The Battleship Maine

REMEMBER THE MAINE .

Well , it was 1898 , a long long time ago . The Battleship Maine was sitting in Havana Harbor when , on February 15 , it blew up . Americans blamed the Spanish , who ran Cuba . Most likely the explosion was a tragic accident . Nevertheless, the U.S. demanded that Spain give up control of Cuba . Spain refused , of course , and the two nations went to war .

The U.S. ambassador to Great Britain , writing to Teddy Roosevelt , called it ” a splendid little war “.