Thunderous booms and bangs sounded the evening of February 15, 1898. The battleship Maine exploded on the harbors in Havana, Cuba. Panicky passengers scurried frightened to safety, while some remained trapped, helplessly, with no possible escape. Startled survivors searched for crew members and friends. The battleship which detonated into several pieces sank to the ocean floor dragging rapt wounded and dead. Two-hundred and sixty-six of the three-hundred and fifty-five officers, crew members, sailors, and Marines on board died or drowned in the explosion or shortly after suffering from injuries or shock.
The USS Maine was the United States Navy’s second commission battleship; however, Maine was classified originally as an armored cruiser. Heavily armed with guns and torpedoes, this ship was ready for battle. The USS Maine, named after the state of Maine, and completed on November 18, 1889. The battleship remained stationed near the east coast of the United States and the Caribbean. In January 1898, President William McKinley sent the 6,789 ton ship, from Key West, Florida to Havana, Cuba in hopes to help protect the United States’ interests during the Cuban Revolt against Spain. Three weeks later the battleship mysteriously exploded inside the Havana Harbor. The captain, Charles Sigsbee and several officers aboard the ship survived, because of their location in the rear end of the ship.
A few weeks after the explosion, investigations began. First to explore the tragic scene was the United Stats Naval Court of Inquiry, located in Key West. They discovered that a naval mine caused the explosion. Researchers, Del Peral and De Salas conducted another investigation the same year and collected information given to them by surviving...
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...the government removed the remains of the wreckage and bodies of those who died on the ship. They also buried the bodies in Arlington National Cemetery and some at their hometowns. A memorial with the ship’s mast was placed in Arlington National Cemetery to honor the lives lost from the explosion.
Although the definite cause of the explosion still remains a mystery, the death of the members on board of the USS Maine persists to live on, marking the end of a new beginning.
Works Cited
Rickover, Hyman G. How the Battleship Maine Was Destroyed United States Navy Department, 1975
www.history.com Department of the Navy. 13 August 2003. Department of the Navy -- Naval Historical Center. 13 May 2010.
www.u-s-history.com 2001-2010. Online Highway LLC. 13 May 2010
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In the late 1800’s the American people and their government became more willing to risk war in defense of American interests overseas, support for building a large modern navy began to grow. Supporters argued that if the United States did not build up its navy and acquire bases overseas, it would be shut out of foreign markets by Europeans. Captain Alfred T. Mahan observed that building a modern navy meant that the U.S. had to acquire territory for naval bases overseas. This would enable them to operate a navy far from home. A country needed bases and coaling stations in distant regions, which was exactly what they did by having Havana, Cuba be one of its ports. Another factor that was part of the Navy’s modernization was the USS Maine, which was probably the most famous ship of its era. The USS Maine was one of the Navy’s first armored battle ships. It was one of the first U.S. naval vessels with electrical lighting. It had a top speed of 17 knots and a crew of 392 officers and enlisted men. On the evening of February 15, 1898 the USS Maine exploded. Of the 345 officers and sailors aboard the Maine, 266 died. There were many ideas of how this explosion occurred, namely: the ship’s ammunition supplies blew up, a fire accidentally ignited the ammunition, and that a mine detonated near the ship set off the ammunition. At the time Cuba was a Spanish colony, but it was in the midst of a revolution. The Cuban people were fighting for independence from Spain. During this Cuban revolt against Spain and the American battleship Maine dropped anchor in the Havana harbor to protect American interests in Cuba. Many Americans regarded the Spanish as tyrants and supported the Cubans in their struggle. This immediately made Americans jump to the Conclusion that Spain blew up the Maine. American’s felt that since they were allies with Cuba that Spain was trying to harm America, as to not interfere with Cuba’s revolt against them. Within a matter of weeks, Spain and the U.
All power all lights were lost forward. The fact that the [torpedo] hits were there, at least we think they were up forward, are borne out by the fact we have almost no Marines who were reported in that section of the ship. We have not a single steward's mate and their compartment was up there and we have very few officers that were in their rooms at the time of the explosion. So we believe all of those people were killed almost instantly.
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" The Mariners' Museum : Birth of the U.S. Navy.” The Mariners' Museum, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
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Operation Crossroads: Fact Sheet. (2014, 07 13). Retrieved from Naval History & Heritage Command: http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq76-1.htm
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