When the Armored Cruiser USS Maine blew up in Havana Harbor in 1898, the Americans blamed it on the Spaniards, as an attempt by Spain to discourage the USA from interfering in their colonial oppression in Cuba.

The Spaniards blamed the explosion on the Cuban insurgents who were allegedly trying to drag the USA into their war of independence. The Cubans have always believed it was the USA that sacrificed the ship so they would have an excuse to enter the conflict.

We still don't know who blew Maine up, but the best guess is that it was a coal dust explosion in the ship's fuel bunkers, a common problem in steamships of that era.