The USS Maine Explodes in Havana Harbor

On the night of February 15, 1898, the American warship USS Maine was anchored in Havana Harbor when a violent detonation obliterated its forward section. Powder in the forward magazines exploded, tearing through the hull and sending the vessel rapidly to the harbor floor. Of the roughly 350 officers and crew aboard, most were resting in their berths within the forward quarters. About 250 men died in the blast or drowned, and later deaths from injuries raised the toll to about 266.

Authorized by Congress in 1886 and laid down in 1888, Maine reflected late nineteenth-century naval experimentation. Initially planned during debates over coastal defense and foreign armored vessels, the ship featured twin gun turrets arranged in an echelon layout, sponsoned out over the hull sides to provide heavy forward and aft fire. However, a construction period of about seven years after the keel was laid caused the design to fall behind rapid advances in warship construction. When commissioned in 1895, it lacked the speed of contemporary cruisers and possessed insufficient modern armor compared to emerging battleship designs.