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KF5JRV > TODAY 15.02.19 14:31l 37 Lines 1712 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 31282_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - Feb 15
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Sent: 190215/1228Z 31282@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
A massive explosion of unknown origin sinks the battleship USS Maine in
Cuba’s Havana harbor, killing 260 of the fewer than 400 American crew
members aboard.
One of the first American battleships, the Maine weighed more than 6,000
tons and was built at a cost of more than $2 million. Ostensibly on a
friendly visit, the Maine had been sent to Cuba to protect the interests
of Americans there after a rebellion against Spanish rule broke out in
Havana in January.
An official U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry ruled in March that the ship was
blown up by a mine, without directly placing the blame on Spain. Much of
Congress and a majority of the American public expressed little doubt
that Spain was responsible and called for a declaration of war.
Subsequent diplomatic failures to resolve the Maine matter, coupled with
United States indignation over Spain’s brutal suppression of the Cuban
rebellion and continued losses to American investment, led to the
outbreak of the Spanish-American War in April 1898.
Within three months, the United States had decisively defeated Spanish
forces on land and sea, and in August an armistice halted the fighting.
On December 12, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed between the United
States and Spain, officially ending the Spanish-American War and
granting the United States its first overseas empire with the ceding of
such former Spanish possessions as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the
Philippines.
In 1976, a team of American naval investigators concluded that the Maine
explosion was likely caused by a fire that ignited its ammunition
stocks, not by a Spanish mine or act of sabotage.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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