When the aggressor wants to be good …
Today, the world is constantly shaken by the disasters of both civilian and military ships and aircraft, many of which very often look as if they were organized on purpose. The latest example is the crash of the Asia Minor Boeing in the skies over the Donbas. No less interesting is all that obvious and behind-the-scenes fuss that was raised around this tragedy. However, this is far from the first example of how the death of people (accidental or non-accidental) is used as a pretext for the outbreak of hostilities, or some kind of denunciations. There is even a term in Roman law called "Casus belli" or a formal reason for war. Moreover, among the norms of Roman law, it is one of the most remarkable. After all, the aggressor tries not to lose face in the eyes of public opinion and not look like an aggressor! To this end, he is looking for such a reason for the attack, which would present him as a victim and thus allow him to speak about the legitimacy of his actions. Well, if there is no such reason, then very often the aggressor creates it himself. Moreover, such examples have been known to us for a long time and one of the most remarkable is the explosion of the battleship Maine in 1898.
The battleship Maine was not a very large and impressive-looking warship, which is why it was classified as either a class 2 battleship or an armored cruiser. The main caliber - four 254-mm guns in two towers, spaced along its length, which is why the ship was prone to sharp pitching.
The Maine's auxiliary caliber consisted of six of these 6-inch guns.
Explosion in the harbor of Havana
And it so happened that at ten minutes past nine in the morning on February 15, 1898, a powerful explosion was heard in the harbor of the capital of Cuba, Havana. Those people who were on the embankment at that hour witnessed an eerie sight: a bright flash flashed over the bow of a large two-pipe warship at anchor, after which the ship was enveloped in clouds of thick black smoke and began to sink. Less than a few minutes later, at the place where the American armored cruiser Maine, which had made a friendly visit to Havana ten days ago, had just stood, plunged deep into the water, but the fire and explosions continued there until only the masts were left on the surface. … From the Spanish cruiser "Alfonso XII" boats rushed to the scene of the tragedy. The sailors from the cruiser tried to help the victims as soon as possible, but very few were able to rescue from the sunken "Maine".
The battleship Texas, the same age as the Maine, had only two 305-mm guns in two turrets in the center of the ship, so its pitching was smoother.
They learned about the details of the tragedy very soon. According to the captain of the ship, the disaster occurred at 9:40 am and took his crew by surprise. At first, a strong explosion was heard on the ship, from which it even rose above the water. At the same time, the commander was wounded in the head, but continued to command and direct the rescue of the crew. But nothing could be done. After the explosion, the ship sank so quickly that almost three quarters of the crew - 266 sailors - remained on board and went to the bottom with it!
The Maine passes under the Brooklyn Bridge.
The Maine enters the harbor of Havana.
Outside or inside?
The Spanish authorities said they believed the Maine was killed by an explosion of ammunition in the bow cellar. The reasons for the disaster could be clarified by lowering the divers to the bottom. Moreover, the ship was at a depth of only 14 meters, so it did not cause any difficulties. But for some reason the Americans decided otherwise. Without asking permission from Spain, to which Cuba at that time belonged as a colony, they sent a commission of four US Navy officers to Havana to investigate the disaster. The Cuban governor did not like this impudence, and he expressed his official protest to the American side. According to the Spaniards, a mixed Spanish-American commission should have been working on the investigation of the tragedy, which should have conducted it in the most impartial manner. However, the Americans rejected this proposal from the Spaniards, and in a rather harsh, non-diplomatic form.
In addition, the Maine had four more torpedo tubes located in pairs along the sides.
When newspapers are more dangerous than dynamite …
Meanwhile, while four officers were studying the wreckage of the ship, American newspapers literally raged, literally real anti-Spanish hysteria broke out in the press, and this is what is strange. After all, no one knew then what the commission would say. Meanwhile, the Americans were already preparing for the war with Spain. The newspapers were full of such catchy headlines: "The warship Maine was destroyed by the enemy's secret infernal machine!", "The battleship Maine was treacherously destroyed by the Spaniards!" - and how could one not believe that all this was the work of the insidious Spaniards. "The destruction of the Maine should be the basis for ordering our fleet to sail for Havana!" - Immediately suggested the World Net Daily newspaper. Moreover, the opinion of the press was immediately supported by the future President Theodore Roosevelt, an ardent supporter of the Monroe Doctrine ("America for Americans"). Who in it meant by the Americans is understandable. First of all, these were US citizens, and by no means some Spaniards! As a result, the American government did not even wait for the results of the commission's work, but immediately allocated 50 million dollars to strengthen the "national defense" - as if Spain were going to attack the United States immediately!
And here is the New York newspaper The World with material about the death of "Maine" on the front page. Date - February 17, 1898, that is, this issue came out less than two days after the explosion. Nobody knows anything yet, and only the newspapermen do not doubt that it was caused by "a hellish car or a torpedo." But the illustration to her is even more surprising. It's amazing how the artist managed in just one day to complete such a large and abundant engraving, and then they managed to make an electroplated form from it and print the circulation. The explosion is shown in the engraving very accurately, although the "bow" is a very relative place. Or maybe the artist started working on it in advance and it was ready when it all happened exactly like that?
