USS Maine 1898
_starboard_bow_view,_1898_(26510673494).jpg){kind=link}
Marker: recorded wreck position (Steam era).
Key facts
| Name | USS Maine | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1898 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Steam era | derived from year |
| Ship type | pre-dreadnought battleship | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | United States | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | United States Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Sea / ocean | Straits of Florida | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Cuba | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 26 km from land |
| Position | 23.2025, -82.3550 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
USS Maine was a United States Navy ship that sank in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, contributing to the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in April. U.S. newspapers claimed that the Spanish were responsible for the ship's destruction, while evidence points to an accident caused by an internal coal bunker fire. The phrase "Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!" became a rallying cry for action. The Maine explosion served as a catalyst which accelerated the events leading up to the war.
Maine is described as an armored cruiser or second-class battleship, depending on the source, ordered in 1886. She was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after the state of Maine. Maine and its contemporary the battleship Texas were both represented as an advance in American warship design, reflecting the latest European naval developments. Both ships had two-gun turrets staggered en échelon, and full sailing masts were omitted due to the increased reliability of steam engines. Maine and Texas were obsolete by the time of completion due to a protracted nine-year construction period. Far more advanced vessels were in service or nearing completion that year.
Maine was sent to Havana Harbor to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban War of Independence.
Diving & visiting
In 2002, the Discovery Channel produced an episode of the Unsolved History documentaries, entitled "Death of the U.S.S. Maine". It used photographic evidence, naval experts, and archival information to argue that the cause of the explosion was a coal bunker fire, and it identified a weakness or gap in the bulkhead separating the coal and powder bunkers that allowed the fire to spread from the former to the latter.
On 18 October 2000, the wreck of Maine was rediscovered in about 3,770 feet (1,150 m) of water roughly 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of Havana Harbor by Advanced Digital Communications, a Toronto-based expedition company. The team, led by marine engineer Paulina Zelitsky, accidentally stumbled across the ship while working with Cuban scientists and oceanographers from the University of South Florida College of Marine Science to test underwater exploration technology. The researchers, who referred to the wreck as the "square" due to its unique shape, did not initially believe it to be the Maine, since the ship was discovered east of where it was reportedly scuttled.
Location
- Recorded position: 23.2025, -82.3550 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Straits of Florida
- Nearest coast: Cuba
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article USS Maine (1890) (revision 1381312525), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “2002 Discovery Channel Unsolved History investigation”, “Rediscovery”; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- U-157 1942 · 117 km
- Nuestra Señora de Atocha 1622 · 155 km
- U-2513 1951 · 168 km
- HMS Looe 178 km
Browse more: Central America & Caribbean wrecks · wrecks off Cuba · Straits of Florida · Steam era