Melville believed a ship's engines needed ample room to operate and that any exposed parts could be protected by an armored deck. [28] Maine was completed with a two-mast military rig and the ship never spread any canvas. [87] The Maine monument in Havana describes Maine's sailors as "victims sacrificed to the imperialist greed in its fervor to seize control of Cuba",[88] which claims that U.S. agents deliberately blew up their own ship. The Maine was an armoured cruiser that was sent to Havana, in Cuba, to support US interests when Cuba made a bid for freedom from their colonial masters Spain. Great Britain, France and Russia had constructed such ships to serve this purpose and sold others of this type, including Riachuelo, to second-rate navies. Stroke for all three pistons was 36 inches (910 mm). [9], The winning design for Maine was from Theodore D. Wilson, who served as chief constructor for C & R and was a member on the Naval Advisory Board in 1881. Moreover, projecting naval force abroad through the use of battleships ran counter to the government policy of isolationism. It took up valuable space in the harbor, and the buildup of silt around her hull threatened to create a shoal. Commander Converse "simply stated, without elaboration, that he could not realize such an event happening".[75]. [97][page needed], On 13 February 1912, the engineers let water back into the interior of the cofferdam. He concluded that the explosion was not caused by a mine, and speculated that spontaneous combustion was the most likely cause, from coal in the bunker next to the magazine. This was a flaw she shared with Texas. "[53] Commodore George Dewey, Commander of the Asiatic Squadron, "feared at first that she had been destroyed by the Spanish, which of course meant war, and I was getting ready for it when a later dispatch said it was an accident. They fired shells that weighed 105 pounds (48 kg) with a muzzle velocity of about 1,950 feet per second (590 m/s). [79], In the 2001 book Theodore Roosevelt, the U.S. Navy and the Spanish–American War, Wegner revisits the Rickover investigation and offers additional details. The weight thus saved could be applied either to additional hull structure and machinery or to achieving higher speed. USS Maine (Battleship # 10, later BB-10), 1902-1922. [95], The Army Corps of Engineers built a cofferdam around the Maine and pumped water out from inside it. They concluded that the photos showed "no plausible evidence of penetration from the outside," and they believed that the explosion originated inside the ship. The phrase, "Remember the Maine! Additional observations included that: The conclusions of the report were not reported at that time by the American press. [22] They fired a shell weighing about 6 lb (2.7 kg) at a muzzle velocity of about 1,765 feet per second (538 m/s) at a rate of 20 rounds per minute to a maximum range of 8,700 yards (7,955 m). In … The deck sloped downwards to the sides, but its thickness increased to 3 inches (76 mm). In addition, she was designed to carry two 14.8 long tons (15.0 t) steam-powered torpedo boats, each with a single 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tube and a one-pounder gun. (1979). see Spanish-American War The explosion came during escalating tensions between the United States and Spain regarding Spain’s maladministration of Cuba, one of its last colonial possessions, and harsh suppression of the island’s independence movement. It was specifically stated that the main guns "must afford heavy bow and stern fire. One of the ship's anchors was donated to the city of Reading, Pennsylvania. Those who died in hospitals were buried in Key West. Wegner was also critical of the fact that participants in the Rickover study were not consulted until AME's analysis was essentially complete, far too late to confirm the veracity of data being used or engage in any other meaningful cooperation. [49] The remaining wreckage rapidly settled to the bottom of the harbor. Painting of USS Maine battleship. "[56], The New York Journal and New York World, owned respectively by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, gave Maine intense press coverage, employing tactics that would later be labeled "yellow journalism." This was in 1898. Due to the 1912 raising of the ship, the wreck was completely missing its bow; this tell-tale feature was instrumental in identifying the ship. The rear portion of the protective deck sloped downwards towards the stern, going below the waterline, to protect the propeller shafts and steering gear. Although the Maine explosion was not a direct cause, it served as a catalyst that accelerated the events leading up to the war. He then asked Commander Converse about the feasibility of such a scenario. [29] The mizzen mast was removed in 1892, after the ship had been launched, but before her completion. [3][page needed], The Maine-class of three battleships was authorized by Congress on 4 May 1898, 8 days after the start of the Spanish-American War. Nevertheless, she was expected to fulfill more than one tactical function. The fact that