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USS Iowa (BB-4)

USS Iowa was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the United States Navy in the mid-1890s. The ship was a marked improvement over the previous Indiana-class battleships, correcting many of the defects in the design of those vessels. Among the most important improvements were significantly better seaworthiness owing to her greater freeboard and a more efficient arrangement of the armament. Iowa was designed to operate on the high seas, which had been the impetus to increase the freeboard. She was armed with a battery of four 12 in guns in two twin-gun turrets, supported by a secondary battery of eight 8 in guns.

Upon entering service in June 1897, Iowa conducted training operations in the Atlantic Ocean before moving to the Caribbean in early 1898 as tensions between the United States and Spain over Cuba grew, leading to the Spanish–American War. The ship took part in the bombardment of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then participated in the blockade of Cuba during the war, and after the Spanish cruiser squadron was found in Santiago de Cuba, she patrolled off the harbor to block their escape. In the Battle of Santiago de Cuba on 3 July, Iowa assisted in the destruction of three of the four Spanish cruisers. After the war, Iowa spent the next several years conducting routine training exercises, serving with the Pacific Squadron from 1898 to 1902, the South Atlantic Squadron until 1904, and the North Atlantic Squadron until 1906, when the latter two units were merged to form the Atlantic Fleet.

Iowa was modernized between 1908 and 1910; she thereafter served as a training ship for naval cadets from the United States Naval Academy and for naval militia crews. Removed from service in 1913 and decommissioned in 1914, she was reactivated after the United States entered World War I in April 1917, initially serving as a receiving ship and then as a training vessel and guard ship. She was decommissioned again in 1919, renamed Coast Battleship No. 4, and converted into a radio-controlled target ship. She was used in bombing experiments off the Virginia Capes in 1921 before being sunk as part of Fleet Problem I off the coast of Panama in March 1923 by the battleship USS Mississippi (BB-41).

Design

In the early 1880s, the United States Navy began to grapple with the question of coastal defense; the United States at that time had a significant isolationist streak and naval strategy had historically been grounded in commerce raiding. After building the interim armored vessels USS Texas (1892) and USS Maine (ACR-1), the navy requested funding for additional ships in 1887, and one vessel was authorized for the following year. Conflicting ideas about the vessel that would be built delayed construction and led the Secretary of the Navy, Benjamin F. Tracy, to convene a Policy Board in January 1890. Tracy wanted to build sea-going battleships that could project American naval power overseas, though significant elements in the Navy and the United States Congress preferred shallow-draft coastal-defense ships.

The Board concluded that the distance between Europe and North America would hamper European naval attacks, but the power of the British Royal Navy and the possibility of future political developments warranted the construction of a powerful American battle fleet. The Policy Board issued a call for a fleet that would consist of eight first-class battleships, ten slightly smaller second-class battleships, and five third-class ships, along with substantial numbers of lesser craft to support them. The fleet would be tasked with defending the East Coast of the United States, which required an operational range that could cover as far south as the Caribbean Sea, as the Board had determined that any hostile power would need to seize advance bases there to effectively operate against the United States. The three vessels already authorized—Maine, Texas, and what became the armored cruiser USS New York (ACR-2) fit in the third category, so larger and more powerful vessels would have to be built to meet the Board's recommendations.

Congress, dismayed by the Board's conclusions, nevertheless approved funding for three of the first-class battleships in April 1890, which became the Indiana-class battleships. These were low-freeboard vessels intended for local, coastal defense. They were badly overweight when completed, and as a result suffered from serious problems, including belt armor that was fully submerged when the ships were fully loaded, a tendency to ship excessive amounts of water, and poor handling characteristics. Changes in the control of Congress in late 1890 led to delays for the next ship to be authorized until 19 July 1892, when funds were allocated for a "seagoing coastline battleship". The vessel was to be built with a displacement of around 9000 LT.

The Policy Board had intended in its original plan that the seagoing ship would trade armor for greater range, but the Bureau of Construction and Repair, responsible for the design of the vessel, decided to reduce the gun armament compared to the Indianas to free up displacement for greater fuel storage. The 13 in main battery of the Indiana class would be replaced with 12 in guns, while some of the 8 in secondary guns would be replaced with faster-firing 4 in quick-firing guns. Weight would also be saved by the adoption of Harvey armor, which was significantly more effective than compound armor; a thinner belt could thus be used to achieve the same level of protection. The intention to use the new ship for long-range deployments required other changes, in addition to increased coal storage. Since the vessel would necessarily have to operate on the high seas, seaworthiness would have to be improved. This required a greater freeboard, so the ship that was to become Iowa was given a raised forecastle deck that extended from the bow to amidships. The hull was lengthened and displaced more than the Indianas. In addition, the heavy 8-inch gun turrets were moved closer together amidships, which reduced the amount of weight toward the ends of the ship, also contributing to improved sea-keeping. The arrangement also reduced blast interference between the 8-inch and the 12-inch guns.

General characteristics and machinery

Iowa had a length at the waterline of 360 ft and an overall length of 362 ft. Her beam measured 72 ft and she had an average draft of 24 ft. She had a metacentric height of 4.01 ft and a righting arm of 2.23 ft. She displaced 11410 LT as designed and up to 12647 LT at full load. Steering was controlled with a single rudder; while steaming at 10 kn, she could make a 180-degree turn in 550 yd, and at a speed of 14 kn, she could make the turn in 390 yd.

Her hull featured a tumblehome shape, the only time an American battleship was designed that way. She was fitted with a ram bow, a customary feature of capital ships of the period. It had much greater freeboard than the Indianas, providing her with significantly better sea-keeping qualities. She was completed with a single heavy military mast fitted with fighting tops, which was placed atop the forward conning tower. A large derrick was placed abreast the aft funnel to handle the boats carried aboard. She had a crew of 36 officers and 540 enlisted men.

The ship was powered by a pair of 3-cylinder, vertical triple-expansion steam engines that each drove a screw propeller. Steam was provided by five coal burning fire-tube boilers; three were double-ended boilers while the other two were single-ended versions. The boilers produced steam at 160 psi. They were ducted into a pair of very tall funnels; these were adopted to improve draft to the boilers. Like the Indiana class, Iowa was fitted for forced draft, and she had mechanical hoists to remove ash from the boiler rooms. The propulsion system was rated to produce 11000 ihp for a top speed of 16 kn, though on speed trials she reached 11834 ihp and a maximum speed of 17.09 kn. Coal storage amounted to 1650 LT. At a speed of 10 knots, she could steam for 5140 nmi.

Armament

Iowa was armed with a main battery of four 12 in/35 caliber guns mounted in two twin-gun turrets that were mounted on the centerline, one forward and the other aft of the superstructure. The built-up guns were the Mark II type, which were placed in elliptical Mark III turrets. The training gear was hydraulically operated, but elevation was hand-operated only. The gun mounts allowed elevation to 14 degrees and depression to −5 degrees; to reload the guns, they had to be returned to 3 degrees elevation. The ammunition hoists that retrieved shells and propellant charges from the magazines were also hydraulically operated. The guns fired an 850 lb shell with a 425 lb charge of brown powder. Muzzle velocity was 2100 ft/s, and at the muzzle, the shells could penetrate up to 24 in of mild steel; at a range of 2500 yd, their penetration capability fell to 19 in. The average rate of fire was one shot every five minutes, though fresh, well-trained crews could achieve rates as fast as one shot every three minutes.

The primary armament was supported by a secondary battery of eight 8 in/35 cal guns that were carried in four twin-gun wing turrets. Two were placed on either side of the ship, abreast of the funnels. Since the 12-inch guns had a long reloading time, the 8-inch guns were incorporated to increase the number of weapons that could defeat light armor. The 8-inch guns were the Mark IV version, which had a rate of fire of one shot per minute. They had a muzzle velocity of 2080 ft/s, firing 250 lb armor-piercing shells. They were initially supplied with brown powder charges, but after the advent of smokeless powder, new, smokeless charges were adopted that increased the rate of fire by twenty seconds. Mounted in Mark VIII turrets with a range of elevation from −7 to 13 degrees, reloading was fixed at 0 degrees.

Six 4 in/40 cal quick-firing guns rounded out the secondary battery; these were intended to use their high rate of fire, coupled with high-explosive shells to damage unarmored parts of enemy warships. Four of these were placed in individual casemates in the forecastle deck, two in sponsons in the bow and the other two located amidships. The remaining two guns were in open shielded mounts on the aft superstructure, superfiring over the rear main battery turret. They fired a 33 lb high-explosive shell at a muzzle velocity of 2000 ft/s. For defense against torpedo boats, the ship carried a battery of twenty 57 mm 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns and four 37 mm 1-pounder guns These guns were dispersed around the ship in a variety of individual mounts, including in the fighting top of the military mast, the superstructure, and in sponsons in the hull. She also carried four M1895 Colt–Browning machine guns chambered in 6mm Lee Navy.

As was standard practice for capital ships of the era, Iowa carried four above-water, 14 in torpedo tubes in her hull, two on each broadside. These launched the Howell torpedo, which had a range of 400 yd and traveled at a speed of 25 kn. They carried a 400 lb warhead.

