The second Maine tying up to refuel. She won't look so well-polished for close on a week. Coaling ship was an episode of backhbreaking labor which recurred every 2 weeks or so in a sailor's life. It was incredibly dirty and disgusting. At the end of refueling, it might take longer to clean all the coal dust off the ship's surfaces than to actually load the "black diamonds" in the ship's bunkers. For an enlarged view of the photo above, click here.

Ship's History - Read on.    |    Specifications    |    Photos

The years between the victory over Spain and the First World War were the glory years of the American New Navy. Above is the new Maine (BB-10), built at Cramp's in 1899-1902 as a replacement for the original Maine lost in Havana. The 1902 vessel was name ship of a class of three battleships which circumnavigated the globe with the Great White Fleet in 1908-9. These ships featured all Krupp armor, electrically trained turrets with all-round loading capability, and high-performance water-tube boilers -- all firsts for the U.S. fleet.

With her four 12-inch guns in chisel-faced turrets, sided battery of sixteen 6-inch, 50-calibre rapid-firing guns, and 18-kt. speed, she was a true First Class Battleship and a far more formidable vessel than her ill-starred namesake. But completing significantly over design weight, Maine (BB-10) and her sisters became known as stiff ships, with a snappy roll which made effective gunnery impossible in anything but a flat calm; Jane's Fighting Ships noted, "Indifferent sea-boats; very wet in bad weather." These deficiencies were largely corrected in subsequent classes, notably the very successful 6-ship Connecticut class.

Late in Theodore Roosevelt’s second term as president, he dispatched the bulk of the U.S. fleet for a worldwide goodwill voyage – the cruise of the "Great White Fleet.” This was a masterful gesture, for besides expressing goodwill (speaking softly), the fleet’s voyage advertised America’s burgeoning naval power, particularly to the Japanese. The passage of 16 white-painted battleships and ten big armored cruisers announced the arrival of a new player in the high-stakes game of empire -- showing that the U.S. "carried a big stick." At left, the Missouri at anchor in Australian waters during the circumnavigation. This angle shows the stepped-down quarterdeck common to the Maine class.

The voyage of the Great White Fleet was significant for more than its bravura PR value. It taught seamanship and self-reliance among the crews; it taught them they could maintain, refuel, and repair their ships far from base for an extended period. The trip served as a broad training, developing an experienced corps of deep-water sailors for the Navy to draw upon. The international visiting helped to broaden the perspective, and was meant to develop diplomatic skills among the officer corps. The fame of the great voyage lent some weight to the Navy's recruiting slogan, "Join the Navy and See the World".

The Maine class served as second-string coast defense ships and traiing ships during the First World War. Retired after the doughboys' return to American shores, all three Maine class ships were sold for scrapping in 1922.

After her world cruise, the Maine was decommissioned for 2 years during which she underwent extensive repairs. Following recommissioning in 1911, she operated along the eastern seaboard. She was modernized with two lattice masts, updated wireless equipment and armament for coastal defense work. In WWI she served as a training ship for engineers and midshipmen, and took part in the grand fleet review at New York at war's end, December 26, 1918. Decommissioned in 1920, she and her sisters were scrapped in 1923-24 in conformance with the Washington Treaty for Naval Disarmament.

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