February 15th: Today in 1898 the battleship USS Maine exploded in Havana harbor sinking the ship and killing two hundred and fifty four sailors. The cause has never been established but a 1976 investigation thought it was due to an explosion of coal dust while a 1999 investigation thought it was likely due to a mine. Regardless of the actual cause the explosion touched off a firestorm in the press and led directly to the Spanish American War.

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