Armor
Iowa was protected with Harvey armor, which was fabricated with a new type of process that produced steel that was significantly stronger than traditional compound armor. The main armor belt was 14 in thick in the central portion, where it protected the magazines and propulsion machinery spaces. It extended from 3 ft above the waterline and 4 ft below the line, and it extended for a length of 186 ft of the hull. The belt tapered to 7 in at the lower edge. At either end of the belt, angled bulkheads that were 12 in thick connected the belt to the barbettes for the main battery turrets. She had a 2.75 in thick armor deck that was level with the top edge of the belt. On either end of the belt, the deck sloped down on the sides and was increased slightly to 3 in to provide the bow and stern with a measure of protection against light guns. Above the belt was a thinner strake of armor that was 5 in thick where it protected the 4-inch guns and reduced to 2 in where it covered the 57 mm and 37 mm guns.

Iowa's main battery turrets were protected with 15 in on the sides and 2 in thick crowns; the rears of the turrets were 17 in thick, with the greater weight being used to balance the turret. Their barbettes were also 15 in thick on the exposed sides and reduced to 12.5 in where it was protected by the belt. The secondary turrets had 8 in on the outboard sides and 6 in on the inboard sides, where they were less vulnerable. They also had 2-inch roofs. Their barbettes were 8 in thick. Her conning tower had 10 in thick sides.

Service history

The keel for Iowa was laid down on 5 August 1893 at the William Cramp & Sons shipyard in Philadelphia. Her completed hull was launched on 28 March 1896, and after completing fitting out, the vessel was commissioned into service on 16 June 1897. Captain William T. Sampson served as the ship's first commanding officer. Iowa got underway to begin her shakedown cruise on 13 July, steaming first to Newport, Rhode Island from 16 July to 11 August, moving to Provincetown, Massachusetts the next day. She next departed on 14 August for Portland, Maine, where she stayed from 16 to 23 August, before sailing for Bar Harbor, Maine the next day, where she spent the rest of the month. She then steamed south to Virginia, visiting Hampton Roads from 12 to 16 September, Newport News from 16 to 19 September, a second stop at Hampton Roads from the 16th to the 19th, and finally Yorktown from 27 September to 4 October. Iowa then sailed back north for a second visit to Provincetown that lasted from 12 to 14 October and then moved to Boston, staying there from 15 to 22 October.

She made one last port call, in Tompkinsville, New York, from 24 to 29 October, before entering the New York Navy Yard for repairs that lasted from 29 October to 5 January 1898. After emerging from the dry dock, Iowa sailed for Virginia, alternating between Hampton Roads and Newport News through mid-January, before departing for Key West, Florida. She then spent the next month and a half cruising between Key West and the Dry Tortugas to the west. During this period, Maine exploded and sank in Havana, Cuba; the accidental explosion was initially blamed on a deliberately detonated Spanish naval mine. Sampson was appointed to serve as President of the Board of Inquiry that was sent to investigate the sinking, so Captain Robley D. Evans took his place as Iowa's commander on 24 March. The ship remained in the Florida Keys through 22 April, by which time the Spanish–American War had broken out.

Spanish–American War
On 22 April, President William McKinley declared a blockade of western Cuba and three days later, Congress declared war on Spain, retroactively effective as of 21 April. Sampson had by this time taken command of the North Atlantic Squadron, which Iowa joined; she took part in the blockade operation from 22 April to 1 May before returning to Key West to replenish fuel. By that time, Sampson had been informed that a Spanish squadron of four armored cruisers and three torpedo boats commanded by Rear Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete had crossed the Atlantic to attack the blockade squadron; he gathered his ships on 4 May to search for them. Sampson had at his disposal his flagship, New York, Iowa, USS Indiana (BB-1), and the unprotected cruiser USS Detroit (C-10), and these ships were soon reinforced by the unprotected cruiser USS Montgomery (C-9) and the monitors USS Amphitrite (BM-2) and USS Terror (BM-4), and later the armored cruiser USS Brooklyn (ACR-3).

The Americans searched the harbor at Puerto Rico on 12 May, but found no Spanish warships, and so bombarded the port, focusing their fire on Castillo San Felipe del Morro, an old coastal fortress. Iowa led the American line of battle on several passes in front of the fort, and she was struck once by a Spanish shell that wounded three men and inflicted minor splinter damage to the ship. During her last 12-inch salvo, one of her forward guns inflicted blast damage to the deck and parts of the superstructure. One man was killed aboard Brooklyn and three more were wounded aboard other vessels, but none of the ships was seriously damaged by Spanish fire; American shelling was equally ineffective. Assuming that Cervera was headed for Havana, Sampson took his squadron there, but while en route he learned that the Spanish had been coaling in Saint Thomas in the Danish West Indies. Sampson instead decided to take his ships back to Key West, arriving there on 18 May, while Cervera reached Santiago de Cuba the following day. Sampson detached Iowa to reinforce the Flying Squadron under Commodore Winfield Scott Schley, which was conducting the blockade of Cuba. She joined the squadron off Cienfuegos on 22 May.

The Flying Squadron, which by then consisted of Iowa, Texas, the battleship USS Massachusetts (BB-2), New York, Brooklyn, the unprotected cruiser USS Marblehead (C-11), and several gunboats, auxiliary cruisers, and supporting vessels, spent the next week patrolling off the coast of Cuba, searching for Cervera's squadron. On the morning of 29 May, lookouts aboard Marblehead reported spotting the Spanish cruiser SPANISH CRUISER Cristóbal Colón in the roadstead outside Santiago de Cuba. The American squadron converged on the port over the next two days and prepared for action; Iowa coaled at sea on 30 May during this period. Schley made an initial attack on the afternoon of 31 May; he led the line with his flagship Massachusetts, followed by the protected cruiser USS New Orleans (CL-22), and then Iowa on a pass in front of Cervera's ships, opening fire at long range at 14:05. The American shells fell short and they gradually shifted their fire, but they failed to score any hits, though Evans noted that he believed they had inflicted splinter damage. Spanish return fire was similarly inaccurate, and both sides had checked fire by 15:10, by which time the American ships had broken off.

The next day, Sampson arrived on the scene and boarded New York to take command of the blockade. The approach to Santiago de Cuba was guarded by coastal artillery and mines, which prevented Sampson's ships from breaking into the inner harbor without taking serious damage. But the American squadron was too powerful for the Spanish to attempt to break out. Both sides spent the next month in the resulting stalemate; the Americans preferred to wait until ground forces could attack the port from the land side and seize the coastal batteries. During this period, Iowa withdrew to Guantánamo Bay from 18 to 28 June, which had been seized by American forces by that time. She returned to bombard the coastal fortifications on 1 and 2 July in company with Indiana and the battleship USS Oregon (BB-3). By early July, American troops were beginning to approach the hills outside Santiago de Cuba, threatening the coastal batteries that protected Cervera's ships, and prompting the Spanish command to order him to attempt a break out. Cervera did not believe he possessed a significant chance of success, as his ships were in poor condition by that time and most of his ships' crews were poorly trained. He nevertheless complied with the directive and sent a gunboat to surreptitiously clear a path in the minefield on the night of 2 July.

Battle of Santiago de Cuba

At 08:45 on 3 July, Cervera sortied with his flag aboard the cruiser SPANISH CRUISER Infanta Maria Teresa, followed by Cristóbal Colón, SPANISH CRUISER Vizcaya and SPANISH CRUISER Almirante Oquendo and the destroyers SPANISH DESTROYER Plutón and SPANISH DESTROYER Furor. Iowa was in her blockade station, steaming at about 5 kn when her men were called from their quarters for the morning inspection at 09:15. The Spaniards cleared the roadstead at 09:35; luckily for the Spanish, New York was out of position at the time and Massachusetts was replenishing her coal at Guantánamo Bay. Toward the end of inspection aboard Iowa, lookouts aboard Brooklyn spotted Cervera approaching and fired one of her guns to warn the other American ships, which quickly ordered their crews to general quarters. As the Spanish ships attempted to break out to the west, Cervera charged at Brooklyn with Infanta Maria Teresa to delay the American pursuit and give his other ships time to escape. The Spanish coastal batteries also contributed their fire in the first stage of the battle but had little effect.

Iowa, Brooklyn, and Texas opened fire at about 09:40 at a range of about 6000 yd. Iowa quickly got steam in her boilers up to increase speed to close with the fleeing cruisers; the range fell steadily until she was just 2500 yd away from Infanta Maria Theresa. Iowa fired a broadside at the cruiser and then turned to port to cross the t of Vizcaya, though the Spanish cruiser turned to avoid the maneuver. Iowa nevertheless fired a broadside at a range of 1800 yd before turning to port and then back to starboard to come alongside Cristóbal Colón. The two ships were about 1400 yd apart and Iowa's entire battery opened fire, enveloping her in thick black smoke and hampering her gunners' ability to spot targets. Cristóbal Colón and Almirante Oquendo engaged Iowa, and one of the vessels struck her with what was estimated to be a 6 in shell. It failed to explode, but still tore a large hole in the side of her hull. A second shell from one of the cruisers struck Iowa and exploded, causing relatively minor damage and starting a fire that was quickly put out. Several small shells struck her upper works, including her bridge and funnels, but the damage inflicted was minimal.

