On February 15, 1898, the Secretary of the Navy received an anguished telegram from Captain Charles Sigsbee: "Maine blown up in Havana harbor at nine forty tonight and destroyed." Two hundred sixty-seven American officers and enlisted men were killed in an explosion that was the immediate cause of the Spanish-American War and ended the short career of the first U.S. battleship built domestically with materials manufactured in the United States. At first ascribed to a Spanish mine, the Maine disaster has been scrutinized and challenged over the years, most notably in 1974 when Admiral Hyman G. Rickover employed naval engineers to demonstrate that the explosion was caused by spontaneous combustion in the ship's coal bunkers, adjacent to the gunpowder magazines.

Resolving a naval mystery -- Rebellion in Cuba -- The new U.S. navy -- Constructing the Maine -- The captain of the Maine -- Sending the Maine -- The Maine arrives -- The Maine in Havana harbor -- Quiet weeks on the Maine -- The big bang on the Maine -- The Maine destroyed -- Reporting the Maine disaster -- Spontaneous combustion on the Maine -- Why did the Maine explode? -- The inquiry on the Maine -- Getting the inquiry started -- Identifying the Maine's keel -- The president's message -- Testimony concerning the Maine -- The telltale plates -- The sampson findings -- Declaration of war -- The view from the other side -- American rebuttal -- Raising the Maine -- The second American inquiry -- The end of the Maine -- Rickover and the Maine -- Hansen-Price and the Maine -- Who was the perpetrator.