MAINE 2nd-Class Battleship (ex ACR1)
   Built at New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N. Y.
   Keel laid 10/17/88, Commissioned  9/17/95
   Capt. A. B. Crowninshield commanding

Length Overall: 319'
Extreme Beam: 57'
Normal Displacement: Tons: 6,682; Mean Draft: 21'6"
Designed Complement: Off.: 31; Enl.: 343
Armament:
 Main:
   (4) 10"/35
   (6)  6"/40
 Secondary:
   (7) 6 pdr.
   (8) 1 pdr.
 Torpedo Tubes: (4) 14" surface
Armor: Max. Thickness: 12" 
	Harvey, NS: 6-12 inch belt, 1-4 inch deck, 12 inch barbettes, 
     	8 inch turrets, 10 inch CT.
Designed Speed : 17
Designed Indicated Horsepower: 9,000
Engines: Manufacturer: Quintard I. W.; 
         Type: Vert. 3- Exp. Recip.
Boilers: Manufacturer: Quintard I. W.; 
         Type: FT; 
         No.: 4
Fuel (coal): Tons: 896
Displ: 6,682 tons normal; 7,180 tons full load
Dim: 319 x 57 x 21.5 feet
Prop: VTE engines, 4 135 psi boilers, 1 shaft, 9,000 hp, 17 knots 
Crew: 374
Arm: 2 dual 10/30, 6 6/40, 7 6 pound, 8 1 pound, 4 14 inch TT (aw), 
Armor: 
        Changed from Armored Cruiser to Second Class Battleship 1894.
        Completely obsolete when completed.  

ACR-1/(none) Maine
        Built by New York Navy.  Laid down 17 Oct 1888, launched 18 Nov 1889, 
        commissioned 17 Sept 1895.  Sunk by internal explosion at Havana 
        15 Feb 1898, 252 killed.  Raised 13 Feb 1912, scuttled at sea 
        16 March 1912. 


The first Maine, a second-class armored battleship, was laid down at New York Navy Yard 17 October 1888;
launched 18 November 1889, sponsored by Miss Alice Tracy Wilmerding, granddaughter of Secretary of the Navy
Benjamin Tracy; and commissioned 17 September 1895, Capt. Arent S. Crowninshield in command. 

Maine departed New York Navy Yard 5 November 1895 for Newport, R.I., via Gardiner's Bay, N.Y., to fit out 16
to 23 November, and then proceeded on the 25th to Portland, Maine, to visit her namesake. The battlewagon then put
to sea on the 29th on trials and inspection, being assigned to the North Atlantic Squadron 16 December, and sailing via
Newport to Tompkinsville, N.Y., arriving 23 December. The ship sailed the next day for Fort Monroe, Va., arriving on
Christmas Day. She operated out of that place and Newport News through June 1898 and then on the 4th sailed for
Key West on a 2-month training cruise, returning to Norfolk 3 August. Maine continued extensive east coast operations
until late 1897. Then the ship prepared for a voyage to Havana, Cuba, to show the flag and to protect American citizens
in event of violence in the Spanish struggle with the revolutionary forces in Cuba. 

On 11 December Maine stood out of Hampton Roads bound for Key West, arriving on the 15th. She was joined 
there by ships of the North Atlantic Squadron on maneuvers, then left Key West 24 January 1898 for Havana. 

Arriving 25 January, Maine anchored in the center of the port, remained on vigilant watch, allowed no liberty, and took
extra precautions against sabotage. Shortly after 2140, 15 February, the battleship was torn apart by a tremendous
explosion that shattered the entire forward part of the ship. Out of 350 officers and men on board that night (4 officers
were ashore), 252 were dead or missing. Eight more were to die in Havana hospitals during the next few days. The
survivors of the disaster were taken on board Ward Line steamer City of Washington and Spanish cruiser Alfonso
XII. The Spanish officials at Havana showed every attention to the survivors of the disaster and great respect for those
killed. The court of inquiry convened in March was unable to obtain evidence associating the destruction of the
battleship with any person or persons, but public opinion in the United States was so inflamed that the Maine disaster
led eventually to the declaration of war on Spain 21 April. 

