USS Maine, first of a class of three 12,500-ton battleships, was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Commissioned in late December 1902, she was in the Atlantic for the next five years. During this time she made one cruise to the Mediterranean Sea, but primarily served off the U.S. East Coast and in the Caribbean area. In December 1907, Maine left Norfolk, Virginia, with fifteen other Atlantic Fleet battleships to begin a cruise around the World. Steaming by way of the Strait of Magellan, near the southern tip of South America, she arrived in California in the Spring of 1908. Due to her extraordinarily heavy coal consumption, she was then detached from the "Great White Fleet"'s main body. In June 1908 Maine proceeded, in company with USS Alabama (Battleship # 8), on a separate route that took them across the Pacific to the Philippines, then to the Mediterranean Sea via Singapore, Ceylon, Aden and the Suez Canal. The two ships returned to the U.S. East Coast in October 1908.
In the years following her World cruise, Maine was modernized, receiving new "cage" masts and other alterations that greatly changed her appearance. She alternated between reserve and active status, operating with the rest of the Atlantic Fleet's battleships in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean. During World War I she was employed as a training ship in U.S. waters and many of her smaller guns were removed to arm other ships. USS Maine was decommissioned in mid-May 1920. A few months later, when the U.S. Navy formally adopted the hull number system for its ships, she was classified as BB-10. The ship saw no further commissioned service and was sold for scrapping in January 1922.
This page features selected views of USS Maine (Battleship # 10, later BB-10).
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 61213 USS Maine (Battleship # 10) Photographed in 1903 by J.W. Dawson, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 535 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 74103 USS Maine (Battleship # 10) In port, circa 1903-1907. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 610 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 100309 USS Maine (Battleship # 10) At anchor, circa 1908 or earlier. Photo printed on a stereograph card, copyrighted in 1908 by Underwood & Underwood. Donation of Louis Smaus, 1985 U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 114KB; 630 x 675 pixels A stereo pair version of this image is available as Photo # NH 100309-A Online Image of stereo pair: 71KB; 675 x 355 pixels |
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Photo #: 19-N-11305 USS Maine (Battleship # 10) Photographed by Enrique Muller, while at anchor in 1907 Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 70KB; 740 x 550 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 63509 USS Maine (Battleship # 10) In drydock at Hunter's Point, San Francisco, California, circa 1908. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 124KB; 590 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 101512 USS Maine (Battleship # 10) Photographed by Brown & Shaffer, 1909 Collection of Chief Quartermaster John Harold. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 445 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 95862 Atlantis (American Motor Boat, 1911) Passing USS Maine (Battleship # 10), prior to World War I. Photographed by Paul Thompson, New York. This pleasure craft was acquired by the U.S. Navy on 2 July 1917 and placed in commission on 27 September of that year as USS Atlantis (SP-40). She was stricken from the Navy list on 7 July 1919 and later sold. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 120KB; 740 x 585 pixels |
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Photo #: 19-N-14933 USS Maine (Battleship # 10) Underway, circa 1918. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 94KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 2892 USS Maine (Battleship # 10) In the Hudson River, New York, 27 December 1918. Note wartime modifications, including removal of some broadside guns. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 101KB; 740 x 610 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 46798 USS Maine (Battleship # 10) Panoramic photograph of the ships' Officers & Crew, taken looking aft from her forecastle on 10 February 1903. Maine's Commanding Officer, Captain Eugene H.C. Leutze, is standing just to the left of the 12"/40 gun in the center of the photo. Standing beside Capt. Leutze, to the left, is Lieutenant Commander Thomas S. Rodgers. Note items in the foreground, including the capstain, anchor chain, and a pontoon raft. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 400 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 92092 USS Maine (Battleship # 10) Ships' Officers & some of her Crew, posed by her after 12"/40 gun gun turret, circa 1907. Collection of Roy D. France. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 128KB; 740 x 590 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 100762 U.S. Navy warships awaiting scrapping, 1922 Probably photographed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. USS Maine (BB-10) is at right, down at the head with her side armor removed. USS Wisconsin (BB-9) is in the center. USS Old Columbia, ex-Columbia, (CA-16) is toward the left, with a merchant ship alongside. Courtesy of Paul H. Silverstone, 1986. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 63KB; 740 x 450 pixels |
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If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 29 October 2002
Heading corrected 27 September 2005