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USS Maine was born prior to the arrival of HMS Dreadnought - a warship which rewrote the rules of naval design by introducing an "all-big-gun" armament scheme with steam-based propulsion system. Such was the revolutionary British design that all preceding warships came to be known as "pre-dreadnoughts" of which USS Maine was one. Maine was completed as a mixed-caliber warship and was finished just one year after the loss of the original USS Maine in Havana, Cuba.

Her keel was laid down by William Cramp & Sons (Philadelphia) on February 15th, 1899 and the vessel was launched to sea on July 27th, 1901. She was formally commissioned on December 29th, 1902.

As completed, USS Maine was given a length of 393.10 feet, a beam of 72.3 feet and a draught of 24.4 feet. Displacement was 12,846 tons. Her crew complement numbered 561 made up of officers and enlisted. The primary battery consisted of 4 x 12" (305mm) /40 caliber guns backed by 16 x 6" (152mm) /50 caliber secondary guns. She was also outfitted with 6 x 3" guns and 8 x 3-pounder support guns. For close-in defense, there were 4 x Maxim Nordenfelt guns and 2 x Colt machine guns. 2 x 18" (460mm) torpedo tubes (submerged) were also carried.

Her profile included three smoke funnels seated inline and bookended by masts. The bridge was held in its usual place, high on the superstructure. Fore and aft of the superstructure lay the twin-gunned primary turrets. The various other guns were set about her sides for a devastating broadside attack. Armor protection ranged from 11 inches at the belt to 10 inches at the conning tower.

Power was from 24 x Niclausse boiler units feeding2 x 4-cylinder truple expansion reciprocating engines developing 16,000 horsepower to 2 x shafts under stern. This propelled the vessel to speeds of 18 knots (in ideal conditions).

USS Maine took part in the grand round-the-world voyage of the "Great White Fleet" (December 1907 - February 1909) - the United State Navy's show of force journey. However, her outdated, coal-burning propulsion scheme limited her ability to keep pace with the long-range force so she was forced to return stateside in October 1908.

In active service for World War 1 (1914-1918), USS Maine's onboard facilities were used to train USN midshipmen and engineers in the finer points of warship service. After the conflict, she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet (formerly known as the "North Atlantic Fleet"). After the conflict, she was decommissioned (May 15th, 1920) and then broken up for scrapping to adhere to the Washington Naval Treaty - the treaty attempting to head off another naval arms race between the reigning global naval powers of the time.

USS Maine was sold off in January of 1922.©MilitaryFactory.com

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