In the port of Havana, there are many people, and some of the buildings of the battleship Maine that sat at the bottom of the explosion are still exposed on the water, but on the still bare buildings of the Maine, the investigation team from the United States is investigating.

"Quick, pull up."

A naval officer pulling the rope shouted when he felt the movement of the rope, and then he and several other officers immediately pulled the rope up, and under the rope, a man in a diving suit and a diving helmet was pulled up.

"Colonel Melville, how's it going?"

Before the man could take off his wetsuit, a large group of naval officers gathered around him and inquired.

"It's not good to wait until I'm in good condition."

Major Melville took off his heavy wetsuit and helmet before speaking. "I observed the Maine's blast wounds, and the ship's misport showed signs of turning outward."

"Okay, we'll talk about it later."

The head of the investigation, Colonel Jovan Lloyd, who led the investigation this time, stopped the chief engineer of the Navy from speaking.

After taking the man to the side of no man's land, Colonel Lloyd spoke. "Alright, Melville, now we can speak."

"I observed that the explosion gap in the side of the Maine was turned outward, indicating that the explosion of the Maine was coming from inside the ship. The explosion point is in the coal seam silo, which is adjacent to the ammunition silo, so it is very likely that the explosion is caused by the ammunition silo, and the explosion of the ammunition bin may also be caused by the spontaneous combustion of thermal coal in the coal silo. ”

Melville, who is worthy of being the chief engineer of the US Navy, has made sufficient judgments about the explosion of the USS Maine after some investigation. Speaking of spontaneous combustion of coal seams, this is nothing new for the US Navy, the US Navy has had several incidents of spontaneous combustion of thermal coal on warships, and the design of the USS Maine did not take this into account, there is only one silo wall between the ammunition bunker and the coal bunker, if the coal bunker spontaneously combusts it is very easy to lead to the ammunition bunker, which should be caused by unreasonable design.

Upon hearing Melville's judgment, Colonel Lloyd frowned. "Is that your judgment?"

"Yes, based on my years of experience, that's how it turned out."

As a result, after hearing Melville's words, Colonel Lloyd immediately retorted, "No, this result must be revised." ”

"What?"

Colonel Lloyd stared at each other and said word for word. "I said that the results had to be revised, and that the Maine could not be an ammunition depot explosion caused by the spontaneous combustion of a coal bunker, but an accident caused by a mine exploding from the outside."

"But the result of such a modification will be discovered, and the Spaniards only need to look at the damage to the Maine and will come to the same conclusion as me."

It's clear that this Melville should be in a technical position for a long time, so everything is simple.

"So what, who will listen to the arguments of a loser. Besides, this time our investigation must be caused by a mine exploding from outside, which is not only the expectation of our Navy, but also the expectation of the government and the American people. We just need an excuse, and as for what the real result looks like, we don't need to care. If someone really investigates other results in the future, it will be a big deal for us to just say that we made a mistake, and anyway, Cuba will already be under the control of our country by then, and we can say whatever we want. ”

After being given a political education by Colonel Lloyd, Melville, the chief engineer of the United States, listened to it.

"Well, Colonel Lloyd, I'll write my report as if it was a mine explosion that caused the sinking of the Maine."

"Very good, that's how it turned out, we just need to hand in this report. In fact, we only need to pretend to come here to investigate, no matter what the outcome of this matter, the Spaniards will have to pay the price, they have taken too much money from us. ”

Just as the two were talking, they only heard the voice of their subordinates on the side. "Colonel Lloyd, could you come here? A couple of Spaniards came and they said they wanted to send someone to help us investigate the cause of the Maine explosion. ”

Hearing the words of his subordinates, Colonel Lloyd immediately replied. "Damn, tell those Spaniards that investigating the explosion of the USS Maine will be done by our US Navy on our own, and we don't need their help to let them leave."

The American naval officer, who received the order, immediately refused to allow the Spaniards to board the ship, and this scene was watched by everyone.

In a room in the port, Wieler, the governor of Cuba, was watching from a window.

"It seems that these Americans don't want our people to come near the broken ship."

"Yes, Your Excellency the Governor, these Americans are really hateful, do they think we don't know about their support for the rebels, the rebels have become active again in the last half month, combined with the attitude of the Americans, I am a little worried."

Speaking was the garrison commander, General Morro Revley, the general in charge of military command, who was most sensitive to the activities of the rebels, and the activities of the rebels in the last half month, coupled with the attitude of the Americans, his worries were not unreasonable.

"Actually, it's not just you, I'm worried about these Americans. The day before yesterday, Ambassador Depp brought a letter to the United States, saying that at present, the United States has a very bad attitude towards the kingdom, and the media and newspapers are all adding fuel to the fire, and it is very likely that military means will be provoked. ”

As Cuban officials separated from the United States by the sea, they feel more about the news from the United States than at home, so they judge some things faster than at home.

And Governor Weirall's words made General Revley frown. "If military means are provoked, then in the Navy, we have too big a gap, I don't know if there is any way in the country?"

Well, even General Lively, who came from the Army, knows the maritime gap between the two countries.

Instead of answering Admiral Revley's concern about the Navy, Wehrer spoke up to another question.

"Leave the issue at sea to the Prime Minister and Admiral Sulveira, now we need to think about the issue on land. If U.S. troops land in Cuba, where are they likely to land and how can we prepare for them? In addition, we must not be vigilant against the rebels, and we must ensure sufficient pressure and not give the rebels a chance to strengthen themselves. ”

"But in this way, our country has lost its sea supremacy, and with the narrow terrain of Cuba, our army cannot hold it at all."

In the face of General Revley, who was still a little stubborn, Weirall planned to provide some information to stabilize his heart. Although this matter is still under secrecy, it is still necessary to show some words to yourself.

"Don't worry, Revley, Prime Minister they will have a way, at least we will not completely lose the sea power."

Such an obvious hint from Weirall reassured General Lively, but he also wondered what the prime minister was doing to close the gap in strength with the U.S. Navy, which country was it, and whether it was feasible.