USS Maine (BB-10)

USS Maine (BB-10), the lead ship of her class[?] of battleships, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the 23rd state. The contract to build her was awarded to William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 1, 1898, and her keel was laid down on 15 February 1899, a year to the day after the destruction of the first Maine She was launched on 27 July 1901, sponsored by Miss Mary Preble Anderson, and commissioned at Philadelphia on 29 December 1902 with Captain Eugene H.C. Leutze in command.

From 1903 to 1907 Maine cruised along the Atlantic coast south to the West Indies, and she completed one cruise to the Mediterranean Sea. On 16 December 1907 she left Hampton Roads with the rest of the Atlantic Fleet en route to the Pacific where she joined ships of that fleet for a cruise around the world. In company with Alabama, she went to Guam and the Philippines, through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean, and returned to the Atlantic coast in October 1908, considerably in advance of the rest of the "Great White Fleet."

Fitted out as flagship of the Third Squadron, Atlantic Fleet, Maine resumed operations along the Atlantic coast and into Caribbean waters during the next several months. She decommissioned at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 31 August 1908. Recommissioned on 15 June 1911, Maine operated along the east coast. During World War I, she trained engineers, armed guard crews, and midshipmen. Following the defeat of the Central Powers, she took part in the review of the fleet at New York 26 December 1918.

Maine operated with ships of the Atlantic Fleet until 15 May 1920 when she decommissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard. She was sold on 23 January 1922 to Joseph G. Hitner and William F. Cutlet of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for scrap. She was rendered incapable of further warlike service on 17 December 1923 in accordance with terms of the Washington Naval Treaty, and subsequently broken up and scrapped.

General Characteristics

• Displacement: 12500 tons light, 13500 tons full
• Length: 394 feet overall, 388 feet waterline
• Beam: 72.3 feet
• Draft: 24.3 feet mean, 26 feet maximum
• Speed: 18 knots
• Accommodations: 53 officers, 964 enlisted
• Armament: four 12-inch/45 guns, 16 six-inch/50 guns, six three-inch/50 guns, eight three-pounders, six one-pounders, three .30-caliber, two 18-inch submerged torpedo tubes
• Cost: US$3 million