the Cuban government wanted the wreck removed from Havana harbor might also have played a role: it at least offered the opportunity to examine the wreck in greater detail than had been possible in 1898, while simultaneously obliging the now-independent Cubans. [5] The hull was patched up until the ship was afloat, then she was towed to sea and sunk. This was done, according to the ship's chief engineer, A. W. Morley, so the low-pressure cylinder could be disconnected when the ship was under low power. A photo of the christening shows Mrs. Wilmerding striking the bow near the plimsoll line depth of 13 which lead to many comments (much later of course) that the ship was "unlucky" from the launching. [69] Wegner claims that technical opinion among the Geographic team was divided between its younger members, who focused on computer modeling results, and its older ones, who weighed their inspection of photos of the wreck with their own experience. Three days later, the interior of the cofferdam was full and Maine floated. [74], The board arrived on 21 February and took testimony from survivors, witnesses, and divers (who were sent down to investigate the wreck). [17] They could also be loaded at any angle of train; initially the main guns of Texas, by comparison, with external rammers, could be loaded only when trained on the centerline or directly abeam, a common feature in battleships built before 1890. Firedamp is explosive at concentrations between 4% and 16%, with most violence at around 10%. An investigation by Admiral Hyman Rickover in 1974 agreed with the coal fire hypothesis. USS Maine, first of a class of three 12,500-ton battleships, was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The rest of the wreck was badly corroded. Displacement: 6,682 tons 2. [70], In order to find the cause of the explosion, a naval inquiry was ordered by the United States shortly after the incident, headed by Captain William T. Sampson. The design was influenced by the Russian battleship Retvizan which was also built by William Cramp and Sons in Philadelphia. Maine spent her active career with the North Atlantic Squadron, operating from Norfolk, Virginia along the East Coast of the United States and the Caribbean. The Maine was sent to Cuba to demonstrate America's very strong interest in ending the civil war there. Some injured sailors were sent to hospitals in Havana and Key West, Florida. [98] Flowers adorned Maine's deck, and an American flag was strung from her jury mast. The episode focused national attention on the crisis in Cuba. The explosion created the rallying cry “Remember the Maine!” as newspaper articles urged the United States to go to war against Spain. He adds that AME used flawed data concerning the Maine's design and ammunition storage. The lead ship of her pre-Dreadnought battleship class, USS Maine (Battleship #10), was commissioned on December 29, 1902, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Waking up President McKinley to break the news, Commander Francis W. Dickins referred to it as an "accident. [104][105], In 1926, the Cuban government erected a memorial to the victims of Maine on the Malecon, near the Hotel Nacional, to commemorate United States assistance in acquiring Cuban independence from Spain. This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Navy document: "The Destruction of USS Maine". Congress did not demand a new investigation into the sinking at that time. Between 20 November and 2 December 1911, a court of inquiry headed by Rear Admiral Charles E. Vreeland inspected the wreck. On trials, she reached a speed of 16.45 knots (30.47 km/h; 18.93 mph), failing to meet her contract speed of 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). Ninety rounds per gun were carried. [92][93] One of these suggested that a U.S. Navy ship be blown up in Guantanamo Bay deliberately. Such was the revolutionary British design that all preceding warships came to be known as "pre-dreadnoughts" of which USS Maine was one. Another inconsistency, according to Wegner, was that of only one technical witness, Commander George Converse, from the Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island. [76], In 1910, the decision was made to have a second Court of Inquiry. The delivery of the Brazilian battleship Riachuelo in 1883 and the acquisition of other modern armored warships from Europe by Brazil, Argentina and Chile the House Naval Affairs Committee, Hilary A. Herbert, stated to Congress: "if all this old navy of ours were drawn up in battle array in mid-ocean and confronted by Riachuelo it is doubtful whether a single vessel bearing the American flag would get into port. [106] The Communist government then added its own inscription blaming "imperialist voracity in its eagerness to seize the island of Cuba" for Maine's sinking. Only one was built, but it had a top speed of only a little over 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) so it was transferred to the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island, as a training craft. Three Maine class battleships were completed for the