Thunderous booms and bangs sounded the evening of February 15, 1898. The battleship Maine exploded on the harbors in Havana, Cuba. Panicky passengers scurried frightened to safety, while some remained trapped, helplessly, with no possible escape. Startled survivors searched for crew members and friends. The battleship which detonated into several pieces sank to the ocean floor dragging rapt wounded and dead. Two-hundred and sixty-six of the three-hundred and fifty-five officers, crew members, sailors, and Marines on board died or drowned in the explosion or shortly after suffering from injuries or shock.
The USS Maine was the United States Navy’s second commission battleship; however, Maine was classified originally as an armored cruiser. Heavily armed with guns and torpedoes, this ship was ready for battle. The USS Maine, named after the state of Maine, and completed on November 18, 1889. The battleship remained stationed near the east coast of the United States and the Caribbean. In January 1898, President William McKinley sent the 6,789 ton ship, from Key West, Florida to Havana, Cuba in hopes to help protect the United States’ interests during the Cuban Revolt against Spain. Three weeks later the battleship mysteriously exploded inside the Havana Harbor. The captain, Charles Sigsbee and several officers aboard the ship survived, because of their location in the rear end of the ship.
A few weeks after the explosion, investigations began. First to explore the tragic scene was the United Stats Naval Court of Inquiry, located in Key West. They discovered that a naval mine caused the explosion. Researchers, Del Peral and De Salas conducted another investigation the same year and collected information given to them by surviving...
... middle of paper ...
...the government removed the remains of the wreckage and bodies of those who died on the ship. They also buried the bodies in Arlington National Cemetery and some at their hometowns. A memorial with the ship’s mast was placed in Arlington National Cemetery to honor the lives lost from the explosion.
Although the definite cause of the explosion still remains a mystery, the death of the members on board of the USS Maine persists to live on, marking the end of a new beginning.
Works Cited
Rickover, Hyman G. How the Battleship Maine Was Destroyed United States Navy Department, 1975
www.history.com Department of the Navy. 13 August 2003. Department of the Navy -- Naval Historical Center. 13 May 2010.
www.u-s-history.com 2001-2010. Online Highway LLC. 13 May 2010
On the morning of August 29, 1988, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower was returning to her homeport in Norfolk after conducting a six-month deployment in the Mediterranean Sea. She had performed extremely well in exercises and was set to receive the Battle “E.” The carrier had recently taken on approximately 500 Tigers in Bermuda, joining their parents for the final leg of the voyage. Also, the Secretary of the Navy was aboard that morning, and had been present on the bridge prior to his departure at 0807. 14 minutes later, at 0821 according to the deck log, the Eisenhower struck the Spanish bulk carrier Urduliz, which was anchored in a designated anchorage area, “A,” in berth “Z.”
The USS Indianapolis was a heavy cruiser. She did not have heavy armor which made her vulnerable to torpedo attacks. She had been ordered to sail on July 16, 1945, to deliver a bomb that would end the war. Unfortunately, it sank before it arrived.
Operation Crossroads: Fact Sheet. (2014, 07 13). Retrieved from Naval History & Heritage Command: http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq76-1.htm
In the late 1800’s the American people and their government became more willing to risk war in defense of American interests overseas, support for building a large modern navy began to grow. Supporters argued that if the United States did not build up its navy and acquire bases overseas, it would be shut out of foreign markets by Europeans. Captain Alfred T. Mahan observed that building a modern navy meant that the U.S. had to acquire territory for naval bases overseas. This would enable them to operate a navy far from home. A country needed bases and coaling stations in distant regions, which was exactly what they did by having Havana, Cuba be one of its ports. Another factor that was part of the Navy’s modernization was the USS Maine, which was probably the most famous ship of its era. The USS Maine was one of the Navy’s first armored battle ships. It was one of the first U.S. naval vessels with electrical lighting. It had a top speed of 17 knots and a crew of 392 officers and enlisted men. On the evening of February 15, 1898 the USS Maine exploded. Of the 345 officers and sailors aboard the Maine, 266 died. There were many ideas of how this explosion occurred, namely: the ship’s ammunition supplies blew up, a fire accidentally ignited the ammunition, and that a mine detonated near the ship set off the ammunition. At the time Cuba was a Spanish colony, but it was in the midst of a revolution. The Cuban people were fighting for independence from Spain. During this Cuban revolt against Spain and the American battleship Maine dropped anchor in the Havana harbor to protect American interests in Cuba. Many Americans regarded the Spanish as tyrants and supported the Cubans in their struggle. This immediately made Americans jump to the Conclusion that Spain blew up the Maine. American’s felt that since they were allies with Cuba that Spain was trying to harm America, as to not interfere with Cuba’s revolt against them. Within a matter of weeks, Spain and the U.
