Battleships of the 20th century

American Battleships

USS Maine ACR-1

USS Maine

Photographed circa 1895-98


Name

USS Maine ACR-1

Battleship originally designated as Armored Cruiser #1

Hull #

ACR-1

Built

Ordered: 3 August 1886

Laid down: 17 October 1888

Launched: 18 November 1889

at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Commissioned

17 September 1895

Sister Ships

USS Texas

History Highlight

The day after the Maine was sunk in Havana harbor, Assistant Secretary to the Navy Theodore Roosevelt stated that “we shall never find out definitely” the cause of the disaster.

Decommissioned

n/a

Fate: Sunk by explosion 15 February 1898

Final Disposition

The sinking of the Maine on February 15, 1898 precipitated the Spanish-American War and also popularized the phrase Remember the Maine! In subsequent years, the sinking of the Maine has been an area of great speculation. The cause of the explosion that sank the ship is still a mystery that remains unsolved to this day.

"Remember the Maine!, To hell with Spain!"

Related Info

On August 5, 1910, Congress authorized the raising of the Maine to remove it as a navigation hazard in Havana Harbor. On February 2, 1912, she was refloated under supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers and towed out to sea where she was sunk in deep water in the Gulf of Mexico on March 16, 1912, with appropriate military honors and ceremonies.

See also USS Maine, BB 10

General characteristics

Displacement:

6,682 tons

Length:

319 ft (97 m)

Beam:

57 ft (17.4 m)

Draft:

22 ft (6.7 m)

Speed:

17 knots (31 km/h)

Complement:

374 officers and men

Armament:

4 × 10 in (250 mm) guns

6 × 6 in (150 mm) guns

7 × 6 pounders (57 mm)

8 × 1 pounders (37 mm)

4 × 14 in (350 mm) surface torpedo tubes
Source: Wikipedia

Related Links

USS Maine (ACR-1)

The Destruction of USS Maine

Battleship Maine By Patrick McSherry

USN - USS MAINE

Remember the Maine

USS Maine Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery

Remembering the Maine, 100 years later

Return to American Battleships

Photos

Wreckage of the USS Maine (ACR-1), 1898

Wreckage of the USS Maine (ACR-1), 1898

Maine Mask

The recovered mast of the USS Maine is placed as an Arlington National Cemetery
memorial to those who died during the 1898 sinking. Source: Wikipedia

Maine Mounment New York

USS Maine Monument in New York City, NY, USA. Located at the SW corner of Central Park at the Merchant's Gate entrance to the park. It is at or near the confluence of Central Park South (59th Street), Central Park West (Eighth Avenue), Broadway, and Columbus Circle. Completed in 1913, it memorializes the American battleship USS Maine that blew up and sank in Havana's harbor in 1898 and precipitated the Spanish-American War the same year. Source: Wikipedia

Unknow sailor

    Photograph of tombstone for an unknown sailor from the U.S.S. Maine, killed in Havana Bay, Cuba, 1898,
adjacent to the U.S.S. Maine memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, taken by RebelAt in the summer of 2005

USS Maine Gun

A gun recovered from the USS Maine, which was sunk in Havana Harbor, Cuba February 15, 1898.
The gun is now located at Fort Allen Park on the Eastern Promenade of Portland, Maine.

Image made 2005 by Robert Swanson