8.The sinking of the USS Maine in Havana has remained a focal point for believers in false-flag incidents
Commissioned in 1895, built in response to an increase in naval forces in Latin America, the USS Maine was designed to serve as an armored cruiser capable of reasserting American prestige at sea. However, due to a protracted development process, by the time Maine entered service she was already vastly out of date. Stationed by the United States Navy in Havana Harbor on the evening of February 15, 1898, positioned to protect American interests during the Cuban revolt against Spain, the ship suddenly exploded. Killing almost three-quarters of her crew, totaling 266 individuals, Maine quickly sank.
Investigated by a board of inquiry, the precise cause remained unclear as did the persons responsible. Nevertheless, public opinion in the U.S. blamed Spain and, fanned by inflammatory rhetoric printed by newspaper magnates William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, the incident became a rallying cry for war. In the absence of clear causation – with expert opinion divided between a magazine explosion and a fire in the coal bunker – conspiracy theories have alternatively proposed the event was a false-flag attack committed by the U.S. to provide necessary pretext for an otherwise controversial war. Despite no supporting evidence, this theory remains the consensus opinion in modern-day Cuba, with monuments in Havana blaming American “imperialist greed” for the attack.