Introduction The Spanish American War marked the emergence of the United States of America as a world power. The war which lasted only 10 weeks between April and August of 1898 took place over the liberation of Cuba. In the course of the war the U.S. won Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippine Islands. A large aspect to the begining of the war was the explosion and sinking of the Maine on February 15 1898 at 9:30 PM in Havana Harbor. 260 American naval personnel where killed or wounded. The USS Maine was the second "second class" battle ship constructed for the U.S. Navy. It took almost nine years to complete three year took waiting for armor. The USS Maine was at the time the largest ship to be built in a U.S. Navy yard. The USS Maine arrived in the Havana harbor in Cuba on Jan. 24 of 1898. The USS Manie was sent to Cuba in response to a small protest by Spanish officers. The ship was under the command of Captian Charles Sigsbee.
At the onset of this event, all of the people involved in the project really did not take into account of the pictures, fatalities and the overall devastation that the Trinity project would have led to. The reports from those involved said they suffered great remorse
Bodies were cremated not buried and there was no book of remembrance because this is the Brave New World and they are trying to forget the past, and only look on to the future
On April 11, 1950, at 9:38 PM, a B-29 took off from Kirtland Air Force Base (AFB) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The aircraft was on a mission to deliver a Mark 4 nuclear weapon to the 509th Bomb Wing at Walker AFB in Roswell. The aircraft and its crew of 13 were only in flight for approximately three minutes when the plane crashed into a mountain on Monzano Base, Kirtland AFB. All 13 personnel were killed in the crash. Neither the bomb, nor the high explosive material, exploded from the impact. Some of the explosive material was scattered and burned in the gasoline fire that resulted from the impact. The bomb cas...
Unfortunately there was very many important people on the ship. Many of the people on the titanic died in the freezing cold water.There was thre...
It’s a beautiful sunny morning, on a tropical island that everyone would love to take a vacation at. It’s approximately 6:00 am, December 7, 1941, when a first group of 181 kamikaze planes attacked; targeting key naval bases stationed at Hawaii; a sustained crippling of U.S. naval forces for about 6 months. The death toll was 2,500. Out of the 9 battleships, 8 were heavily damaged by the assault on Pearl Harbor and out of the 8, three were unrepairable, USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, and the USS Utah. 160 aircrafts were put out of commission, and nearly 130 were heavily damaged. This was the first incident in which there was an act of war, committed on U.S. soil, outside of the American Revolution and the Civil War. The world was at war, and the U.S. remained neutral until now. Before the attack, the U.S. was in great debate whether to enter the war or to stay out of it. The act of war forced the U.S. into the War and triggered a controversial debate in whether to retaliate against Japan with the use of nuclear arms.
" The Mariners' Museum : Birth of the U.S. Navy.” The Mariners' Museum, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
On April 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean at 2:20 a.m. after striking an iceberg, with the loss of more than 1, 500 passengers and crew. Thomas Andrews knew the ship’s flaws when he designed her nevertheless, Captain Smith knew of the collision between the ship and the iceberg. However, left all faith in the “Unsinkable Titanic.”
They were told “This is the Titanic, the unsinkable ship,” but what were they saying as the ship broke in two and began to sink. Did they all still believe that nothing could sink the magnificent Titanic? Or was the reality of the ship finally “sinking” in? These are questions today that people are still asking. The sinking of the Titanic was a tragic accident that still affects culture today.
After the accident, a full-scale investigation was launched by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). It concluded that the accident was caused by metal fatigue exacerbated by crevice corrosion, the corrosion is exacerbated by the salt water and the age of the aircraft was already 19 years old as the plane operated in a salt water environment.
When the Mary Celeste did not sink, Captain Parker tried to set it on fire. Even then, the boat could not be destroyed–but it would never sail again. Finally, the ship was left to sink, on its own, to the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. The Marie Celeste remains there to this day, buried in a watery grave along with its