The USS Maine Mast Memorial is a memorial honoring those who died aboard the on February 15, 1898, after a mysterious explosion destroyed the ship while at anchor in Havana Harbor. It is located in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. The memorial consists of the main mast of the battleship set atop a circular concrete burial receiving vault designed to resemble a battleship turret. The memorial has occasionally been used to hold the remains of important individuals, such as Lord Lothian and Ignacy Jan Paderewski.
The Maine disaster
The USS Maine was one of several new battleships and other warships built by the United States Navy after 1884 to modernize the fleet. The Maine was launched on November 18, 1889, and commissioned on September 17, 1895. She was part of the North Atlantic Squadron for nearly all of her career.
On January 25, 1898, the Maine was sent from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba, to protect American citizens and interests during the Cuban War of Independence. At 9:40 p.m. local time on February 15, an explosion on board Maine destroyed and sank the ship. More than of powder charges in the ship's ammunitions magazine detonated, instantly destroying about (or one-third) of the bow of the ship. The central third of the ship remained somewhat more intact, but was severely damaged and lacked structural integrity. The last third of the ship at the stern remained completely intact. The burning Maine rapidly sank. Most of the Maines crew (none of them officers) were sleeping or resting in the enlisted quarters in the forward part of the ship. Eight others died later from their injuries. Captain Charles Dwight Sigsbee and all but two of the officers survived.
Official figures for crew and dead are difficult to determine, and even government sources disagree. The majority of sources say the ship carried 354 crew. But crew numbers cited by sources include 327, 328, 350, 355, 358, 374, and 375.
The number of dead is also difficult to determine. Sources claim 252, 260, 262, 264, 266, and 274 dead. The number of dead is complicated by the fact that several members of the crew died after the initial explosion. But even these figures vary. Some sources say just 6 later died of their injuries, while others claim 8 did so.
On March 19, a U.S. Navy board of inquiry led by Captain William T. Sampson concluded that Maine was destroyed by the explosion of its ammunition magazines. But the board of inquiry were unable to determine what set off the ammunition. Nonetheless, the press and most members of Congress concluded that the Maine had struck a naval mine laid by the Spanish. Resolutions declaring war on Spain were introduced in Congress on March 28 and passed on April 20, initiating the Spanish–American War. (Subsequent investigations have suggested that the cause of the explosion was the ignition of coal dust in the fuel bunker or a fire in the coal bunker, although some have also concluded that the cause was a mine.)
Recovery and interment of bodies at Colon Cemetery
The days following the Maine disaster were chaotic. Some of the twisted wreckage of the center section and bow jutted high out of the water. At low tide, the decks of the center section of the ship were just under water, while the stern (which angled upward) was slightly out of the water. At high tide, all of the ship except the bow wreckage, the main mast, and the aft-mast was under water. The site of the disaster was quickly but not immediately secured by the Spanish Navy and Cuban colonial government. Souvenir seekers and the well-meaning nonetheless often accessed the wreck. Divers, most of them Cubans, were employed by the United States to bring bodies to the surface. Pieces of the ship lay some distance from the wreck, and some items washed ashore days or even weeks later.
Press reports about the dead were often confused. For example, the Washington Post reported that the body of engineer Darwin Merritt had been found on February 16, but this was incorrect. The newspaper also incorrectly reported that the body of Lieutenant Friend W. Jenkins was recovered on February 16. In fact, Jenkins' body was retrieved from an area near the aft torpedo tube on March 24. It was sent home to his family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The newspapers often got names wrong, reporting that an Edison or Tennis was among the dead (when no persons with those first or last names were among the crew).