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Why The Maine Sank

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At 9:40 PM on the night of February 15th ,1898, the United States’ battleship, the USS Maine, exploded in Havana Harbor due to an unknown cause, and killed over 250 soldiers and officers boarded on the vessel. The explosion of the Maine was conceived as a horrific event in United States history that gave the capital-driven government of the U.S. the opportunity to expand into the Pacific Ocean and also establish a stronger control over the Caribbean. The sinking of the USS Maine was used to further the United States imperialistic goals through the fabrication of stories involving how the Maine sank, the manipulation of the U.S. public via the use of yellow journalism and the exploitation of the United States nationalistic ideals. Before the …show more content…

When a coal engine is operational, it produces smoke that is laced with coal dust. With most ships that are powered by a coal engine, they need people to constantly clean up all of the coal dust that accumulates on the ship to prevent fire hazards. It could be assumed that there was a fire caused by this coal dust, but this is unlikely. However, according to the documentary “Remember the Maine”, one must consider that electricity was a new commodity on battleships. The functionality of this new technology was unreliable at best due to it being discovered only a few years before. The Maine was one of the first ironclad vessels that the United States had created that had a source of electricity (“Remember the Maine”). Fire alarms and smoke detectors could have failed to warn the men aboard the Maine that the threat of a fire existed and it would have led to ammunition catching fire and …show more content…

These giants of the media world were hard at work using a system of writing called, yellow journalism. Yellow journalism is a writing style that tried as hard as possible to sell Americans the idea that the Spanish were ruthless tyrants and that the people of Cuba suffered under their rule (“U.S. Diplomacy”). Yellow journalism also reached into other global topics, however, most of the stories were targeted at Cuba. Its power came from it’s innate ability to exploit the prejudices that already existed in American society (“U.S. Diplomacy”). This is why writers like Pulitzer and Hearst sensationalized their stories, enhancing the flow of hatred toward the Spanish and eventually causing the Spanish American

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The themes of Admiral Alfred T. Mahan books were that “great nations had empires which they maintained with great navies” (Fraenkel 45). The second reason why U.S.S Maine was sent to Havana harbor because President McKinley said “to protect American lives and interest”, Americans had invested heavily in Cuba. On the night of February 15, 1898 the Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor. 260 Americans sailors were killed. This was another humiliation for the Americans after the De Lome letter, just 6 days before.

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From Liberation to Conquest by Bonnie Miller looks at The War of 1898 through the scope of popular culture during the time. She took political cartoons, newspapers, dramas, and etc. to explain the role the United States media played in gaining momentum for their conquest in Cuba as well as other territories. These media outposts shaped and formed the story that was being told around the country, and gave both true and false, as well as dramatized ideals of what the war really was. Bonnie Miller, an Associate Professor of American Studies, at the University of Massachusetts Boston, earned her PH. D in History.

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February 15, in the area of 9:30 PM the Maine was shattered. This extraordinary ship was shattered by two separate explosions and quickly sank to the foundation of the harbor (McSherry). The two explosions as well as the sinking unfortunately led to two officers along with two hundred sixty enlisted men to die (Cavendish). Navel investigators figured that a mine had blown up which potentially ignited the forward magazines. Much later after the war, studies indicated that a coal bunker fire ignited and across it was an ammunition magazines room leading to the two explosions on the Maine

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America’s entrance in the Spanish-American War was primarily due to the random explosion of the USS Maine on February 15, 1898, which killed 267 service men aboard. This attack leads to Congress’s vote to go to war against Spain. The United States’ desire to expand military overseas also played a part in the American entrance to this war. Economically speaking, the U.S. wanted Cuban crops to come to America, and not only Spain. “The war enabled the United States to establish its predominance in the Caribbean region and to pursue its strategic and economic interests in Asia” (“Spanish-American War”).

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Maine exploded (“U.S. Diplomacy”). On February 15, 1898, six days after the de Lôme scandal, the battleship U.S.S. Maine blew up in Havana Harbor, killing 268 men (“February 15, 1898”). At the time, the reason for the explosion was unknown (Danzer). However, the American press, with no evidence, blamed the destruction of the Maine on the Spanish (“February 15, 1898”). Newspaper headlines read, “Spanish Treachery!”

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In early 1898 the United States sent the USS Maine from Key West to Havana to help protect

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The letter was published in Hearst’s Morning Journal; in it the letter criticized and insulted President McKinley. This letter increased the anger of the American public toward Spain. On February 15, 1989 USS Maine, which was docked in Havana, Cuba, mysteriously exploded leaving 260 sailors dead. Today, it is believed that the ship most likely exploded due to combustion next to

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To start off, publishers did not tell the public what they did not want them to know, and they also persuaded opinions. From an article titled, “Joseph Pulitzer,” it reads, “Yellow journalism on the part of both papers helped inflame public opinion in favor of war against Spain in 1898” (McGuire and Leslie). This is a demonstration of how yellow journalism persuaded the public to all think the same way. By doing this, the publishers hoped they could lead everyone to think the way powerful people thought.

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the United States used propaganda targeting humanitarian concerns to incite the public to declare war. As Americans were interested in the Cuban Revolution, sensational journalism only raised tensions between the United States and the Spanish monarchy, which would help cause the war. While General Weyler

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The Spanish American war was a product of Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis and the urbanization of America. In 1895, a rebellion broke out in Cuba, as Cuban patriots wanted independences from Spain. Through the yellow journalism, reports of Spain’s cruel military tactics lead to a public uproar in the U.S. However, most of these stories were exaggerated as a form to promote war. After an American battleship, the USS Maine, was destroyed, America was “forced” to start war and stop Spanish occupation.

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The imperialistic mentality of the American government after the Civil War, led to some degree to the Spanish-American war that would render a great acquisition of land for the United States. However, imperialism would not be the sole factor that led to the war against Spain, but also the sympathy felt by the American government towards Cuba’s efforts in fighting for their independence; additionally, the United States would seek to protect its commercial interests (sugar) in the island. Therefore, after invoking the Spanish to secede from their brutal practices towards Cuban rebels and attain a peaceful end to the situation, the United States arbitrarily sent a navy ship, “The USS Maine” to monitor the area.

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The event which truly set the stage was the Spanish-American War. One of the key tools utilized to gain the public’s support of the war, especially by William Randolph Hearst, was yellow journalism, involving the use of sensationalism with little to no research behind the stories. Without it, the American public would have likely never heard of the explosion of the USS Maine, nor would they have thrown their support behind the war in the mindset that the ship has been attacked by the Spanish. From this conflict, and with the help of Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, the United States gained control of Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Of course, the inhabitants of these islands were not given a choice in this matter, which is indeed a recurring theme in the story of American imperialism.

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Americans learned more about what happened during the Spanish American War through articles that exposed the violent tensions in Cuba. The Americans then felt the need that we should help Cuba against Spain. The Americans in power wanted to remain neutral, while the public wanted to go to war. The U.S. Maine was a battleship that was sent to Cuba to spy on them and understand the situation in person. While the ship was there, it mysteriously blew up, the blame was put on Spain for the explosion.

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