By this point in the battle, heavy American gunfire had set Infanta Maria Theresa on fire, and, fearing a magazine explosion, Cervara ordered her run aground at 10:25. Almirante Oquendo's captain issued similar instructions five minutes later, as his ship, too, was burning badly. Vizcaya was also forced ashore shortly thereafter, but her flag remained flying, so Iowa continued to bombard the vessel until she hauled it down at 10:36, a sign of surrender. Meanwhile, the two Spanish destroyers had also been badly damaged by the American battleships; Indiana had nearly cut Plutón in half with a 13-inch shell, forcing her to run aground, where she exploded. And Furor had been savaged by Iowas, Oregons, and Indiana's secondary batteries, leading her crew to surrender to the gunboat USS Gloucester (1891). Cristóbal Colón managed to break away from the American fleet for a time, but she also ran aground later in the day.

At around 11:00, Iowa lowered five of her cutters to pick up the crews of the wrecked cruisers. Among the men rescued was Captain Antonio Eulate, Vizcaya's commander; he attempted to surrender his sword to Evans, but he returned it to Eulate. In total, Iowa picked up 23 officers and 248 enlisted men, of whom 32 were wounded. Her crew also recovered the bodies of five men who were then buried with military honors. In addition, Iowa's boats also transferred men to other vessels in the American fleet. On 20 July, four days after the Spanish garrison at Santiago de Cuba surrendered, Iowa suffered a boiler accident while she was patrolling off the city. The manhole gasket on one of her boilers blew out, sending boiling water out into the boiler room. The crew set a board across a bucket and Fireman 2nd Class Robert Penn climbed across to shut off the boiler, risking being badly burned, and he was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.

1898–1904

Iowa left Cuban waters after Spain surrendered in August, arriving in New York on 20 August. Captain Silas Terry took command of the ship on 24 September and on 12 October, she departed for the West Coast of the United States, where she was to join the Pacific Squadron. The next year passed uneventfully and Iowa put into the Puget Sound Navy Yard for an overhaul that began on 11 June 1899. She took part in training exercises off San Diego, California from 20 December to 15 January 1900. On the first day of the exercises, Iowa lost one of her Howell torpedoes after the practice warhead likely detached after it was launched. In March 2012, a pair of dolphins that were part of the Navy's Marine Mammal Program recovered the torpedo, which was missing the practice warhead; the section recovered was later transferred to the Underwater Archaeology Branch for preservation. The torpedo is one of three Howell torpedoes known to exist. During the period in San Diego, she received a pair of 3-inch field guns and four M1895 Colt-Brownings that were chambered in .30-40 Krag for use by landing parties ashore. After the training exercises, Iowa underwent a refit, after which she resumed her peacetime routine of training exercises, shooting practice, and cruises in the eastern Pacific. Captain Philip H. Cooper took command of the ship on 9 June, serving as her commander until 1 April 1901. On 8 September, the sailing ship SV Mary Flint collided with her while she was at anchor in San Francisco Bay and then collided with a barque and sank.

In early February 1902, she was transferred to the South Atlantic Squadron to serve as its flagship. During this period, she visited a number of foreign ports, including Montevideo, Uruguay from late July to 2 August, Santos, Brazil from 6 to 7 August, Salvador, Brazil from 11 August to 8 September, Trade Island from 8 to 14 September, Montevideo again from 22 to 28 September, Puerto Belgrano, Argentina from 28 September to 19 October, Montevideo a third time from 22 October to 6 November, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 10 to 18 November. From there, she steamed north to the West Indies, stopping in the Gulf of Paria from 29 November to 4 December. She then took part in a search exercise off Mayagüez, Puerto Rico from 9 to 10 December. She then joined maneuvers off Culebra, Puerto Rico between 11 and 19 December, before steaming to visit Saint Lucia on 21 December. The next day, she traveled to Port of Spain, Trinidad, where she stayed until 28 December. Iowa returned to Culebra on 30 December and lay there through 1 February 1903. The ship visited St. Kitts from 2 to 6 February and Ponce, Puerto Rico from 6 to 11 February before turning north for New York the next day. She took an indirect route, visiting Galveston, Texas, from 18 to 26 February and Pensacola, Florida, from 28 February to 1 April. She took part in shooting practice there from 1 to 9 April, during which one of her main battery guns exploded. She underwent repairs at the Pensacola Navy Yard from 9 to 23 April, and then resumed her voyage northward. She reached Cape Henry, Virginia, staying there from 28 to 30 April, then Tompkinsville from 1 to 7 May; she finally reached the New York Navy Yard later on 7 May. She was decommissioned there on 30 June.

On 23 December, Iowa was recommissioned and underwent a refit that included replacing the 4-inch guns on her aft superstructure with a pair of 6-pounder guns in early January 1904. She then joined the North Atlantic Squadron, which was then in European waters. She visited Piraeus, Greece, from 30 June to 6 July, the island of Corfu from 8 to 9 July, and then Trieste and Fiume in Austria-Hungary for the rest of the month. On 2 August, she crossed the Adriatic to Palermo, Italy, staying there for three days before getting underway for Gibraltar, which she visited from 9 to 13 August. She then re-crossed the Atlantic, stopping in Horta in the Azores from 18 to 20 August. The ship reached Menemsha, Massachusetts on 29 August and stayed there until 5 September, waiting for her turn at the Navy's target range off Martha's Vineyard. She conducted gunnery practice there from 5 to 19 September before returning to Tompkinsville from 30 September to 5 October and then moved to New York City, anchoring in the Hudson River from 5 to 20 October, while she waited for a dry dock to open up at the Norfolk Navy Yard. She then sailed south to Norfolk and arrived on 22 October, where she was docked from 24 October to 24 December for periodic maintenance; she was then moved to Newport News Shipbuilding for dry-docking from 24 to 30 December.

1905–1908
After emerging from dry dock, Iowa rejoined the fleet on 3 January 1905 at Hampton Roads and Captain Benjamin Franklin Tilley took command of the vessel on 14 January. The ship then took part in a series of maneuvers with the rest of the squadron off Culebra in mid January, Guantánamo Bay from 19 February to 22 March, and then Pensacola from 27 March to 3 May. She then returned to Hampton Roads on 7 May for repairs at Norfolk that lasted from 9 May to 24 June. She helped to test the new floating dry dock USS Dewey (YFD-1) from 25 to 30 June, thereafter returning to Newport News for periodic maintenance from 30 June to 3 July. Iowa then sailed north to New England, visiting several ports, including Provincetown, Newport, Bar Harbor, Boston, and New York over the course of the next four months. She arrived back in Hampton Roads on 13 October, where she remained until the end of the month, when she sailed to visit Annapolis, Maryland, from 30 October to 7 November.

Iowa then steamed to North River, New York, staying there from 8 to 20 November, before returning to Hampton Roads for another refit at the Norfolk Navy Yard from 22 November to 23 December. She then returned to New York for a short dry-docking from 26 to 28 December before sailing back south to Hampton Roads on the last day of the year. She lay there through 17 January 1906 before getting underway for the Caribbean, stopping in Culebra from 22 January to 6 February, Barbados from 8 to 15 February, and then Guantánamo Bay from 19 February to 31 March. Shooting practice followed from 1 to 10 April off Cape Cruz, Cuba. Iowa then steamed north to Annapolis to participate in the ceremonial return of John Paul Jones after his remains had been exhumed from his original grave in Paris so they could be re-interred at the US Naval Academy. The battleship then operated off the East Coast, stopping in Hampton Roads, Newport News, and New York between late April and mid-May. While in New York in early May, she had two of her torpedo tubes removed. She then underwent an overhaul in Norfolk from 14 May to 30 June.

The ship next moved to Tompkinsville in early July, coaling there before being dry-docked at the New York Navy Yard for repairs from 6 to 15 July. She then joined the ships of the Second Division of what was now the Atlantic Fleet for a tour of New England, stopping in a series of ports in the region through the end of August. She was present for a fleet review held on 1–2 September, which was observed by President Theodore Roosevelt. She then returned to New England waters for shooting practice in late September and early October, after which she steamed south to Norfolk for repairs. She took part in tests with equipment that would allow the ship to replenish coal while underway in mid-December. The ship ended the year cruising with the rest of the fleet off the central East Coast, putting in at Hampton Roads on 31 December. The fleet steamed south to Cuba in early January 1907 for maneuvers that were held off Guantánamo Bay from 7 January to 10 February. Iowa then visited Cienfuegos in mid February and Guantánamo from mid-February to mid-March. Further gunnery practice was held from 16 March to 6 April.

Iowa was present for the Jamestown Exposition later in April, which marked the 300th anniversary of the foundation of the Jamestown Colony. The ship rejoined the fleet for a visit to North River from 16 May to 5 June, after which she operated with the Fourth Division for maneuvers off the coast of Virginia. After returning to Hampton Roads on 28 June, she was reduced to reserve on 6 July at the Norfolk Navy Yard. That day, Lieutenant Commander Clarence Stewart Williams took command of the vessel. The ship was moved to Philadelphia and was decommissioned there on 23 July 1908. While out of service, the ship had a series of improvements made, including the installation of new hydraulic equipment for her 12-inch turrets and a lattice mast aft of her funnels. The magazines and shell hoists for her 4-inch guns were modified to improve shell handling.

