USS Maine
Encyclopedia
Four ships of the United States Navy
have borne the name USS Maine, named for the 23rd state
.
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
have borne the name USS Maine, named for the 23rd state
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
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- The first , was a second-class pre-dreadnoughtPre-dreadnoughtPre-dreadnought battleship is the general term for all of the types of sea-going battleships built between the mid-1890s and 1905. Pre-dreadnoughts replaced the ironclad warships of the 1870s and 1880s...
battleshipBattleshipA battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
(launched in 1889, sometimes referred to as an armored cruiserArmored cruiserThe armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...
) whose sinking by an explosion, either internal or by a mine, on February 15, 1898 at 9:40 p.m. killing 266, precipitated the Spanish-American WarSpanish-American WarThe Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
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- The second , launched in 1901, was the lead ship of her classMaine class battleshipThe three Maine class battleships: , , and were launched in the first several years of the 20th century. These were the first US capital ships to use smokeless powder for their main batteries, and the last to use Harvey armor. Smokeless powder allowed a decrease in gun size, with an increase in...
of battleshipBattleshipA battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s. She participated in the voyage of the Great White FleetGreat White FleetThe Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the United States Navy battle fleet that completed a circumnavigation of the globe from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909 by order of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. It consisted of 16 battleships divided into two squadrons, along with...
, and was decommissioned in 1920 to be sold for scrap in 1923.
- The third was a Montana class battleshipMontana class battleshipThe Montana-class battleships of the United States Navy were planned as successors to the , being slower but larger, better armored, and having superior firepower...
, and was canceled in 1943.
- The fourth is an Ohio classOhio class submarineThe Ohio class is a class of nuclear-powered submarines used by the United States Navy. The United States has 18 Ohio-class submarines:...
nuclear ballistic missile submarineBallistic missile submarineA ballistic missile submarine is a submarine equipped to launch ballistic missiles .-Description:Ballistic missile submarines are larger than any other type of submarine, in order to accommodate SLBMs such as the Russian R-29 or the American Trident...
, launched in 1994 and still in active service as of 2011.