Battleship Maine Memorial Day
Battleship Maine Memorial Day commemorates the tragic sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, an event that significantly influenced U.S. involvement in the Spanish-American War. The Maine was sent to Cuba to protect American interests amid rising tensions over Spanish colonial rule and reported human rights abuses. The ship exploded while anchored, resulting in the deaths of over 250 crew members and sparking outrage in the United States, which fueled public sentiment against Spain. An inquiry suggested the explosion was caused by an external mine, although the exact cause remains debated. In 1909, efforts began to recover the remains of the sailors from the wreck, culminating in the recovery and burial of 64 sailors at Arlington National Cemetery in 1912. A memorial was erected in Havana in 1926, and memorial services were held annually to honor those who lost their lives. This day serves as a reminder of the complexities of military conflicts and the loss of life associated with them, encouraging reflection on historical events and their implications.
Battleship Maine Memorial Day
The American battleship Maine, under the command of Captain Charles D. Sigsbee, was sent to Spanish-ruled Cuba in January 1898 as tensions were growing between Spain and the United States over who should control Cuba. The ship was sent as a show of strength and to protect Americans residing and doing business in Cuba. The Spanish government had been charged with human rights abuses, and the lurid stories about Spanish cruelties had turned American public opinion against Spain and in favor of the struggling Cuban revolutionaries who sought to free Cuba from Spain.
The United States was a growing world power, both militarily and economically, and most people favored continued territorial expansion. Spain, on the other hand, was on the decline and had lost virtually all of its once-vast empire. Thus, the Spanish possession of Cuba, a short distance off American shores, presented an ideal opportunity for America to flex its muscle while ostensibly acting to protect Cuban freedom fighters. For months, American diplomats in Madrid, Spain, had been pressuring the Spanish government to yield de facto control over Cuba to the United States.
On February 15, 1898, the Spanish warship Alfonso XII and the American commercial steamship City of Washington were anchored near the Maine in Havana harbor. The day had been unusually warm for the season. The evening heat was so oppressive that the officers and men on the two battleships and the passengers on the merchant ship were relaxing, trying to keep cool. At 9:00 P.M., Captain Sigsbee had just finished writing a report to Theodore Roosevelt, then the assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy, on the advisability of continuing the practice of placing torpedo tubes on cruisers and battleships. He was about to begin another letter, this time to his wife. At 9:10 the bugler began to blow taps.
By 9:40 P.M. everything was quiet on the ship and the captain was folding the letter which he had just written to his wife. In an instant, as the captain explained afterward, “there came a bursting, rending and crashing sound or roar of immense volume, followed by a succession of heavy, ominous metallic sounds and reverberations.” An explosion had occurred under the sleeping quarters of the crew, wrecking the vessel so completely that it sank within a very short time. The Maine had a complement of 26 officers and 328 men. Two of the officers and 250 of the men were killed outright, and eight died later in Havana hospitals. Captain Sigsbee was the last man to leave the ship. He took refuge on the City of Washington and sent the following dispatch to the Department of the Navy:
Maine blown up in Havana harbor…tonight and destroyed. Wounded and others on board Spanish man-of-war and Ward Line steamer. Send lighthouse tenders from Key West for crew and the few pieces of equipment above water. No one has clothing other than that upon him. Public opinion should be suspended until further report. All officers believed to be saved. Jenkins and Merritt not yet accounted for. Many Spanish officers, including representatives of General Blanco [the island's Spanish captain-general] now with me to express sympathy.
Charles W. Newton, a captain in the National Guard, was in Havana at the time of the explosion. He had gone there with General Arthur L. Goodrich, the owner of the Hartford, Connecticut, newspaper Courant, to see if conditions were as bad as reported. He and General Goodrich were seated in a park overlooking the harbor when the explosion occurred. His description of the event and of conditions in Cuba generally was particularly vivid:
Thousands of natives, driven into the city by the Spaniards, were starving. Every morning the authorities would line up men suspected of inciting to revolt and shoot them down. There were street riots all the time. Nevertheless the Spanish officers had a gay time and there were bull fights all the time. That night (February 15) we left the Hotel Inglaterra and went to sit in the park. There was plenty of high feeling and we thought maybe the hotel would be blown up. However, nothing serious had happened and I said to Arthur: “We'll be leaving for home tomorrow and nothing much has happened. I wouldn't mind seeing some excitement, even if we had to swim out to the Maine for protection.” Just as I said these words there was a great flash out on the water and a few seconds later a big boom. We could barely see the Maine in the darkness. It began sinking slowly by the stern. Its powder magazines let go, just like a fireworks blast. It was awful. The ship continued to burn for hours, just that portion that remained out of water. Goodrich and I were afraid that would be a signal for a general fight, so we ran to a warehouse and took shelter until three o'clock in the morning. Then we got aboard the City of Washington to which Admiral Sigsbee was taken after every living man had been removed from the Maine. Two days later we returned to the states.
The immediate impression in the United States was that the Spanish authorities were responsible for the destruction of the ship. This popular impression, fueled by American expansionist sentiment and the bad press concerning Spanish human rights abuses in Cuba, led to the Spanish-American War in April 1898. The war resulted in the expulsion of Spain from the island and nominal independence for Cuba under American supervision.
As far as the destruction of the Maine was concerned, a naval court of inquiry that sat in the case found that although the explosion was, in its opinion, caused externally by an underwater mine, it was impossible to “obtain evidence fixing the responsibility…upon any person or persons.” An independent Spanish investigation had an entirely different conclusion from that of the American board of inquiry, namely that the Maine was wrecked by an interior explosion. Some authorities believe that the disaster was accidental, even if the explosion was external. In any event, the exact circumstances surrounding the catastrophe are likely to remain a mystery forever.
The wreck of the Maine remained in Havana harbor for 14 years. On February 15, 1909, the Havana Camp of the Spanish War Veterans was organized, and its first act was to adopt a resolution calling on Congress to lift the wreck, recover the bodies of the dead that were still in it, and tow the ruined hull out to sea and sink it. Similar resolutions were adopted by the Spanish War Veterans and by other organizations in the United States, and on May 9, 1910, Congress authorized the work to be done. It was completed on March 16, 1912, and memorial services were held in Havana over the bodies of an estimated 64 sailors taken from the wreck. The recovered bodies were buried in Arlington National Cemetery. A monument to the Maine was subsequently erected by the government of Cuba in Havana and dedicated on February 15, 1926. Memorial exercises were held annually at its base for many years thereafter.
Cray, Robert E. “Remembering the Maine in Key West.” Naval History Magazine, vol. 29, no. 1, February 2015, www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2015/february/remembering-maine-key-west. Accessed 1 May 2024.
“USS Maine (1895–1898), Originally Designated as Armored Cruiser # 1.” Naval History and Heritage Command, www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-navy-ships/battleships/maine.html. Accessed 1 May 2024.
“USS Maine Memorial (Mast of the Maine).” Arlington National Cemetery, www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Monuments-and-Memorials/USS-Maine. Accessed 1 May 2024.