The blast detonated about five tons of powder in Maine's forward magazines, obliterating the bow and killing 261 of the 355 people aboard. Most officers survived because their quarters were aft, while enlisted sailors berthed forward bore the casualties. The 1898 American board interpreted the bent keel and plating as evidence of an external mine, although it could not assign responsibility. That finding differed from the Spanish inquiry, Captain Philip Alger's immediate coal-fire explanation, and Rickover's later engineering work, all of which favored spontaneous combustion. Theodore Roosevelt protested that Alger could not establish an accidental cause before an investigation had taken place. Yellow journalism nevertheless hardened the mine narrative.
Chapter · 25:42-35:05
Competing explanations for the USS Maine explosion
Spanish, contemporary American, and later engineering interpretations disagree over whether a mine or a coal-bunker fire destroyed Maine.