Qualla: USS Maine (1890)

USS Maine (1890): Introduction

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit National Museum of the U.S. Navy, Public domain. At 9:40 on the evening of February 15, 1898, most of the 355 men aboard USS Maine were asleep in their forward berths. The explosion, when it came, detonated the ship's powder magazines and obliterated the entire forward third of the hull. The remaining wreckage settled to the bottom of Havana Harbor within minutes. Of the crew, 261 died -- killed instantly by the blast, drowned in the flooding compartments, or succumbing to injuries in the days that followed. Captain Charles Sigsbee survived only because the officers' quarters were in the stern. The cause of the explosion has been debated for more than a century, but what happened next was immediate and irreversible: "Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!" became the rallying cry that helped drive the United States into the Spanish-American War.

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Image: National Museum of the U.S. Navy | Public domain

USS Maine (1890): Nine Years in the Making

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jebulon, Public domain. Maine was already obsolete before she ever left port. Congress authorized her construction on August 3, 1886, and her keel was laid at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on October 17, 1888 -- making her the largest vessel built in a U.S. Navy yard at that time. But naval technology was adva...

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Image: Jebulon | Public domain

USS Maine (1890): The Explosion That Changed Everything

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit My father, FAL. Maine had been sent to Havana in January 1898, officially as a friendly visit but actually to protect American interests during Cuba's war for independence from Spain. On that February night, the forward magazines -- containing powder charges for the six-inch and ten-inch guns --...

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Image: My father | FAL

USS Maine (1890): "Nobody Outside a Lunatic Asylum"

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit National Museum of the U.S. Navy, Public domain. William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer's New York World weaponized the tragedy. For a week after the sinking, the Journal devoted an average of eight and a half pages daily to the event, dispatching a full team of reporters and artists to Havana -- includi...

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Image: National Museum of the U.S. Navy | Public domain

USS Maine (1890): War, Wreck, and Memory

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit David Bjorgen, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Spanish-American War began on April 21, 1898, two months after the sinking. The McKinley administration never cited the explosion as a formal cause for war, but the atmosphere it created made peaceful resolution impossible. Maine's wreck sat in Havana Harbor for years, taking...

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Image: David Bjorgen | CC BY-SA 3.0

USS Maine (1890): Scattered Relics

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Culprit99, CC BY-SA 4.0. Maine's physical remains are dispersed across the country and beyond. Her main mast stands at Arlington as part of the USS Maine Mast Memorial, dedicated by President-elect Woodrow Wilson in 1915. In Havana, the Cuban government erected a memorial on the Malecon in 1926 featuring...

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Image: Culprit99 | CC BY-SA 4.0