May 3 2009
Incident: Sinking of USS Maine by disputed cause, Havana Harbor, Cuba, Feb 15 1898
Commanding Officer: Captain Charles D. Sigsbee
Arrived Havana Harbor Jan 24 1898, three weeks before exploding there.
Casualties: 274 US servicemen killed, from a crew of 363. Maine instantly totaled and quickly sunk.
First official explanation: Spanish/Cuban naval mine, detonating onboard ammunition.
Outcome: The sinking triggered the Spanish-American War, announcing the U.S as a major, maritime, neo-imperial power.
Investigations: Two military courts of inquiry, 1898 and 1911. Second sunk the remains in deep water. First private investigation by deep-water guy Adm. Rickover, 1976. No congressional investigations.
I'm sort of opening this "inquiry," but not planning much work at the moment. I felt I needed at least two posts on the subject, and then a masterlist. Considering the mechanical aspects (inward vs. outward blast) are still being hotly debated over a century after the fact, I think I'll be sidelining this. For now anyway, my focus is on the more circumstantial aspects - who benefits? (Clue - first name starts with a "T," last name ends with "velt.") Perhaps more than any other case in American history, the overwhelming weight of logic makes a true false flag operation, at the lest, far too likely to just toss aside. Certainly the Pax Americana owes a tremendous debt to the hands or fates that caused that blast.
One concrete question I'm curious about is how much ammunition was or should have been aboard.
- Remember the Maine, Forget the Treachery My original thesis-like speculative essay thing, and starting point.
- USS MAINE PRELUDES: WAR PLANS A new post simply compiling some external sources on the pre-1898 plans to seize Spanish holdings.
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