Memory of Maine Afloat in Gulf

As two U.S. aircraft carriers loitered in the Persian Gulf, awaiting orders to strike Iraq, visitors to the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum were asked to “Remember the Maine” and the United States’ debut 100 years ago as a global power. “We’ve come full circle in 100 years,” said curator Jerry Roberts. “That also was a tiny war of global proportions.” It was on Feb. 15, 1898, that the battleship Maine blew up in Havana harbor, triggering the Spanish-American War. The American ship was sent in support of Cuban rebels fighting their Spanish colonists. The explosion killed 267 officers and sailors, but it was never determined what caused it.