The battleship <a about="#mwt73" data-mw='{"parts":[{"template":{"target":{"wt":"USS","href":"./Template:USS"},"params":{"1":{"wt":"Maine"},"2":{"wt":"ACR-1"},"3":{"wt":"6"}},"i":0}}]}' href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Maine_(1889)" id="mwlw" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="USS Maine (1889)" typeof="mw:Transclusion">USS<span typeof="mw:Entity"> </span><i>Maine</i></a> explodes and sinks in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana" id="mwmA" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Havana">Havana</a> harbor in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba" id="mwmQ" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Cuba">Cuba</a>, killing about 274 of the ship's roughly 354 crew.<sup about="#mwt77" class="mw-ref reference" data-mw='{"name":"ref","attrs":{},"body":{"id":"mw-reference-text-cite_note-13"}}' id="cite_ref-13" rel="dc:references" typeof="mw:Extension/ref"><a href="./February_15#cite_note-13" id="mwmg" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 13;"><span class="mw-reflink-text" id="mwmw">[13]</span></a></sup> The disaster pushes the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" id="mwnA" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="United States">United States</a> to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish–American_War" id="mwnQ" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Spanish–American War">declare war</a> on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain" id="mwng" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Spain">Spain</a>.<sup about="#mwt81" class="mw-ref reference" data-mw='{"name":"ref","attrs":{},"body":{"id":"mw-reference-text-cite_note-14"}}' id="cite_ref-14" rel="dc:references" typeof="mw:Extension/ref"><a href="./February_15#cite_note-14" id="mwnw" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 14;"><span class="mw-reflink-text" id="mwoA">[14]</span></a></sup>
<span class="mw-reference-text" id="mw-reference-text-cite_note-13"><cite about="#mwt74" class="citation book cs1" id="CITEREFAxelrod2008">Axelrod, Alex (2008). <span class="id-lock-registration" id="mwBwA" title="Free registration required"><a class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/profilesinfollyh00axel" id="mwBwE" rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow"><i id="mwBwI">Profiles in Folly: History's Worst Decisions and Why They Went Wrong</i></a></span>. New York: Sterling Publishing Company. pp.<span id="mwBwM" typeof="mw:Entity"> </span>67–68. <a class="mw-redirect" href="./ISBN_(identifier)" id="mwBwQ" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a><span id="mwBwU" typeof="mw:Entity"> </span><a href="./Special:BookSources/9781402747687" id="mwBwY" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Special:BookSources/9781402747687"><bdi id="mwBwc">9781402747687</bdi></a>.</cite><span about="#mwt74" class="Z3988" id="mwBwg" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=book&amp;rft.btitle=Profiles+in+Folly%3A+History%27s+Worst+Decisions+and+Why+They+Went+Wrong&amp;rft.place=New+York&amp;rft.pages=67-68&amp;rft.pub=Sterling+Publishing+Company&amp;rft.date=2008&amp;rft.isbn=9781402747687&amp;rft.aulast=Axelrod&amp;rft.aufirst=Alex&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Fprofilesinfollyh00axel&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AFebruary+15"></span></span>