean there should be but one flag�when the Nicaragua canal is built, the island of Cuba of almost unbounded fertility will become a necessity. Christmas 1895 saw a conflict between Washington and London over the Venezuela-British Guyana border.

TR then President of New York Police wrote to Cabot Lodge: Let the fight come if it must, I don’t care weather our sea-coast cities are bombarded or not�this country needs a war. March 9, 1896 letter from TR to A.T. Cowles: It is very difficult for me not to wish a war with Spain, for such a war will result at once in getting a proper Navy. Early in 1896 General Fitzhugh Lee, former Governor of Virginia and nephew of Robert E. Lee gets appointed to Consul in Havana. On July 8 (19 month before the explosion) Lee wired Secretary of State Richard Olney a confidential paper urging for US intervention in Cuba. On April 6, 1897 President McKinley names TR Assistant Secretary of the Navy and on June 30 the US adopts plans for a war against Spain. On August 8 Spanish Prime Minister is assassinated. One timely factor in the jingoes’ plans was that the Cuban Rebels were at the point of attaining victory and that a Marti’s style nationalistic government removed from foreign control would be set up.

Up to his death in battle on May 19, 1895, Jose Marti had warned of the US threat to the independence and sovereignty of all the people south of the Rio Grande. Another impenetrable barrier was Antonio Maceo second in command of the Cuban Liberation Army. This guerrilla genius would never accept a Cuba controlled by any foreign power. Pass mid afternoon on December 7, 1897 General Maceo fell in battle against a Spanish column that out of nowhere surprised the Cubans at their San Pedro encampment some 15 miles S/W of Havana. Immediately after the death of Maceo tensions between the US and Spain elevated and a propagandistic drive against Spain, orchestrated by several key US newspapers, took over the news. From Havana Lee sent a message about an anti-US conspiracy in Cuba, and the Maine was ordered to Key West. The Maine designed and built as a steel armored cruiser joined the US Fleet in 1895. On April 10, 1897 (four days after TR became Assistant Secretary of the Navy) Charles D. Sigsbee assumed command with a promotion to Captain.

On December 23, 1897 (16 days after the death of Maceo and six weeks before the explosion) TR wrote to William Chandler: I earnestly hope that events will so shape themselves that we must interfere some time not in the distant future. Chandler and his brother Lewis were already engaged in illegal gunrunning operations to Cuba. On January 12, 1898 Lee telegraphed from Havana: mobs led by Spanish officers attacked today four newspapers here advocating autonomy. Meanwhile in the US the Sun reported the continuation of riots for the next four days, which was not true. On January 23, five ships from the North Atlantic Fleet joined the Maine off Key West. Next day the US State Department asked the Spanish Minister if the Maine could go to Havana, purely as a mark of friendship (sacrificial lamb on its way to the altar?). This was the first US warship to visit Cuba in many years and Spain agreed sending its cruiser Vizcaya to New York. On midmorning January 25 the Maine sailed by the Morro Castle in Havana.

That evening Captain Sigsbee and Consul Lee took a ferry across the bay to Regla to see the Spanish Toreador Mazzantini. At the arena with the US group was the Spanish commander General Parrado. Exactly three Tuesdays after five bulls were killed in the arena in Regla by the sword, 260 humans would be killed in the waters of Havana by a conspicuous explosion. The day after the explosion TR, seen a hesitant McKinley who from the beginning had opposed the war, wrote: The President has no more backbone than a chocolate eclair. Next day New York Journal first page: Assistant Secretary of Navy convinced that the explosion was not an accident; Navy officials think that the Maine was destroyed by a Spanish mine; $50,000 Reward for the Detention of the Perpetrator of the Mine Outrage! In early March Navy secretary Long organized the Naval War Board with TR as its Chairman and the US offered to buy Cuba. Captain William T. Sampson headed a US commission to investigate the explosion, which on March 21 reported that, contrary to the Spanish investigation, the cause of the explosion was external. Three days after the report Sampson was promoted to Chief of the North Atlantic Fleet.

On April 9, Consul Lee closed his office in Havana turning over all US interest to the English Consul. On April 19, 1988 (the same day and month of the 1961 US debacle at Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba) the US Congress approved a resolution recognizing the right of Cuba to be independent, however, the Cuban Liberation Army was totally ignored. On April 25, 1898 the US Congress declared war on Spain and on the 27th began the blockade of Cuban ports. Early June, Senator Lodge wrote to TR: Puerto Rico is not forgotten and we mean to have it. The administration is now committed to the large policy that we both desire. In November TR became governor of New York while Senator Albert Beveridge had the arrogant words: American factories are making more than American people can use�the trade of the world must and can be ours, and we shall get it�Great colonies, flying our flag will grow about�American law, American order, American civilization and the American flag will plant itself on shores hitherto. On March 4, 1901 President McKinley was sworn for a second term; his new vice-president was Theodore Roosevelt.

Six months later McKinley was assassinated and TR became President. In March 1912 the destroyed Maine was taken six kilometers outside Cuban shores and sunk at a depth of about 1,100 meters. In 1976 US Admiral Hyman G. Rickover conducted a study of the explosion concluding with an internal detonation. Could the timely explosion of the Maine and the imperial success that followed suggests a plan from the minds of greedy supremacist jingoes? As US Admiral George Belknap said: it was significant that the ship should have blown up in that particular harbor at that particular time. Ref: Antonio Maceo, by Jose L. Franco, 1989. Cuba, by Hugh Thomas, 1971 ——————————————————————- Domains for sale by Havana Journal: 1898.info Crucible of Empire - PBS Online Home | Back | Next | Interactive Timeline At 9:40pm on February 15, 1898, the battleship U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, killing 268 men and shocking the American populace.

