1976 Rickover investigation

The argument was not touched for another half a century, until a private investigation in 1976 was triggered by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover after he read a newspaper article on the sinking. He and several officials from the U.S. Navy launched an investigation based on the evidence collected during the two Courts of Inquiry. Rickover believed that the new knowledge collected since World War II on analyzing ships destroyed by internal and external explosions would shed new light on the sinking of the Maine. The Rickover analysis came to a completely different conclusion than the Courts of Inquiry. Rickover believed that the explosion of the magazines was caused by a coal bunker fire, which had heated the magazines to the point of explosion. His 23-page book published in 1976 ends with the line, “In conclusion: There is no evidence that a mine destroyed the Maine.” The world accepted this new conclusion, and for more than a quarter of a century, the coal bunker fire theory reigned over the external mine theory.

1999 National Geographic investigation

In 1999, to commemorate the centennial of the sinking of the Maine, National Geographic Magazine commissioned an analysis by Advanced Marine Enterprises, using computer modeling that was not available for previous investigations. The AME analysis examined both theories and concluded that “it appears more probable than was previously concluded that a mine caused the inward bent bottom structure and the detonation of the magazines.” Some experts, including some of Admiral Rickover’s team and several analysts at AME, do not agree with the conclusion, and the fury over new findings even spurred a heated 90-minute debate at the 124th annual meeting of the U.S. Naval Institute.

Unsolved mystery

The day after the Maine was sunk in Havana Harbor, Assistant Secretary to the Navy Theodore Roosevelt stated that “we shall never find out definitely” the cause of the disaster. Without the video or audio evidence that experts have come to rely on when investigating disasters like this, the truth may never be known for certain. It seems as if the debate could go on for years, even sparking an equally lively bicentennial debate on the topic.

Some other US ships attacked by foreign forces in times of "peace"

Usually the sinking of the Lusitania is cited as an example of coal dust explosion. However, the data on this putative "coal dust explosion" is not nearly conclusive since the wreck was shown to have a torpedo hole and at the time the coal hypothesis was advanced the sunken ship was falling apart. However, attacks on USN ships in peace time are far from unknown (see below).

This list excludes the undeclared Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor.

Further reading

  * USS Philadelphia (1799) attacked by Barbary pirates captured but burned by Stephen Decatur

    * USS Cole (Oct. 12, 2000) http://www.historyguy.com/attacks_on_us_naval_ships.htm]

* Chapter 3, "U.S.S. Maine", pages 80-114, John Harris, Without a Trace: A Fresh Investigation of Eight Lost Ships and Their Fates, Atheneum, 1981, hardcover, 244 pages, ISBN 0689111207

External links

    * Background information on the Maine: http://www.spanamwar.com/maine.htm

    * Theories on the loss of the Maine: http://www.spanamwar.com/Mainemo1.htm

    * Official 1898 Court of Inquiry Report: http://www.spanamwar.com/mainerpt.htm

    * How Likely was a Coal Bunker Fire Aboard the Battleship MAINE?: http://www.spanamwar.com/mainecoal.html

    * What Really Sank the Maine? (Naval History Magazine, April 1998): http://www.usni.org/navalhistory/articles98/nhallen.htm

    * http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/img/maine1.jpg

    * http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/maine.htm

    * http://www.usni.org/NavalHistory/Articles98/NHallen.htm

    * http://www.arlingtoncemetery.com/ussmaine.htm