The commission's report published on March 21 added fuel to the fire. It followed that the ship was blown up by an underwater mine or torpedo. The commission did not directly name the culprits (as it is now in the case of Boeing), but, of course, the Americans already understood that the Spaniards had done it!
Everything that remains of the ship after the explosion.
Peace or war? War
In turn, on March 28, the Spanish commission, although it was not given the opportunity to inspect the ship, published its own report based on eyewitness testimony. All of them unanimously stated that the explosion took place inside the vessel. But the Americans did not want to take their materials into account. Moreover, in his message to Congress, US President William McKinley said so bluntly that Maine was the victim of an underwater mine. Whose could it be? Well, of course, only Spanish! So the blame for the tragedy was placed on Spain, since the ship died in its territorial waters. And on April 11, President McKinley announced that it was the duty of the United States to oppose Spain, since "all this is happening on our borders."Then on April 20, an ultimatum was sent to Madrid from Washington demanding to abandon Cuba and withdraw the army and navy from its territory. And although its term was supposed to expire only on April 23, the squadrons of the American Navy went to sea the day before and headed for Cuba and the Philippines. Then 25 thousand volunteers were drafted into the army, and all of America was full of posters like: "Enroll in the Marines!", Including the most famous among them: "Remember the Maine!" That is, the war has not even been declared yet, but in fact it has already begun! To show the world that this is not a colonial war, and that the United States is interested in Cuban independence instead of American colonization, Congress passed the Teller Amendment, which promised that America would not annex this precious island, grant it independence.
Maine and his commander Sigby.
Well, the war ended, as you know, with the victory of the United States. Spain lost all of its colonies and lost its navy. Well, and no one remembered the mystery of the death of 266 sailors of the Maine against the backdrop of victorious reports and reports of other losses.
Remember Maine. American flag poster.
Mystery at the bottom of the sea
In 1910, they decided to raise the ship, and they chose a very unusual way for this. With the help of steam hammers, placed on platforms around the sunken ship, 30-meter iron piles were driven into the ground very close to each other. Then the space between them was closed up, and the water from the resulting pool was pumped out, so that now it was possible to walk on the ship lying on the bottom "like on dry land." And immediately examination of it showed that the explosion on it, as the Spaniards said, happened inside, and not outside at all. That is, neither mine nor torpedo had anything to do with it. But work on the ship was soon stopped, and all the materials ended up in the American archives, where even today you cannot get to them.
That's how they raised him …
The following fact was also found out. For some reason, the captain of "Maine" on March 25, 1898 (that is, the American commission had already published its report) for some reason began to ask permission from the Spanish authorities for permission to blow up the remains of his ship with dynamite, arguing that they interfere with navigation in the harbor! And they really got in the way, which is why they were raised in 1910. But … why were they blown up in 1898 right after the disaster? Well, the raised nose of the Maine was immediately cut into pieces and sent to be melted!
Conspiracy or Accident?
Almost from the very moment the cruiser died, a version of the "conspiracy" was born, according to which it was blown up by agents of the American government in order to provoke popular outrage against Spain, that is, to create "Casus Belli". In fairness, we note that this version has not been proven, but it remains, nevertheless, very popular. The main objections to it are that the American fleet at that time had very few modern warships in its composition and the destruction of the Maine for the sake of provocation was too expensive an operation for the thrifty Yankees, and a serious undermining of the combat capability of their fleet. And the injury of the commander in the explosion? It is hardly pleasant when you are blown up, even if “for the sake of the interests of big politics” … But, by the way, who knows?
"Maine" Officer's Wardroom Campaign.
Who benefits from looking for?
However, if, after all, it was not just a disaster, then who was its organizer? Of course, not the Spaniards, they were doing worse with the navy. Accidentality is also not excluded, since the warship is filled with explosives, and the fools who smoke near the barrel of gunpowder are found everywhere. And, nevertheless, the promptness of the reaction of the press to the explosion and its frantic nature directly indicate that this explosion was not an accident, and only then very skillfully used its results. It is quite possible that the so-called "ultra" and even the Ku Klux Klan, whose interests were connected with big business, could be involved in it, although the "clan members" themselves, of course, never advertised this. A number of US historians at one time expressed the idea that these could be those people who feared a peaceful settlement of a long-overdue conflict and acted at their own peril and risk in addition to the government, and those who were vitally interested in seizing the wealth of both Cuba and the Philippines. Could it be that someone in the United States got involved in this game besides the president? Yes, it could! Well, he just used the chance given to him by "history". In any case, so much time has passed since those events now that we will never know the truth. However, today we see the same style: good direction and strange consequences of the dramatic events that took place, and this cannot but be alarming, since history has a peculiarity of repeating itself!
Even the stamps featured the ill-fated Maine.