1910–1919

Iowa was moved to the New York Navy Yard, where she was recommissioned on 2 May 1910, with Commander William H. G. Bullard serving as her captain. She got underway on 23 May, joining the Naval Academy Practice Squadron the next day. After embarking contingents of midshipmen from the Naval Academy, the ships in the squadron began a training cruise to Europe. Stops on the tour included Plymouth, Great Britain, from 23 to 30 June; Marseille, France, from 8 to 15 July; Gibraltar from 19 to 24 July; Funchal, Madeira, from 27 July to 2 August; and Horta, Azores from 5 to 12 August. The ships then returned to the United States, disembarking the midshipmen at the end of the month. From 6 to 19 September, she was in dock at the New York Navy Yard to have another coaling-at-sea apparatus installed; she conducted tests with the collier USS Vestal on 22 September. Iowa then returned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard four days later, where she was again reduced to reserve.

On 3 May 1911, Iowa returned to active service for another cruise with the Naval Academy Practice Squadron from 13 May to 5 June. While en route to join the squadron on 12 May, she and SS Hamilton (1899) rescued passengers from the sinking Ward liner SS Merida (1906) after she collided with the United Fruit Company's steamship Admiral Farragut some 55 nmi east of Cape Charles, Virginia in dense fog; all 319 passengers on Merida remained alive. The ships then took on midshipmen for another voyage to Europe, stopping at Queenstown, Ireland from 18 to 27 June; Kiel, Germany from 2 to 12 July; Bergen, Norway from 14 to 24 July; and Gibraltar from 2 to 8 August. After returning to the United States, the ships disembarked their cadets at Annapolis on 28–29 August. Iowa was again decommissioned in Philadelphia on 1 September. She was briefly mobilized between 28 October and 2 November as part of a mobilization exercise, during which she was moved to New York and then returned to Philadelphia.

Iowa was recommissioned in July 1912 for a training cruise for naval militia members. The cruise, conducted between 2 and 21 July, included stops in Newport, Tangier Sound, Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore, Maryland, New York, and Annapolis. The next day, she was assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, based in Philadelphia. She was detached on 8 October to take part in a fleet review held in Philadelphia from 10 to 15 October. She was placed in ordinary on 30 April 1913 in Philadelphia and was formally decommissioned on 23 May 1914.

After the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917, Iowa was placed in limited commission on 23 April for use as a receiving ship for naval recruits. She remained in Philadelphia for six months before being moved to Hampton Roads, where she spent the rest of the conflict. While there, she was employed as a training vessel for new recruits and a guard ship defending the entrance to Chesapeake Bay through the end of the war in November 1918. On 31 March 1919, Iowa was decommissioned for the last time, and on 30 April, she was renamed Coast Battleship No. 4 so that her name could be reused for the South Dakota-class battleship USS Iowa (BB-53). The new ship was laid down the next year, but was cancelled before completion as a result of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty.

Target ship

With no further use for the ship by 1919, the Navy decided to convert Coast Battleship No. 4 into a radio-controlled target ship. She was briefly struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 4 February 1920 before the order was reversed six days later. She was subsequently turned over to the captain of the battleship USS Ohio (BB-12) on 2 August. Coast Battleship No. 4 was converted for radio control in Philadelphia, with a wireless receiver that could control both the steering and speed of the ship as well as pumps to control the boilers, which were replaced with oil-fired versions. She was then moved from Philadelphia to Hampton Roads under radio control, departing on 17 August without any crew aboard, her speed and course being directed from the deck of Ohio. Tests to determine the effectiveness of control from Ohio were conducted there through 10 September, when the Navy was informed of their success.

In June 1921, the Navy and Army conducted a series of bombing tests off the Virginia Capes to evaluate the effectiveness of aircraft against warships. The Navy also sought to determine the ability of internal compartmentalization to resist flooding from bomb attacks. Coast Battleship No. 4 was used as part of these experiments on 29 June as a moving target. It took Navy aircraft nearly two hours to locate her after being informed of her presence in a 25000 sqmi area; she was then attacked with dummy bombs. The aircraft scored two hits, out of eighty bombs dropped. The Army refused to participate in the attacks on Iowa, as General Billy Mitchell complained that attacking with simulated bombs had little merit. The ability of the ship to maneuver significantly hindered the aircrews' ability to locate and attack the vessel, and the Navy called off further attempts with live munitions that the Army requested.

Coast Battleship No. 4 was then laid up in Philadelphia, where she was reclassified as an "unclassified miscellaneous auxiliary" with the hull number of IX-6 on 21 July. She next went to sea in April 1922 for shooting practice off the Virginia Capes with USS Shawmut (CM-4) now serving as her control ship, but the exercises were cancelled and she returned to port. The ship was moved to the Pacific Ocean via the Panama Canal for shooting practice with the new battleship USS Mississippi (BB-41) as part of Fleet Problem I in February 1923, which was to simulate an attack on the Canal Zone. Shawmut reprised her role as command ship. The first set of drills consisted of 5-inch fire from Mississippi's secondary battery at a range of around 8000 yd. Two further sets of practice shoots involved her 14-inch main guns at longer ranges. The second of these was conducted on 23 March, and Coast Battleship No. 4 was struck by three of the projectiles, which inflicted serious damage and sank her. The battleship USS Maryland (BB-46) fired a 21-gun salute as the old battleship sank. She was formally stricken from the register on 27 March, and her wreck was sold to marine salvors on 8 November.

title: USS Iowa (BB-4)


text:
USS Maine (1889)

Maine was a United States Navy ship that sank in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, contributing to the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in April. U.S. newspapers, engaging in yellow journalism to boost circulation, claimed that the Spanish were responsible for the ship's destruction. The phrase, "Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!" became a rallying cry for action. Although the Maine explosion was not a direct cause, it served as a catalyst that accelerated the events leading up to the war.

Maine is described as an armored cruiser or second-class battleship, depending on the source. Commissioned in 1895, she was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after the state of Maine. Maine and its contemporary the battleship USS Texas (1892) were both represented as an advance in American warship design, reflecting the latest European naval developments. Both ships had two-gun turrets staggered en échelon, and full sailing masts were omitted due to the increased reliability of steam engines. Due to a protracted 9-year construction period, Maine and Texas were obsolete by the time of completion. Far more advanced vessels were either in service or nearing completion that year.

Maine was sent to Havana Harbor to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban War of Independence. She exploded and sank on the evening of 15 February 1898, killing 268 sailors, or three-quarters of her crew. In 1898, a U.S. Navy board of inquiry ruled that the ship had been sunk by an external explosion from a mine. However, some U.S. Navy officers disagreed with the board, suggesting that the ship's magazines had been ignited by a spontaneous fire in a coal bunker. The coal used in Maine was bituminous, which is known for releasing firedamp, a mixture of gases composed primarily of flammable methane that is prone to spontaneous explosions. An investigation by Admiral Hyman Rickover in 1974 agreed with the coal fire hypothesis, penning a 1976 monograph that argued for this conclusion. The cause of her sinking remains a subject of debate.

The ship lay at the bottom of the harbor until 1911, when a cofferdam was built around it. The hull was patched up until the ship was afloat, then she was towed to sea and sunk. Maine now lies on the seabed 3600 feet below the surface. The ship's main mast is now a memorial in Arlington National Cemetery.

Background
In response to the delivery of the BRAZILIAN BATTLESHIP Riachuelo in 1883 and the acquisition of other modern armored warships from Europe by Brazil, Argentina and Chile, the head of the House Naval Affairs Committee, Hilary A. Herbert, stated to Congress: "if all this old navy of ours were drawn up in battle array in mid-ocean and confronted by Riachuelo it is doubtful whether a single vessel bearing the American flag would get into port." These developments helped bring to a head a series of discussions that had been taking place at the Naval Advisory Board since 1881. The board knew at that time that the U.S. Navy could not challenge any major European fleet; at best, it could wear down an opponent's merchant fleet and hope to make some progress through general attrition. Moreover, projecting naval force abroad through the use of battleships ran counter to the government policy of isolationism. While some on the board supported a strict policy of commerce raiding, others argued it would be ineffective against the potential threat of enemy battleships stationed near the American coast. The two sides remained essentially deadlocked until Riachuelo manifested.

The board, now confronted with the concrete possibility of hostile warships operating off the American coast, began planning for ships to protect it in 1884. The ships had to fit within existing docks and had to have a shallow draft to enable them to use all the major American ports and bases. The maximum beam was similarly fixed, and the board concluded that at a length of about 300 ft, the maximum displacement would be about 7,000 tons. A year later the Bureau of Construction and Repair (C & R) presented two designs to Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney, one for a 7,500-ton battleship and one for a 5,000-ton armored cruiser. Whitney decided instead to ask Congress for two 6,000-ton warships, and they were authorized in August 1886. A design contest was held, asking naval architects to submit designs for the two ships: armored cruiser Maine and battleship USS Texas (1892). It was specified that Maine had to have a speed of 17 kn, a ram bow, and a double bottom, and be able to carry two torpedo boats. Her armament was specified as: four 10 in guns, six 6 in guns, various light weapons, and four torpedo tubes. It was specifically stated that the main guns "must afford heavy bow and stern fire." Armor thickness and many details were also defined. Specifications for Texas were similar but demanded a main battery of two 12 in guns and slightly thicker armor.