Of the two-thirds of the crew who perished, only 200 bodies were recovered and 76 identified. The sinking of the Maine, which had been in Havana since February 15, 1898, on an official observation visit, was a climax in pre-war tension between the United States and Spain. In the American press, headlines proclaimed "Spanish Treachery!" and "Destruction of the War Ship Maine Was the Work of an Enemy!" William Randolph Hearst and his New York Journal offered a $50,000 award for the "detection of the Perpetrator of the Maine Outrage." Many Americans assumed the Spanish were responsible for the Maine's destruction. On March 28, 1898, the United States Naval Court of Inquiry found that the Maine was destroyed by a submerged mine. Although blame was never formally placed on the Spanish, implication was clear. Recent research suggests that the explosion may have been an accident, involving a spontaneous combustion fire in the coal bunker. Some conspiracy theorists have even suggested that sensational journalist William Randolph Hearst may have set the explosion in order to precipitate a war.

While historians will never know exactly what happened the night the Maine went down, it is clear that the incident was a significant force that propelled the United States into the Spanish-American War. Bibliography: Dyal, Donald H.. Historical Dictionary of the Spanish American War. Greenwood Press: Westport, CT, 1996. O'Toole, G.J.A., The Spanish War: An American Epic-1898. W.W. Norton & Company: New York, 1984. White, Trumbull. Pictoral History of Our War With Spain. Freedom Publishing Company, 1898. Milestones: 1866–1898 - Office of the Historian Milestones: 1866–1898 The Spanish-American War, 1898 The Spanish-American War of 1898 ended Spain’s colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere and secured the position of the United States as a Pacific power. U.S. victory in the war produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States.

The United States also annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict. Thus, the war enabled the United States to establish its predominance in the Caribbean region and to pursue its strategic and economic interests in Asia. Charge of the 24th and 25th Colored Infantry and Rescue of Rough Riders at San Juan Hill, July 2nd 1898 (Kurz and Allison) The war that erupted in 1898 between the United States and Spain was preceded by three years of fighting by Cuban revolutionaries to gain independence from Spanish colonial rule. From 1895–1898, the violent conflict in Cuba captured the attention of Americans because of the economic and political instability that it produced in a region within such close geographical proximity to the United States. The long-held U.S. interest in ridding the Western Hemisphere of European colonial powers and American public outrage over brutal Spanish tactics created much sympathy for the Cuban revolutionaries. By early 1898, tensions between the United States and Spain had been mounting for months. After the U.S. battleship Maine exploded and sank in Havana harbor under mysterious circumstances on February 15, 1898, U.S.

military intervention in Cuba became likely. On April 11, 1898, President William McKinley asked Congress for authorization to end the fighting in Cuba between the rebels and Spanish forces, and to establish a “stable government” that would “maintain order” and ensure the “peace and tranquility and the security” of Cuban and U.S. citizens on the island. On April 20, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution that acknowledged Cuban independence, demanded that the Spanish government give up control of the island, foreswore any intention on the part of the United States to annex Cuba, and authorized McKinley to use whatever military measures he deemed necessary to guarantee Cuba’s independence. The Spanish government rejected the U.S. ultimatum and immediately severed diplomatic relations with the United States. McKinley responded by implementing a naval blockade of Cuba on April 22 and issued a call for 125,000 military volunteers the following day. That same day, Spain declared war on the United States, and the U.S. Congress voted to go to war against Spain on April 25.

The future Secretary of State John Hay described the ensuing conflict as a “splendid little war.” The first battle was fought on May 1, in Manila Bay, where Commodore George Dewey’s Asiatic Squadron defeated the Spanish naval force defending the Philippines. On June 10, U.S. troops landed at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and additional forces landed near the harbor city of Santiago on June 22 and 24. After isolating and defeating the Spanish Army garrisons in Cuba, the U.S. Navy destroyed the Spanish Caribbean squadron on July 3 as it attempted to escape the U.S. naval blockade of Santiago. Secretary of State John Hay On July 26, at the behest of the Spanish government, the French ambassador in Washington, Jules Cambon, approached the McKinley Administration to discuss peace terms, and a cease-fire was signed on August 12. The war officially ended four months later, when the U.S. and Spanish governments signed the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. Apart from guaranteeing the independence of Cuba, the treaty also forced Spain to cede Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States.

Spain also agreed to sell the Philippines to the United States for the sum of $20 million. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on February 6, 1899, by a margin of only one vote. The McKinley Administration also used the war as a pretext to annex the independent state of Hawaii . In 1893, a group of Hawaii-based planters and businessmen led a coup against Queen Liliuokalani and established a new government. They promptly sought annexation by the United States, but President Grover Cleveland rejected their requests. In 1898, however, President McKinley and the American public were more favorably disposed toward acquiring the islands. Supporters of annexation argued that Hawaii was vital to the U.S. economy, that it would serve as a strategic base that could help protect U.S. interests in Asia, and that other nations were intent on taking over the islands if the United States did not. At McKinley’s request, a joint resolution of Congress made Hawaii a U.S. territory on August 12, 1898.

Question: What battleship was sunk in harbor of Havana, Cuba to start the Spanish-American War in 1898?
Answer: The U.S.S. Maine