USS Maine - Definition and Overview

Four ships of the United States Navy have borne the name USS Maine, named for the 23rd state.

• The first USS Maine, was a second-class armored battleship whose destruction by an explosion precipitated the Spanish-American War. The exact cause of the explosion is still debated, but William Randolph Hearst's yellow journalism at the time reported that the Spanish forces had attacked the ship. Recent examinations of the hulk have shown that the cause was definitely not a mine but rather an internal explosion - probably a magazine explosion triggered by a coal bunker fire in turn caused by spontaneous combustion. A book on this subject was authored by Navy Admiral Hyman G. Rickover.
• The second USS Maine (BB-10) was the lead ship of her class of battleships. She participated in the voyage of the Great White Fleet.
• The third ship of this name was to be BB-69, a Montana-class battleship, but she was cancelled before her keel was laid down.
• The fourth USS Maine (SSBN-741) authorized (the third commissioned), was an Ohio-class Trident ballistic missile nuclear submarine.