"Remember the Maine"

"Remember the Maine". . , When the U.S.S. Maine was commissioned in 1895, it was the first modern American battleship, and the first modern U.S. Navy warship to be built in an American shipyard of materials and components manufactured in the United States. The Maine visited Portland in Nov., 1895, to receive its Silver Service and again in August, 1897, with the rest of the North Atlantic Squadron. In January, 1898, the Maine was ordered to Havana, Cuba by President William McKinley as part fo his plan to pressure Spain into granting independence to the island colony which was in rebellion. When the Maine exploded on the night of February 15, 1898, the press and public blamed the sinking on Spain, and public and congressional pressure led to a declaration of war. "Remember the Maine" became a battle cry, and after the war, the battleship was raised, examined and then sunk with honors in the waters off Cuba. , Joel W. Eastman, 1989, This projectile weighing 498 pounds, from a ten inch gun on the Battleship Maine lay in Havana Harbor fourteen years. Presented to the city of Lewiston June 24, 1912 by the United States Navy Department., Crew members from the State of Maine who died in the explosion of the U.S.S. Maine, February 15, 1898 , Millard F. Harris Boothbay Harbor . Clarence Lowell South Gardiner . Bernard Lynch Portland . Frank Talbot Bath . William Tinsman Deering