The nation’s pre-eminent veterans cemetery has created a new memorial for the first Navy ship named after the state of Maine.
The USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, contributing to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War two months later.
The phrase, “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!” became a rallying cry for action.
The 324-foot battleship was christened and launched by Alice Tracey Wilmerding, granddaughter of Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy, at the New York Naval Shipyard on November 18, 1890.
In 1895, after delays of its being outfitted for service, the ship made an honorary sail to Portland harbor before being placed on active duty.
President William McKinley later ordered the Maine to Cuba to protect U.S. political and economic interests on the nearby island as Cubans were fighting for independence from Spanish colonial rule.
Arlington National Cemetery on November 19 announced the opening of a new exhibit in the Memorial Amphitheater Display Room, featuring a rare artifact from the Maine.
The centerpiece of the exhibit is a wooden fragment of the Maine’s spar mast that survived the explosion and was recovered after the ship sank.
The Maine was “one of the most famous ships in American military history,” said Arlington National Military Cemeteries Command Curator Roderick Gainer, “and its destruction was a critical event in our nation’s history.”
“The Pascack Historical Society in New Jersey generously donated the spar fragment to Arlington National Cemetery,” Gainer added. “Following two years of conservation and research, the current exhibit interprets this unique USS Maine relic in the context of the Spanish-American War.”
While the exact cause of the Maine’s explosion was never determined, it became a significant factor leading to the war.
The ship’s remains were raised in 1912 and its wreckage was towed to sea and scuttled with full military honors, some of its parts saved and preserved for memorials.
The vessel’s main mast was shipped in 1912 to Arlington cemetery, where it was placed onto a granite base meant to represent the turret of a battleship.
The names of those who died aboard the Maine were inscribed onto the base.
The mast, in a stark, silent reminder of the price of freedom, sits proudly atop a hill across from the amphitheater where the new exhibit is located.
Visitors may view the new exhibit of remnants from the ship anytime during Arlington National Cemetery’s regular public hours 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