The winning design for Maine was from Theodore D. Wilson, who served as chief constructor for C & R and was a member on the Naval Advisory Board in 1881. He had designed a number of other warships for the navy. The winning design for Texas was from a British designer, William John, who was working for the Barrow Shipbuilding Company at that time. Both designs resembled the Brazilian battleship Riachuelo, having the main gun turrets positioned out over the sides of the ship and echeloned. The winning design for Maine, though conservative and inferior to other contenders, may have received special consideration due to a requirement that one of the two new ships be American–designed.

Congress authorized construction of Maine on 3 August 1886, and her keel was laid down on 17 October 1888, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. She was the largest vessel built in a U.S. Navy yard up to that time.

Design
Maine's building time of nine years was unusually protracted as a result of the limits of American industry at the time. (The delivery of her armored plating took three years, and a fire in the drafting room of the building yard, where Maines working set of blueprints were stored, caused further delay.) During the nine-year construction span, naval tactics and technology changed radically and left Maines role in the navy ill-defined. At the time when she was laid down, armored cruisers such as Maine were intended to serve as small battleships on overseas service and were built with heavy belt armor. Great Britain, France and Russia had constructed such ships to serve this purpose and sold others of this type, including Riachuelo, to second-rate navies. Within a decade, this role had changed to one of commerce raiding, for which fast, long-range vessels, with only limited armor protection, were needed. The advent of lightweight armor, such as Harvey steel, made this transformation possible.

As a result of these changing priorities, Maine was caught between two separate positions and could not perform either one adequately. She lacked both the armor and firepower to serve as a ship-of-the-line against enemy battleships and the speed to serve as a cruiser. Nevertheless, she was expected to fulfill more than one tactical function. In addition, because of the potential of a warship sustaining blast damage to herself from cross-deck and end-on fire, Maine's main-gun arrangement was obsolete by the time she entered service.

General characteristics
Maine was 324 ft long overall, with a beam of 57 ft, a maximum draft of 22 ft and a displacement of 6682 LT. She was divided into 214 watertight compartments. A centerline longitudinal watertight bulkhead separated the engines and a double bottom covered the hull only from the foremast to the aft end of the armored citadel, a distance of 196 ft. She had a metacentric height of 3.45 ft as designed and was fitted with a ram bow.

Maine's hull was long and narrow, more like that of a cruiser than that of Texas, which was wide-beamed. Normally, this would have made Maine the faster ship of the two, but Maine's weight distribution was ill-balanced, which slowed her considerably. Her main turrets, awkwardly situated on a cutaway gundeck, were nearly awash in bad weather. Because they were mounted toward the ends of the ship, away from its center of gravity, Maine was also prone to greater motion in heavy seas. While she and Texas were both considered seaworthy, the latter's high hull and guns mounted on her main deck made her the drier ship.

The two main gun turrets were sponsoned over the sides of the ship and echeloned to allow both to fire fore and aft. The practice of en echelon mounting had begun with Italian battleships designed in the 1870s by Benedetto Brin and followed by the British Navy with HMS Inflexible (1876), which was laid down in 1874 but not commissioned until October 1881. This gun arrangement met the design demand for heavy end-on fire in a ship-to-ship encounter, tactics that involved ramming the enemy vessel. The wisdom of this tactic was largely theoretical at the time when it was implemented. A drawback of an en echelon layout limited the ability for a ship to fire broadside, a key factor when employed in a line of battle. To allow for at least partial broadside fire, Maine's superstructure was separated into three structures. This allowed both turrets to fire across the ship's deck (cross-deck fire), between the sections. This ability was limited as the superstructure restricted each turret's arc of fire.

This profile view and plan show Maine with eight six-pounder guns. Another early published plan shows the same. In both cases, the photographs show a single extreme bow mounted six-pounder and confirm that she did not carry that gun. Maine's armament setup in the bow was not identical to that of the stern, which had a single six-pounder mounted at extreme aft of the vessel. Maine carried two six-pounders forward, two on the bridge and three on the stern section, all one level above the abbreviated gun deck that permitted the ten-inch guns to fire across the deck. The six-pounders located in the bow were positioned more forward than were the pair mounted aft, which necessitated the far aft single six-pounder.

Propulsion
Maine was the first American capital ship for which its power plant was afforded as high a priority as was its fighting strength. Her machinery, built by the N. F. Palmer Jr. & Company's Quintard Iron Works of New York, was the first designed for a major ship under the direct supervision of Arctic explorer and future commodore George Wallace Melville. She had two inverted vertical triple-expansion steam engines, mounted in watertight compartments and separated by a fore-to-aft bulkhead, with a total designed output of 9293 ihp. Cylinder diameters were 35.5 in (high-pressure), 57 in (intermediate pressure) and 88 in (low-pressure). Stroke for all three pistons was 36 in.

Melville mounted Maine's engines with the cylinders in vertical mode, a departure from conventional practice. Previous ships had had their engines mounted in horizontal mode so that they would be completely protected below the waterline. Melville believed that a ship's engines needed ample room to operate and that any exposed parts could be protected by an armored deck. He therefore opted for the greater efficiency, lower maintenance costs and higher speeds offered by the vertical mode. The engines were constructed with the high-pressure cylinder aft and the low-pressure cylinder forward. According to the ship's chief engineer A. W. Morley, this was done so that the low-pressure cylinder could be disconnected when the ship was under low power. This allowed the high and intermediate-power cylinders to be run together as a compound engine for efficient running.

Eight single-ended Scotch marine boilers provided steam to the engines at a working pressure of 135 psi at a temperature 364 °F. On trials, she reached a speed of 16.45 kn, failing to meet her contract speed of 17 kn. She carried a maximum load of 896 LT of coal in 20 bunkers, 10 on each side, which extended below the protective deck. Wing bunkers at each end of each fire room extended inboard to the front of the boilers. This was a very low capacity for a ship of Maine's rating, which limited her time at sea and her ability to run at flank speed, when coal consumption increased dramatically. Maine's overhanging main turrets also prevented coaling at sea, except in the calmest of waters; otherwise, the potential for damage to a collier, herself or both vessels was extreme.

Maine also carried two small dynamos to power her searchlights and provide interior lighting.

Maine was designed initially with a three-mast barque rig for auxiliary propulsion in case of engine failure and to aid long-range cruising. This arrangement was limited to "two-thirds" of full sail power, determined by the ship's tonnage and immersed cross-section. The mizzen mast was removed in 1892, after the ship had been launched, but before her completion. Maine was completed with a two-mast military rig and the ship never spread any canvas.

Main guns

Maine's main armament consisted of four 10 in/30 caliber Mark II guns, which had a maximum elevation of 15° and could depress to −3°. Ninety rounds per gun were carried. The ten-inch guns fired a 510 lb shell at a muzzle velocity of 2000 ft/s to a range of 20000 yd at maximum elevation. These guns were mounted in twin hydraulically powered Mark 3 turrets, the fore turret sponsoned to starboard and the aft turret sponsoned to port.

The 10-inch guns were initially to be mounted in open barbettes (the C & R proposal blueprint shows them as such). During Maine's extended construction, the development of rapid-fire intermediate-caliber guns, which could fire high-explosive shells, became a serious threat and the navy redesigned Maine with enclosed turrets. Because of the corresponding weight increase, the turrets were mounted one deck lower than planned originally. Even with this modification, the main guns were high enough to fire unobstructed for 180° on one side and 64° on the other side. They could also be loaded at any angle of train; initially the main guns of Texas, by comparison, with external rammers, could be loaded only when trained on the centerline or directly abeam, a common feature in battleships built before 1890. By 1897, Texas' turrets had been modified with internal rammers to permit much faster reloading.

The en echelon arrangement proved problematic. Because Maine's turrets were not counterbalanced, she heeled over if both were pointed in the same direction, which reduced the range of the guns. Also, cross-deck firing damaged her deck and superstructure significantly due to the vacuum from passing shells. Because of this, and the potential for undue hull stress if the main guns were fired end-on, the en echelon arrangement was not used in U.S. Navy designs after Maine and Texas.

Secondary and light guns
The six 6 in/30 caliber Mark 3 guns were mounted in casemates in the hull, two each at the bow and stern and the last two amidships. Data is lacking, but they could probably depress to −7° and elevate to +12°. They fired shells that weighed 105 lb with a muzzle velocity of about 1950 ft/s. They had a maximum range of 9000 yd at full elevation.

The anti-torpedo boat armament consisted of seven 57 mm Driggs-Schroeder six-pounder guns mounted on the superstructure deck. They fired a shell weighing about 6 lb at a muzzle velocity of about 1765 ft/s at a rate of 20 rounds per minute to a maximum range of 8700 yd. The lighter armament comprised four each 37 mm Hotchkiss and Driggs-Schroeder one-pounder guns. Four of these were mounted on the superstructure deck, two were mounted in small casemates at the extreme stern and one was mounted in each fighting top. They fired a shell weighing about 1.1 lb at a muzzle velocity of about 2000 ft/s at a rate of 30 rounds per minute to a range about 3500 yd.

Maine had four 18 in above-water torpedo tubes, two on each broadside. In addition, she was designed to carry two 14.8 LT steam-powered torpedo boats, each with a single 14 in torpedo tube and a one-pounder gun. Only one was built, but it had a top speed of only a little over 12 kn so it was transferred to the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island, as a training craft.

