USS Maine (ACR-1) known for her loss in Havana Harbor on the evening of 15 February 1898. Sent to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban revolt against Spain, she exploded suddenly, without warning, and sank quickly, killing nearly three quarters of her crew. The cause and responsibility for her sinking remained unclear after a board of inquiry investigated. Nevertheless, popular opinion in the U.S., fanned by inflammatory articles printed in the "yellow press" by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, blamed Spain. The phrase, "Remember the "Maine!" To hell with Spain!", became a rallying cry for action, which came with the Spanish–American War
Chilean cruiser Chacabuco (1898) reserve despite her age: by then there were no other cruisers available to the Chilean Navy. She underwent modernization, with her armament changed to six 6 inch/50 guns and ten 20 mm anti-aircraft guns. Thereafter she served as the flagship of the Chilean Navy on several occasions, before becoming a midshipmen training cruiser from 1949 to 1950. The "Chacabuco" went out of service in December 1950; she was struck on 15 December 1959, and was sold to the Compañía de Acero del Pacífico for scrapping. Chilean cruiser Chacabuco (1898) The Chilean cruiser "Chacabuco" was a protected cruiser of the Chilean