IT ALL STARTED WITH USS MAINE

Students of American history will know just how significant the first USS Maine was in establishing the United States of America as a considerable world power at a time when imperialism was the mode of all powerful nations. A young nation, a century past from freeing itself from its colonial British ties, must have needed an opportunity to assert itself in global politics, and the USS Maine provided the perfect opportunity.

Her explosion that is. The annals of history has forever recorded the night of February 15, 1898 as the night the USS Maine sank just off the Havana harbor. Her sinking into the night triggered public outrage, fueled by the yellow journalism prevalent at that time, and set off the Spanish-American War.