Armor
The main waterline belt, made of nickel steel, had a maximum thickness of 12 in and tapered to 7 in at its lower edge. It was 180 ft long and covered the machinery spaces and the 10-inch magazines. It was 7 ft high, of which 3 ft was above the design waterline. It angled inwards for 17 ft at each end, thinning to 8 in, to provide protection against raking fire. A 6-inch transverse bulkhead closed off the forward end of the armored citadel. The forward portion of the 2 in protective deck ran from the bulkhead all the way to the bow and served to stiffen the ram. The deck sloped downwards to the sides, but its thickness increased to 3 in. The rear portion of the protective deck sloped downwards towards the stern, going below the waterline, to protect the propeller shafts and steering gear. The sides of the circular turrets were 8 inches thick. The barbettes were 12 inches thick, with their lower portions reduced to 10 inches. The conning tower had 10-inch walls. The ship's voicepipes and electrical leads were protected by an armored tube 4.5 in thick.

Two flaws emerged in Maine's protection, both due to technological developments between her laying-down and her completion. The first was a lack of adequate topside armor to counter the effects of rapid-fire intermediate-caliber guns and high-explosive shells. This was a flaw she shared with Texas. The second was the use of nickel-steel armor. Introduced in 1889, nickel steel was the first modern steel alloy armor and, with a figure of merit of 0.67, was an improvement over the 0.6 rating of mild steel used until then. Harvey steel and Krupp armors, both of which appeared in 1893, had merit figures of between 0.9 and 1.2, giving them roughly twice the tensile strength of nickel steel. Although all three armors shared the same density (about 40 pounds per square foot for a one-inch-thick plate), six inches of Krupp or Harvey steel gave the same protection as 10 inches of nickel. The weight thus saved could be applied either to additional hull structure and machinery or to achieving higher speed. The navy would incorporate Harvey armor in the Indiana-class battleships, designed after Maine, but commissioned at roughly the same time.

Launching and delay
Maine was launched on 18 November 1889, sponsored by Alice Tracy Wilmerding, the granddaughter of Navy Secretary Benjamin F. Tracy. Not long afterwards, a reporter wrote for Marine Engineer and Naval Architect magazine, "it cannot be denied that the navy of the United States is making rapid strides towards taking a credible position among the navies of the world, and the launch of the new armoured battleship Maine from the Brooklyn Navy Yard ... has added a most powerful unit to the United States fleet of turret ships." In his 1890 annual report to congress, the Secretary of the Navy wrote, "the Maine ... stands in a class by herself" and expected the ship to be commissioned by July 1892.

A three-year delay ensued, while the shipyard waited for nickel steel plates for Maine's armor. Bethlehem Steel had promised the navy 300 tons per month by December 1889 and had ordered heavy castings and forging presses from the British firm of Armstrong Whitworth in 1886 to fulfil its contract. This equipment did not arrive until 1889, pushing back Bethlehem's timetable. In response, Navy Secretary Benjamin Tracy secured a second contractor, the newly expanded Homestead mill of Carnegie, Phipps & Company. In November 1890, Tracy and Andrew Carnegie signed a contract for Homestead to supply 6000 tons of nickel steel. Homestead was, what author Paul Krause calls, "the last union stronghold in the steel mills of the Pittsburgh district." The mill had already weathered one strike in 1882 and a lockout in 1889 in an effort to break the union there. Less than two years later, came the Homestead Strike of 1892, one of the largest, most serious disputes in U.S. labor history.

A photo of the christening shows Wilmerding striking the bow near the plimsoll line depth of 13, which caused speculation that the ship was "unlucky" from the launching.

Operations
Maine was commissioned on 17 September 1895, under the command of Captain Arent S. Crowninshield. On 5 November 1895, Maine steamed to Sandy Hook Bay, New Jersey. She anchored there two days, then proceeded to Newport, Rhode Island, for fitting out and test firing of her torpedoes. After a trip, later that month, to Portland, Maine, she reported to the North Atlantic Squadron for operations, training maneuvers and fleet exercises. Maine spent her active career with the North Atlantic Squadron, operating from Norfolk, Virginia, along the East Coast of the United States and the Caribbean. On 10 April 1897, Captain Charles Dwight Sigsbee relieved Captain Crowninshield as commander of Maine.

Sinking

In January 1898, Maine was sent from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba to protect American interests during the Cuban War of Independence. She arrived at 11:00 local time on January 25. At 21:40 on 15 February, an explosion on the Maine occurred in the Havana harbor (23.13528°N, -82.33417°W). Later investigations revealed that more than 5 LT of powder charges for the vessel's six- and ten-inch guns had detonated, obliterating the forward third of the ship. The remaining wreckage rapidly settled to the bottom of the harbor.

Most of Maine's crew were sleeping or resting in the enlisted quarters, in the forward part of the ship, when the explosion occurred. The ship's crew consisted of 355 men: 26 officers, 290 enlisted sailors and 39 marines. Of these, there were 261 fatalities: Of the 94 survivors, 16 were uninjured. Captain Sigsbee and most of the officers survived because their quarters were in the aft portion of the ship. The City of Washington, an American merchant steamship, aided in rescuing the crew.
 * Two officers and 251 enlisted sailors or marines were killed by the explosion or drowned
 * Seven others were rescued but soon died of their injuries
 * One officer later died of "cerebral affection" (shock)

The cause of the accident was immediately debated. Waking President McKinley to break the news, commander Francis W. Dickins called it an "accident". Commodore George Dewey, commander of the Asiatic Squadron, "feared at first that she had been destroyed by the Spanish, which of course meant war, and I was getting ready for it when a later dispatch said it was an accident." Navy captain Philip R. Alger, an expert on ordnance and explosives, posted a bulletin at the Navy Department the next day communicating that the explosion had been caused by a spontaneous fire in the coal bunkers. Assistant Navy secretary Theodore Roosevelt wrote a letter protesting this statement, which he viewed as premature. Roosevelt argued that Alger should not have commented on an ongoing investigation, saying, "Mr. Alger cannot possibly know anything about the accident. All the best men in the Department agree that, whether probable or not, it certainly is possible that the ship was blown up by a mine."

Yellow journalism

The New York Journal and New York World, owned respectively by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, sensationalized the Maine incident with intense press coverage, employing tactics that would later be labeled "yellow journalism." Both newspapers exaggerated and distorted much of the information they obtained, sometimes even fabricating news to fit their agendas. For a week following the sinking, the Journal devoted a daily average of eight and a half pages of news, editorials and pictures to the event. Its editors sent a full team of reporters and artists to Havana, including Frederic Remington, and Hearst announced a reward of $50,000 "for the conviction of the criminals who sent 258 American sailors to their deaths."

The World, while overall not as lurid or shrill in tone as the Journal, nevertheless indulged in similar theatrics, insisting continuously that Maine had been bombed or mined. Privately, Pulitzer felt that "nobody outside a lunatic asylum" really believed that Spain sanctioned Maine's destruction. However, his New York World insisted that the only "atonement" that Spain could offer the U.S. for the loss of ship and life was the granting of complete Cuban independence. The paper accused Spain of "treachery, willingness, or laxness" for failing to ensure the safety of Havana Harbor. Many members of the American public, already agitated over reported Spanish atrocities in Cuba, were driven to increased hysteria.

Hearst's reporting on the Maine incident generated support for military action against the Spanish in Cuba regardless of their actual involvement in the sinking. He frequently cited various naval officers saying that the explosion could not have been an on-board accident. He quoted an "officer high in authority" as saying: "The idea that the catastrophe resulted from an internal accident is preposterous. In the first place, such a thing has never occurred before that I have ever heard of either in the British navy or ours."

Spanish–American War
Maine's destruction did not result in an immediate declaration of war with Spain, but the event created an atmosphere that endangered a peaceful solution. The Spanish investigation found that the explosion had been caused by spontaneous combustion of the coal bunkers, but the Sampson Board ruled that the explosion had been caused by an external explosion from a torpedo.

The episode focused national attention on the crisis in Cuba. The McKinley administration did not cite the explosion as a casus belli, but others were already inclined to wage war with Spain over perceived atrocities and loss of control in Cuba. Advocates of war used the rallying cry, "Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!" The Spanish–American War began on April 21, 1898, two months after the sinking.

Investigations
In addition to the inquiry commissioned by the Spanish government to naval officers Del Peral and De Salas, two naval courts of inquiry were ordered: the Sampson Board in 1898 and the Vreeland board in 1911. In 1976, Admiral Hyman G. Rickover commissioned a private investigation, and the National Geographic Society investigated in 1998, using computer simulations. All investigations agreed that an explosion of the forward magazines caused the destruction of the ship, but different conclusions were reached regarding the exact cause of the explosion.

1898 Del Peral and De Salas inquiry
The Spanish inquiry, conducted by Del Peral and De Salas, collected evidence from officers of naval artillery, who had examined the remains of the Maine. Del Peral and De Salas identified the spontaneous combustion of the coal bunker, located adjacent to the munition stores in Maine, as the likely cause of the explosion. The possibility that other combustibles, such as varnish, drier or alcohol products, had caused the explosion was not discounted. Additional observations included that: The conclusions of the report were not reported at the time by the American press.
 * Had a mine been the cause of the explosion, a column of water would have been observed.
 * The wind and the waters were calm and hence a mine could have only been detonated by electricity, but no cables had been found.
 * No dead fish were found in the harbor, as would be expected following an explosion in the water.
 * Munition stores do not usually explode when a ship is sunk by a mine.