U.S. Navy between 1902 and 1904. The construction of the U.S.S. He frequently cited various naval officers saying that the explosion could not have been an on-board accident. These reports included numerous photos annotated by Furgueson with frame and strake numbers on corresponding parts of the wreckage. Articles needing page number citations from September 2015, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, World War I battleships of the United States, List of battleships of the United States Navy, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/armor.htm, https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Maine-class_battleship?oldid=2846555, Pages using duplicate arguments in template calls. Maine is described as an armored cruiser or second-class battleship, depending on the source. (the court's 7th finding) and, "The court has been unable to obtain evidence fixing the responsibility for the destruction of the Maine upon any person or persons." Two months after the explosion, the United States declared war on Spain. The main batteries were to be increased from 12-inch to 13-inch guns and the 4-inch guns with 5-inch guns. [17] This was a very low capacity for a ship of Maine's rating, which limited her time at sea and her ability to run at flank speed, when coal consumption increased dramatically. She was the largest vessel built in a U.S. Navy yard up to that time. The vessel was originally named "Armored Cruiser #1" ("ACR-1") but renamed as the USS Maine and classified as a "Second-class Battleship". Ramón Blanco y Erenas, Spanish governor of Cuba, had proposed instead a joint Spanish-American investigation of the sinking. Maine's destruction did not result in an immediate declaration of war with Spain, but the event created an atmosphere that precluded a peaceful solution. Smokeless powder allowed a decrease in gun size, with an increase in power and efficiency. This ability was limited as the superstructure restricted each turret's arc of fire.[8]. I. [101] Nine bodies were never recovered and 19 crewmen, several unidentified, are buried in Key West Cemetery under a statue of a U.S. sailor holding an oar. Bondoman is correct, the USS MAINE of Spanish American War fame had no sister ships, it was a one off class. USS Maine Second Class Battleship The first Maine, a second‑class armored battleship, was laid down at New York Navy Yard 17 October 1888; launched 18 November 1890; sponsored by Miss Alice Tracy Wilmerding, granddaughter of Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Tracy; and commissioned 17 September 1895, Capt. The ten-inch guns fired a 510 pounds (231 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 2,000 feet per second (610 m/s) to a range of 20,000 yards (18,000 m) at maximum elevation. This article is about the ship sunk in Havana, 1898. "[61] Hearst's sources never had to be specifically named because he just needed them to support the narrative that the explosion was caused by an attack by the Spanish. To allow for at least partial broadside fire, Maine's superstructure was separated into three structures. On February 15, her forward gunpowder magazines exploded, killing 266 sailors and sinking in the harbour. McLaughlin, Stephen (2000). The three Maine class battleships: Maine, Missouri, and Ohio were launched in the first several years of the 20th century. Also, cross-deck firing damaged her deck and superstructure significantly due to the vacuum from passing shells. Speed: 18 knots 4. Introduced in 1889, nickel steel was the first modern steel alloy armor and, with a figure of merit of 0.67, was an improvement over the 0.6 rating of mild steel used until then. In the nine years between her being laid down and her completion, naval tactics and technology changed radically and left Maine's role in the navy ill-defined. [64] The official report from the board, which was presented to the Navy Department in Washington on 21 March, specifically stated the following: "At frame 18 the vertical keel is broken in two and the flat keel is bent at an angle similar to the angle formed by the outside bottom plating. became a rallying cry for action. According to Wegner, Rickover interviewed naval historians at the Energy Research and Development Agency after reading an article in the Washington Star-News by John M. Taylor. The mill had already weathered one strike in 1882 and a lockout in 1889 in an effort to break the union there. [14], As a result of these changing priorities, Maine was caught between two separate positions and could not perform either one adequately. Why the question? With an increase in the number of steel ships, the Navy switched to bituminous coal, which burned at a hotter temperature than anthracite coal and allowed ships to steam faster. [48] Later investigations revealed that more than 5 long tons (5.1 t) of powder charges for the vessel's six- and ten-inch guns had detonated, obliterating the forward third of the ship. Both designs resembled the Brazilian battleship Riachuelo, having the main gun turrets sponsoned out over the sides of the ship and echeloned. She