Tensions between the Spanish and the Americans were no better for, in October of 1873, the Spanish captured the USS Virginius, a side-wheel steamer originating as a Confederate vessel during the American Civil War (captured by the North in April of 1865). The Virginius was actively in support of Cuban independence and promptly targeted by Spanish authorities as a result. The vessel was eventually hunted down and captured to which 53 of its crew (both British and American in nationality) executed. This event nearly brought the US (and Britain) to war with Spain. The incident did serve to showcase to the Americans the deficiency in their ironclad strength when compared to the Spanish and this sparked a new US naval program for five such vessels to be constructed.
The story of the USS Maine would take a disastrous turn one February evening. At 9:40PM, on February 15th, 1898, the vessel was rocked by a massive explosion as five tons of her powder charge (located at the forward magazine) ignited while most of the USS Maine crew was asleep. The frontal section of the Maine was completely blown off and 260 personnel were killed where they lay or stood while others soon followed through their received injuries. Many were enlisted personnel for officers generally stationed at the rear of the ship. The complete loss of the vessel's forecastle then forced the open hulk to take on water and begin sinking in the harbor. Nearby Spanish elements sprung into action to provide assistance to the wounded and help to control fires.
After a four week investigation, a US naval committee agreed that the likely culprit for the explosion was a naval mine of unknown origin. It was believed that the mine rolled up against the hull of the Maine and detonated, in turn detonating her forward magazine, causing the deadly explosion. Once news of the results reached the American people, calls for reprisal began to spring up, urged by press outlets playing upon the anger of the public. Forced to action, then-US President McKinley ordered a naval blockade of Cuba to which Spain returned with a formal declaration of war on the United States on April 25th, 1898, thusly beginning the Spanish-American War (April 25, 1898 - August 12th, 1898). The war would last a little over 3.5 months, result in tens of thousands dead and removed Spain as an official world power - the Spanish Empire and all its prestige now ceased to exist. In turn, the war signaled the United States a bonafide world power. The conflict was concluded with the Treaty of Paris signed in 1898 as Spain sued for peace, giving Cuban control to the US government. The sinking of the USS Maine proved a definitive catalyst to the US going to war against the European power.
During the span of 1911 and 1912, the United States Navy moved into Havana Harbor to attempt to raise the hulk of the USS Maine, both to remove it as an obstruction and to study its damage. An inquiry supported the naval mine theory from previous to which the Maine was then moved towed several miles north of Havana until sunk under the direction of the USN with full military honors afforded her dead.
Despite the formal findings, many experts agree that the cause of the explosion was in fact related to a spontaneous combustion of coal at the bunker located adjacent to the six-inch gun magazine. However, the sinking of the USS Maine still remains unresolved for students of naval history.
The USN honored its first Maine by laying down the keel to a second one year after her loss. This USS Maine became a part of the US "Great White Fleet" touring the world in a show of force.
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