1898 Sampson Board's Court of Inquiry

A naval inquiry was ordered by the United States shortly after the incident, headed by Captain William T. Sampson. Ramón Blanco y Erenas, Spanish governor of Cuba, had instead proposed a joint Spanish-American investigation. Captain Sigsbee had written that "many Spanish officers, including representatives of General Blanco, now with us to express sympathy." In a cable, the Spanish minister of colonies Segismundo Moret had advised Blanco "to gather every fact you can, to prove the Maine catastrophe cannot be attributed to us."

According to Dana Wegner, who worked with Rickover on his 1974 investigation of the sinking, the Secretary of the Navy had the option of personally selecting a board of inquiry. Instead, he resorted to protocol and assigned the commander-in-chief of the North Atlantic squadron to do so. The commander produced a list of junior line officers for the board. The fact that the officer proposed to be court president was junior to the captain of Maine, Wegner writes, "would indicate either ignorance of navy regulations or that, in the beginning, the board did not intend to examine the possibility that the ship was lost by accident and the negligence of her captain." Eventually, navy regulations prevailed in leadership of the board, Captain Sampson being senior to Captain Sigsbee.

The board arrived on 21 February and took testimony from survivors, witnesses and divers who investigated the wreck underwater. The Sampson Board produced its findings in two parts: the proceedings, which consisted mainly of testimonies, and the findings, which were the facts as determined by the court. Between the proceedings and the findings, there was what Wegner calls "a broad gap" in which the court "left no record of the reasoning that carried it from the often-inconsistent witnesses to [its] conclusion." Another inconsistency, according to Wegner, was that the board summoned only one technical witness, Commander George Converse, from the Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island. Captain Sampson read Commander Converse a hypothetical situation of a coal-bunker fire igniting the reserve six-inch ammunition, with a resulting explosion sinking the ship. He then asked Commander Converse about the feasibility of such a scenario. Commander Converse "simply stated, without elaboration, that he could not realize such an event happening."

The board concluded that Maine had been destroyed by a mine, which, in turn, caused the explosion of her forward magazines. They reached this conclusion based on the fact that the majority of witnesses stated that they had heard two explosions and that part of the keel was bent inward. The official report from the board, which was presented to the Navy Department in Washington on 21 March, specifically stated the following:

"'At frame 18 the vertical keel is broken in two and the flat keel is bent at an angle similar to the angle formed by the outside bottom plating. ... In the opinion of the court, this effect could have been produced only by the explosion of a mine situated under the bottom of the ship at about frame 18, and somewhat on the port side of the ship.' (part of the court's 5th finding)

'In the opinion of the court, the Maine was destroyed by the explosion of a submarine mine, which caused the partial explosion of two or more of her forward magazines.' (the court's 7th finding) and

'The court has been unable to obtain evidence fixing the responsibility for the destruction of the Maine upon any person or persons.' (the court's 8th finding)."

1911 Vreeland Board's Court of Inquiry

In 1910, the decision was made to conduct a second court of inquiry. Doing so would also facilitate the recovery of bodies so they could be buried in the United States. The fact that the Cuban government wanted the wreck removed from Havana Harbor might also have played a role; it at least offered the opportunity to examine the wreck in greater detail than had been possible in 1898, while simultaneously obliging the newly independent Cubans. Wegner suggests that the fact that this inquiry could be held without the threat of war, which had been the case in 1898, lent it the potential for greater objectivity than had been possible previously. Moreover, as several of the members of the 1910 board would be certified engineers, they would be better qualified to evaluate their findings than had been the line officers of the 1898 board.

Beginning in December 1910, a cofferdam was built around the wreck and water was removed, exposing the wreck by late 1911. Between 20 November and 2 December 1911, a court of inquiry headed by Rear Admiral Charles E. Vreeland inspected the wreck. They concluded that an external explosion had triggered the explosion of the magazines. This explosion was farther aft and lower-powered than had been concluded by the Sampson Board. The Vreeland Board also found that the bending of frame 18 was caused by the explosion of the magazines, not by the external explosion. After the investigation, the newly located dead were buried in Arlington National Cemetery and the hollow, intact portion of the hull of Maine was refloated and ceremoniously scuttled at sea on 16 March 1912.

1974 Rickover investigation
Rickover became intrigued with the disaster and began a private investigation in 1974, using information from the two official inquiries, newspapers, personal papers, and information on the construction and ammunition of Maine. He concluded that the explosion was not caused by a mine, and speculated that spontaneous combustion was the most likely cause, from coal in the bunker next to the magazine. He published a book about this investigation in 1976 entitled How the Battleship Maine Was Destroyed.

In the 2001 book Theodore Roosevelt, the U.S. Navy and the Spanish–American War, Wegner revisits the Rickover investigation and offers additional details. According to Wegner, Rickover interviewed naval historians at the Energy Research and Development Agency after reading an article in the Washington Star-News by John M. Taylor. The author claimed that the U.S. Navy "made little use of its technically trained officers during its investigation of the tragedy." The historians were working with Rickover on a study of the Navy's nuclear propulsion program, but they said that they knew no details of Maine's sinking. Rickover asked whether they could investigate the matter, and they agreed. Wegner says that all relevant documents were obtained and studied, including the ship's plans and weekly reports of the unwatering of Maine in 1912 (the progress of the cofferdam) written by William Furgueson, chief engineer for the project. These reports included numerous photos annotated by Furgueson with frame and strake numbers on corresponding parts of the wreckage. Two experts were brought in to analyze the naval demolitions and ship explosions. They concluded that the photos showed "no plausible evidence of penetration from the outside," and they believed that the explosion originated inside the ship.

Wegner suggests that a combination of naval ship design and a change in the type of coal used to fuel naval ships might have facilitated the explosion postulated by the Rickover study. Up to the time of the Maine's building, he explains, common bulkheads separated coal bunkers from ammunition lockers, and American naval ships burned smokeless anthracite coal. With an increase in the number of steel ships, the Navy switched to bituminous coal, which burned at a hotter temperature than anthracite coal and allowed ships to steam faster. Wegner explains that anthracite coal is not subject to spontaneous combustion, but bituminous coal is considerably more volatile and is known for releasing the largest amounts of firedamp, a dangerous and explosive mixture of gases (chiefly methane). Firedamp is explosive at concentrations between 4% and 16%, with most violence at around 10%. In addition, there was another potential contributing factor in the bituminous coal: iron sulfide, also known as pyrite, was likely present. The presence of pyrites presents two additional risk factors, the first involving oxidation. Pyrite oxidation is sufficiently exothermic that underground coal mines in high-sulfur coal seams have occasionally experienced spontaneous combustion in the mined-out areas of the mine. This process can result from the disruption caused by mining from the seams, which exposes the sulfides in the ore to air and water. The second risk factor involves an additional capability of pyrites to provide fire ignition under certain conditions. Pyrites derive their name from the Greek root word pyr, meaning fire, as they can cause sparks when struck by steel or other hard surfaces. Pyrites were used to strike sparks to ignite gunpowder in wheellock guns, for example. The pyrites could have provided the ignition capability needed to create an explosion. A number of bunker fires of this type had been reported aboard warships before the Maine's explosion, in several cases nearly sinking the ships. Wegner also cites a 1997 heat transfer study that concluded that a coal bunker fire could have taken place and ignited the ship's ammunition.

1998 National Geographic investigation
In 1998, National Geographic magazine commissioned an analysis by Advanced Marine Enterprises (AME). This investigation, done to commemorate the centennial of the sinking of USS Maine, was based on computer modeling, a technique unavailable for previous investigations. The results reached were inconclusive. National Geographic reported that "a fire in the coal bunker could have generated sufficient heat to touch off an explosion in the adjacent magazine [but] on the other hand, computer analysis also shows that even a small, handmade mine could have penetrated the ship's hull and set off explosions within." The AME investigation noted that "the size and location of the soil depression beneath the Maine 'is more readily explained by a mine explosion than by magazine explosions alone'." The team noted that this was not "definitive in proving that a mine was the cause of the sinking" but it did "strengthen the case."

Some experts, including Rickover's team and several analysts at AME, do not agree with the conclusion. Wegner claims that technical opinion among the Geographic team was divided between its younger members, who focused on computer modeling results, and its older ones, who weighed their inspection of photos of the wreck with their own experience. He adds that AME used flawed data concerning the Maine's design and ammunition storage. Wegner was also critical of the fact that participants in the Rickover study were not consulted until AME's analysis was essentially complete, far too late to confirm the veracity of data being used or engage in any other meaningful cooperation.

2002 Discovery Channel Unsolved History investigation
In 2002, the Discovery Channel produced an episode of the Unsolved History documentaries, entitled "Death of the U.S.S. Maine." It used photographic evidence, naval experts, and archival information to argue that the cause of the explosion was a coal bunker fire, and it identified a weakness or gap in the bulkhead separating the coal and powder bunkers that allowed the fire to spread from the former to the latter.