was to be named in honor of the 23rd state, and was assigned to the New York Navy Yard. This process can result from the disruption caused by mining from the seams, which exposes the sulfides in the ore to air and water. Commissioned: 15 August 1895 6. The barbettes were 12 inches thick, with their lower portions reduced to 10 inches. In November 1890, Tracy and Andrew Carnegie signed a contract for Homestead to supply 6000 tons of nickel steel. Although built in the New York Naval shipyard, her design followed that of British war ships of the day. [40][41], Maine was launched on 18 November 1889, sponsored by Alice Tracey Wilmerding, the granddaughter of Navy Secretary Benjamin F. Tracy. Specifications for Texas were similar, but demanded a main battery of two 12-inch (305 mm) guns and slightly thicker armor. Wing bunkers at each end of each fire room extended inboard to the front of the boilers. The bodies of its crew were then removed to the armored cruiser North Carolina for repatriation. [89], Eliades Acosta was the head of the Cuban Communist Party's Committee on Culture and a former director of the José Martí National Library in Havana. [36] The lighter armament comprised four each 37-millimeter (1.5 in) Hotchkiss and Driggs-Schroeder one-pounder guns. To fulfill the president's orders, the second-class battleship USS Maine was detached from the North Atlantic Squadron at Key West on January 24, 1898. Maine was rooted in U.S. naval expansion of the 1880s. [4][page needed] The original plans called for an improved version of the USS Iowa, which had been authorized in 1892. Arent S. Crowninshield in command.. Maine departed the New York Navy Yard on 5 November 1895 … Officers and Crew of the USS Maine Feburary 15, 1898. Wegner suggests that the fact that this inquiry could be held without the threat of war, which had been the case in 1898, lent it the potential for greater objectivity than had been possible previously. [39], Two flaws emerged in Maine's protection, both due to technological developments between her laying-down and her completion. The results reached were inconclusive. The Maine-class battleships, formally Battleship Design Study, BB-55 - Scheme N, were a speculative preliminary series of drawings developed by the US Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair at the behest of the Wargaming Department of the Naval War College. (The delivery of her armored plating took three years and a fire in the drafting room of the building yard, where Maine's working set of blueprints were stored, caused further delay.) The construction of the vessel was authorized by the U.S. Congress on August 3, 1886. Wegner says that all relevant documents were obtained and studied, including the ship's plans and weekly reports of the unwatering of Maine in 1912 (the progress of the cofferdam) written by William Furgueson, chief engineer for the project. [16] She was divided into 214 watertight compartments. Del Peral and De Salas identified the spontaneous combustion of the coal bunker, located adjacent to the munition stores in Maine, as the likely cause of the explosion. From shop MrsCampbells. The sinking of the Maine riveted American attention on the Cuban crisis, … The possibility that other combustibles, such as paint or drier[clarification needed] products, had caused the explosion was not discounted. Maine Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery", "Havana restores monument to victims of USS Maine", "U.S.S. In 1898, a U.S. Navy board of inquiry ruled that the ship had been sunk by an external explosion from a mine. Besides the desire for a more thorough investigation, this would also facilitate the recovery of the bodies of the victims, so they could be buried in the United States. Had a mine been the cause of the explosion, a column of water would have been observed. [35], The anti-torpedo boat armament consisted of seven 57-millimeter (2.2 in) Driggs-Schroeder six-pounder guns mounted on the superstructure deck. [19], The two main gun turrets were sponsoned out over the sides of the ship and echeloned to allow both to fire fore and aft. Maine now lies on the sea-bed 3,600 feet (1,100 m) below the surface. "[54] Navy Captain Philip R. Alger, an expert on ordnance and explosives, posted a bulletin at the Navy Department the next day saying that the explosion had been caused by a spontaneous fire in the coal bunkers. Less than two years later, came the Homestead Strike of 1892, one of the largest, most serious disputes in U.S. labor history.