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USS MAINE - ACR-1 - BATTLESHIP
USS Maine (ACR-1), the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the state of Maine, was a 6,682-ton second-class pre-dreadnought battleship originally designated as Armored Cruiser #1. Maine and Texas were unusual in that their armament was mounted en echelon, projected off to either side (Maine's forward turret was off to starboard and her aft turret to port; the arrangement was reversed on Texas). This severely limited their ability to fire on a broadside. Maine was the stronger of the two ships, but inferior in every way to the later Indiana-class coastal battleships and subsequent ships.
Congress authorized her construction on August 3, 1886, and her keel was laid down on October 17, 1888, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. She was launched on November 18, 1889, sponsored by Miss Alice Tracey Wilmerding (granddaughter of Navy Secretary Benjamin F. Tracy), and commissioned on September 17, 1895, under the command of Captain Arent S. Crowninshield.
The sinking of the Maine on February 15, 1898 precipitated the Spanish-American War and also popularized the phrase Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain! In subsequent years, the cause of the sinking of the Maine became the subject of much speculation. The cause of the explosion that sank the ship remains an unsolved mystery.
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