On 5 August 1910, Congress authorized the raising of Maine and directed Army engineers to supervise the work. A
second board of inquiry appointed to inspect the wreck after it was raised reported that injuries to the ship's bottom
were caused by an external explosion of low magnitude that set off the forward magazine, completing destruction of the
ship. It has never been determined who placed the explosive, responsibility for the sinking of Maine remains one of the
continuing enigmas of American history. 

Maine's hulk was finally floated 2 February 1912 and towed out to sea where it was sunk in deep water in the Gulf of
Mexico with appropriate ceremony and military honors 16 March

 		    The battleship Maine drifted lazily at its mooring. Although the
                    Havana night was moonless, the Maine 's gleaming white hull --
                    longer than a football field -- contrasted against the blackness of
                    the sea and sky. Smoke wisped from its two mustard-colored
                    funnels. Random lights sparkled from its portholes and its bridge.
                    In the captain's cabin, Charles Sigsbee sat at a table writing a letter
                    to his wife. The trouble in Cuba, he wrote, would soon be over.
                    The new Spanish governor of the island seemed to have the
                    situation under control. During the three weeks that the Maine had
                    been in Havana, Captain Sigsbee had seen no sign of Cuban
                    rebels. He'd entertained the Spanish officers in his mess, and he
                    and his staff had been entertained lavishly by the local officials.
                    Although Sigsbee found the bullfights to which he'd been invited
                    somewhat barbaric, the Spanish officers behaved as perfect
                    gentlemen.
                 
                    Even Fitzhugh Lee, the American consul, seemed optimistic. A
                    month earlier the old general (Lee had commanded a cavalry
                    division under his uncle Robert E. in the Civil War) had summoned
                    a battleship to "protect American interests." Although the Maine
                    was only a second-class battleship, it was the largest ship ever to
                    enter Havana harbor. To the Cubans, it was a floating American
                    fortress right in their capital city.
                    Aboard the Maine, "taps" sounded at ten minutes past nine.
                    Captain Sigsbee describes what happened next. 

                        I laid down my pen and listened to the notes of the
                        bugle, which were singularly beautiful in the
                        oppressive stillness of the night. . . . I was enclosing
                        my letter in its envelope when the explosion came. It
                        was a bursting, rending, and crashing roar of immense
                        volume, largely metallic in character. It was followed
                        by heavy, ominous metallic sounds. There was a
                        trembling and lurching motion of the vessel, a list to
                        port. The electric lights went out. Then there was
                        intense blackness and smoke. 

                        The situation could not be mistaken. The Maine was
                        blown up and sinking. For a moment the instinct of
                        self-preservation took charge of me, but this was
                        immediately dominated by the habit of command. 

                    Captain Sigsbee managed to reach the deck, now slanted down
                    sharply toward the submerged bow. He climbed aft toward the
                    only part of the ship that was not awash. Fires had broken out all
                    over the vessel, and they lit the harbor in an eerie red glow. In
                    Havana lights began to shine from windows that had just been
                    smashed by the blast. Most of the crew had been asleep in their
                    berths at the forward part of the ship, which was already at the
                    bottom of the harbor. The stern sunk more slowly. 
                    Crews from nearby ships manned lifeboats to rescue the surviving
                    crewmen of the Maine. "Chief among them," Sigsbee wrote, "were
                    the boats from the Alfonso XII. The Spanish officers and crews did
                    all that humanity and gallantry could compass." Reluctantly, Captain
                    Sigsbee abandoned the Maine, which continued to burn and
                    explode throughout the night.
 
                    The twisted, burnt wreckage of the Maine 's stern and bridge was
                    still above water in the morning. It remained there for years. Two
                    hundred fifty-four seamen were dead, and fifty-nine sailors were
                    wounded. Eight of the wounded later died. The navy conducted an
                    investigation into the cause of the disaster, but it never discovered
                    who was responsible for the explosion.