[44]. On March 25, 1912, a cowl from the USS Maine arrived in Woburn, Massachusetts and is still on display in Woburn Center. The Maine-class of three battleships was authorized by Congress on 4 May 1898, 8 days after the start of the Spanish-American War. Munition stores do not usually explode when a ship is sunk by a mine. United States Navy, Bureau of Steam Engineering, How Likely was a Coal Bunker Fire Aboard the Battleship, Mass murder of German POWs after World War II (1940s), Allegations of CIA assistance to Osama bin Laden, Free energy suppression conspiracy theory, Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1898, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Maine_(1889)&oldid=985291237, Armored cruisers of the United States Navy, Ships sunk by non-combat internal explosions, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from October 2011, Articles with Spanish-language sources (es), Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Articles using NRISref without a reference number, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from September 2013, Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from March 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2020, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from March 2019, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from February 2019, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from February 2018, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the United States Navy, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-LCCN identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Two officers and 251 sailors and marines either killed by the explosion or drowned, Seven others were rescued but soon died of their injuries, One officer later died of "cerebral affection" (shock). [78], Admiral Hyman G. Rickover became intrigued with the disaster and began a private investigation in 1974, using information from the two official inquiries, newspapers, personal papers, and information on the construction and ammunition of Maine. The cause of her sinking remains a subject of debate.[4]. Within a decade, this role had changed to commerce raiding, for which fast, long-range vessels, with only limited armor protection, were needed. [13], A three-year delay ensued, while the shipyard waited for nickel steel plates for Maine's armor. Allen, Thomas B. ed. [81], In 1998, National Geographic magazine commissioned an analysis by Advanced Marine Enterprises (AME). The following is a list of all Officers, Crew and Marines attached to the USS Maine on the day of its destruction. [103] In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson dedicated the USS Maine Mast Memorial to those who died. The USS MAINE was the second "second-class battleship" constructed for the U.S. Navy. Maine's weight distribution was ill-balanced, which slowed her considerably. Preston, Anthony. This singularly beautiful second-class armored battleship was commissioned in 1895. The ships had to fit within existing docks and had to have a shallow draft to enable them to use all the major American ports and bases. The site was explored with an ROV. The advent of lightweight armor, such as Harvey steel, made this transformation possible. Commissioned in late December 1902, she was in the Atlantic for the next five years. By contrast, her contemporary, USS TEXAS, was the product of a design competition, based on an English design, and constructed by a naval contractor. See, sfn error: no target: CITEREFDANFS_Maine_(ACR-1) (. Pyrites were used to strike sparks to ignite gunpowder in wheellock guns, for example. In 1961, the memorial was damaged by crowds, following the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and the eagle on top was broken and removed. [64] After the investigation, the newly located dead were buried in Arlington National Cemetery and the hollow, intact portion of the hull of Maine was refloated and ceremoniously scuttled at sea on 16 March 1912. [4][page needed]. Maine also carried two small dynamos to power her searchlights and provide interior lighting. On 9 May 1910, Congress authorized funds for the removal of the Maine, the proper interment in Arlington National Cemetery of the estimated 70 bodies still inside, and the removal and transport of the main mast[clarification needed] to Arlington. Roughly 165 were buried at Arlington, although the remains of one sailor were exhumed for his home town, Indianapolis, Indiana. Then Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt was present at its installation in City Park. In 1898 she was sent to Havana to protect US interests during the local revolt against the Spanish government. [43] Homestead was, what author Paul Krause calls, "the last union stronghold in the steel mills of the Pittsburgh district." The planned 13-inch 35 caliber guns were replaced by a smaller but more powerful 12-inch 40 caliber gun, which used the new and more efficient smokeless powder. Although the Maine explosion was not a direct cause, it served as a catalyst that accelerated the events leading up to the war. The memorial includes the ship's main mast. The ship forward of frame 41 was entirely destroyed; a twisted mass of steel out of line with the rest of the hull, all that was left of the bow, bore no resemblance to a ship. Holes were cut in the bottom of the after-section, through which jets of water were pumped, to break the mud seal holding the ship, then plugged, with flood cocks, which would later be used for sinking the ship. Height of 3.45 feet ( 0.9 m ) was above the design was influenced by the city Reading. 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