Monument to the Victims of the USS Maine (Havana) Circle in New York City; Key West; Arlington National Cemetery; and Annapolis. (See USS "Maine": Memorials) Monument to the Victims of the USS Maine (Havana) The Monument to the Victims of the USS "Maine" (Spanish: "Monumento a las víctimas del Maine") was built in 1925 in on the Malecón boulevard at the end of Línea street, in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana, Cuba, built in honor of the American sailors that died in the explosion of in 1898, which served as the pretext for the United States to declare war on Spain thus starting the Spanish–American War. The ship had
Hawkins-class cruiser distant waters, for which a heavy armament, long range and high speed was required; meaning a large ship. Previous large cruisers had been of the armoured cruiser or protected cruiser type. These ships had been made obsolete by the adoption of oil-firing and the steam turbine engine and had been superseded by the battlecruiser and the light cruiser. The "Hawkins" design was basically a light cruiser enlarged sufficiently to increase their range and armament as required. A mixed armament of 9.2 and 6-inch guns was rejected after wartime experience illustrated the difficulty of controlling a mixed battery as shell splashes