USS Maine (BB-10)

History of the USS Maine (BB-10)

The USS Maine was born before the arrival of the HMS dreadnought - a ship that rewrote the rules of naval design with an "all-cannon" weapons scheme with steam propulsion. This was a revolutionary British design, and all previous warships were called "pre-dreadnoughts", the USS Maine being one of them.

A mixed-caliber battleship, the Maine was completed a year after the original USS Maine went missing in Havana, Cuba.

William Cramp & Sons (Philadelphia) laid her keel on February 15, 1899, and launched the ship on July 27, 1901. She officially entered service on December 29, 1902.

When completed, the USS Maine will have a length of 393.10 feet, a beam of 72.3 feet, and a draft of 24.4 feet. The displacement is 12,846 tons. Her crew consisted of 561 officers and men. The main battery consisted of 4 x 12 in (305 mm)/40 caliber guns, supplemented by 16 x 6 in (152 mm)/50 caliber guns.

She is also armed with a 6 x 3 inch gun and an 8 x 3 pound support gun. For close range defense there are 4 x Maxim Nordenfelt machine guns and 2 x Colt machine guns. 2 x 18" (460 mm) torpedo tubes (underwater). ) is also worn.

Its outline consists of three chimneys arranged in a row and supported by towers. The bridge is fixed at the height of the superstructure. Before and after the superstructure was the main tower with two cannons. Various other guns are deployed on their flanks for devastating flanking attacks.

Armor protection ranges from 11 inches on the conveyor belt to 10 inches on the conning tower.

Power comes from 24 x Niclausse boiler units feeding 2 x 4 cylinder 16,000hp triple expansion piston engines on 2 x axles under the stern. This gives the boat a speed of 18 knots (under ideal conditions).

The USS Maine took part in the circumnavigation of the "Great White Fleet" (December 1907-February 1909) - a display of US Navy power. However, her outdated coal-fired propulsion system limited her ability to keep up with long-distance troops, forcing her to return to the United States in October 1908.

During active duty during World War I (1914-1918), facilities aboard the USS Maine were used to train midshipmen and engineers of the United States Navy in complex warship service. After the conflict she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet (previously known as the "North Atlantic Fleet").

After the conflict, she retired (May 15, 1920), then dissolved in order to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty, which sought to prevent another naval arms race among the then-ruling global naval powers.

USS Maine sold in January 1922.

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