False flag operation conspiracy theories
Several claims have been made in Spanish-speaking media that the sinking was a false flag operation conducted by the U.S. and those claims are the official view in Cuba. The Maine monument in Havana describes Maine's sailors as "victims sacrificed to the imperialist greed in its fervor to seize control of Cuba" and claims that American agents deliberately blew up their own ship.

Eliades Acosta was the head of the Cuban Communist Party's Committee on Culture and a former director of the José Martí National Library in Havana. He offered the standard Cuban interpretation in an interview to The New York Times, but he adds that "Americans died for the freedom of Cuba, and that should be recognized." This claim has also been made in Russia by Mikhail Khazin, a Russian economist who once ran the cultural section at Komsomolskaya Pravda, and in Spain by Eric Frattini, a Spanish Peruvian journalist in his book ''Manipulando la historia. Operaciones de Falsa Bandera. Del Maine al Golpe de estado de Turquía''.

Operation Northwoods was a series of proposals prepared by Pentagon officials for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1962, setting out a number of proposed false flag operations that could be blamed on the Cuban Communists in order to rally support against them. One of these suggested that a U.S. Navy ship be blown up in Guantanamo Bay deliberately. In an echo of the yellow press headlines of the earlier period, it used the phrase "A 'Remember the Maine' incident."

Raising and final sinking
For several years, the Maine was left where she sank in Havana harbor, but it was evident she would have to be removed sometime. It took up valuable space in the harbor, and the buildup of silt around her hull threatened to create a shoal. In addition, various patriotic groups wanted mementos of the ship. On 9 May 1910, Congress authorized funds for the removal of the Maine, the proper interment in Arlington National Cemetery of the estimated 70 bodies still inside, and the removal and transport of the main mast to Arlington. Congress did not demand a new investigation into the sinking at that time.

The Army Corps of Engineers built a cofferdam around the Maine and pumped water out from inside it. By 30 June 1911, the Maine's main deck was exposed, revealing just how damaged the ship was: Forward of frame 41 was completely destroyed, leaving only a twisted mass of steel that bore no resemblance to a bow, and the rest of the wreck was severely corroded. When the water was fully drained, army engineers used oxyacetylene torches to cut away the damaged superstructure and decks. Then, midway through the wreck, they cut away what was left of the forward portion of the ship and built a concrete and wooden bulkhead to seal the after-section. Holes were cut in the bottom of the after-section, through which jets of water were pumped, to break the mud seal holding the ship, then plugged, with flood cocks, which would later be used for sinking the ship. The Maine had been outfitted with Worthington steam pumps. After lying on the bottom of Havana harbor for fourteen years these pumps were found to be still operational; they were subsequently cleaned and used by the Army Corps of Engineers to aid them in their work on the wreck.

During the salvage, the remains of 66 men were found, of whom only one, Harry J. Keys (an engineering officer), was identified and returned to his home town; the rest were reburied at Arlington National Cemetery, making a total of 229 Maine crew buried there. All recovered bodies were removed to the armored cruiser USS North Carolina (ACR-12) for repatriation. Finally, on 13 February 1912, the engineers let water back into the interior of the cofferdam. Three days later, the interior of the cofferdam was full and the extant after-section of the Maine was refloated. Two days after that, the Maine was towed out by the tug USS Osceola (AT-47) On 16 March, the Maine was towed four miles from the Cuban coast by Osceola, escorted by North Carolina and the light cruiser USS Birmingham (CL-2). She was loaded with dynamite as a possible aid to her sinking. Flowers adorned Maine's deck, and an American flag was strung from her jury mast. At 5pm local time, with a crowd of over 100,000 persons watching from the shore, her sea cocks were opened, and just over twenty minutes later, Maine sank, bow first, in 600 fathom of water, to the sound of Taps and a twenty-one gun salute, courtesy of the men on the Birmingham and North Carolina.

Rediscovery
On October 18, 2000, the wreck of Maine was rediscovered in about 3,770 feet (1,150 m) of water roughly 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of Havana Harbor by Advanced Digital Communications, a Toronto-based expedition company. The team, led by marine engineer Paulina Zelitsky, accidentally stumbled across the ship while working with Cuban scientists and oceanographers from the University of South Florida College of Marine Science to test underwater exploration technology. The researchers, who referred to the wreck as the "square" due to its unique shape, did not initially believe it to be the Maine, since the ship was discovered east of where it was reportedly scuttled. (This displacement was likely due to currents pushing the ship as it sank.) Once the team began to explore the wreck with a Remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV), they discovered that the hull had not overly oxidized, allowing them to "see all of [the ship's] structural parts." The researchers confirmed the ship's identity both by scrutinizing the design of its doors, hatches, anchor chain, and propellers, and by identifying the telltale bulkhead that had been created when the bow was removed in 1912. Near the wreck, the team also located a boiler and a debris field of coal.

Arlington, Annapolis, Havana, Key West
In February 1898, the recovered bodies of sailors who died on Maine were interred in the Colon Cemetery, Havana. Some injured sailors were sent to hospitals in Havana and Key West, Florida. Those who died in hospitals were buried in Key West. In December 1899, the bodies in Havana were disinterred and brought back to the United States for burial at Arlington National Cemetery. In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson dedicated the USS Maine Mast Memorial to those who died. The memorial includes the ship's main mast. Roughly 165 were buried at Arlington, although the remains of one sailor were exhumed for his home town, Indianapolis, Indiana. Of the rest, only 62 were known. Nine bodies were never recovered and 19 crewmen, several unidentified, are buried in Key West Cemetery under a statue of a U.S. sailor holding an oar.

The explosion-bent fore mast of Maine is located at the United States Naval Academy.

In 1926, the Cuban government erected a memorial to the victims of Maine on the Malecon, near the Hotel Nacional, to commemorate United States assistance in acquiring Cuban independence from Spain. The monument features two of Maine's four 10-inch guns. In 1961, the memorial was damaged by crowds, following the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and the eagle on top was broken and removed. The Communist government then added its own inscription blaming "imperialist voracity in its eagerness to seize the island of Cuba" for Maine's sinking. The monument was cleaned and restored in 2013. The eagle's head was retained by the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, and the body by the city's museum.

Other memorials

 * In 1898, Georges Méliès made his movie, Divers at Work on the Wreck of the "Maine", about rescuers freeing bodies from the sunken Maine.
 * On March 25, 1912, a cowl from the USS Maine arrived in Woburn, Massachusetts and is still on display in Woburn Center.
 * In 1912, a porthole cover and a section of the base mast was given to the City of Newburgh Heights, Ohio. The relics were mounted on a large rock in the city's Washington Park in 1948.
 * In 1914, one of Maine's six anchors was taken from the Washington Navy Yard to City Park in Reading, Pennsylvania, and dedicated during a ceremony presided over by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was then assistant secretary of the navy.
 * A brass torpedo tube hatch recovered from Maine is on display at Lakeside Park in Oakland, California. It was stolen from its mount in the park in May 2011, but quickly recovered by authorities after the thieves attempted to sell it for scrap metal. The large piece was relocated and mounted by OPW Facility Services in front of Oakland's Veterans building on Grand Ave.
 * A memorial including the shield and scrollwork from the bow of the ship is located in Bangor, Maine.
 * A 6-inch gun from Maine is in Washington, D.C., at the National Museum of the United States Navy.
 * A 6-inch gun from Maine is in Fort Allen Park in Portland, Maine.
 * A 6-inch gun from Maine is displayed on the front lawn of city hall in Alpena, Michigan, as well as a bronze plaque made from the vessel.
 * The base of Maine's conning tower is currently on display at Westbrook Veterans' Memorial Park in Canton, Ohio, hometown of President McKinley.
 * Shells from the main battery were placed along with small plaques as memorials at the Soldier's Home in Marion, Indiana (now a VA hospital and national cemetery), at the St. Joseph County Courthouse lawn in South Bend, Indiana, and at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, Washington. A shell from the main battery is located in Veterans Park in Lewiston, Maine.
 * A monument for Maine with a portion of a bronze engine room ventilator shaft is located in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey.
 * The capstan of the ship was secured for Charleston, South Carolina, where it was displayed on the Battery until 2006; it is currently awaiting reinstallation.
 * A shell from the Maine is on display at the Hoboken Public Library in Hoboken, New Jersey.
 * There is a plaque dedicated to Maine at the war memorial in Stephen R. Gregg Park in Bayonne, New Jersey. The plaque is made from metal salvaged from the ship.
 * A 6-pound deck gun from Maine is on the North lawn of the South Carolina State House in Columbia, South Carolina.
 * A 6-pound deck gun from Maine is at the White Plains Public Works Yard in White Plains, New York, after being removed from Battle Whitney Park.
 * A bronze torpedo tube and armored hatch form part of a memorial in West Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, just south of West North Avenue.
 * There is also a USS Maine Memorial plaque (visible in photographs and physically in situ) at the south door of the Jefferson County Courthouse, in Steubenville, Ohio.
 * The Maine State Museum in Augusta has a porthole on display, recovered in 1910. It has other artifacts which are not on display.
 * There is a porthole cover from the USS Maine located in Woodlawn Cemetery, Wadsworth, Ohio, as part of a Spanish War Memorial. It was erected by Wadsworth Camp 24 U.S.W.V.

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title: USS Maine (1889)