Why is there almost always an american ship exploding before a war involving the

Question:its all about the reasons for declaring war,theres a long list of criteria that can be considered an "act of war" and open the door for immediate reprisals and a full declaration of war.One of them has always been the killings or attacking of US personnel /citizens on US soil (or any countries citizens on native soil) by a outside aggressor. A US war ship is US soil whereever it goes in the world (subject to US laws etc) a "arm" of its soverign nation regardless of where it is. Up until recently everything,ran by Navy (for several hundred years) so attacking a ship flying US colors was attacking the US itself,so often the first thing to happen in a far off place was an attack on US vessels and the loss of life from those attacks directly led to war.wether its a cargo ship, a navy frigate or a cruiseliner thats hauling americans there has usually been a ship sinking involved in the rush to war.Maine,lusitania (british but with us passangers) pearl harbour,the reuben james, and on and on.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: its all about the reasons for declaring war,theres a long list of criteria that can be considered an "act of war" and open the door for immediate reprisals and a full declaration of war.One of them has always been the killings or attacking of US personnel /citizens on US soil (or any countries citizens on native soil) by a outside aggressor. A US war ship is US soil whereever it goes in the world (subject to US laws etc) a "arm" of its soverign nation regardless of where it is. Up until recently everything,ran by Navy (for several hundred years) so attacking a ship flying US colors was attacking the US itself,so often the first thing to happen in a far off place was an attack on US vessels and the loss of life from those attacks directly led to war.wether its a cargo ship, a navy frigate or a cruiseliner thats hauling americans there has usually been a ship sinking involved in the rush to war.Maine,lusitania (british but with us passangers) pearl harbour,the reuben james, and on and on.

They have to get rid of the old ships before they bring out the new ones.

I only know of the "Maine"
As to ships exploding- at one time the explosive used in artillery shells was Picric Acid. It is excellent as an explosive, but does not age nicely- infact the acid goes into a chemical reaction with the metal in the shells and forms an extremely unstable compound- more sensitive than Nitroglicerine...

Just bear in mind those were the times when no one conducted tests- especially on the effects of long term storage- on any products. And of course the military would never acknowledge that they were careless (or stupid) when it was possible to blame the problem on someone else.

Around the 1910's the Japanese lost at least 6 major ships to ammunition explosions- that was when the "side effect" of Picric Acid was finally discovered.

extra excuse to start another war and allow warfare industry to get richer.

Bad engineering.

It's one of the strategies to start or get involved in a war. You create enough outrage among your public with killings of innocent citizens and you have card blanche from congress to use the mighty military.

Always? Only 2 times out of all the ward the US has been in - the Maine and Pearl Harbor. There was no US ship sunk to involve us in WW1, War of 1812, the ACW, or any other war.....

Implying that the US staged these events?
The British raiding and sinking US shipped before the War of Independence and War of 1812 wasn't staged.
The sinking of the Maine has not had a conclusive investigative ending. The Sinking of the Lusitania by German U-Boats is an absolute stretch for conspiracy, the Sinking of the Pacific Fleet....Anyone....Conspiracy???...Sorry... no ship sinking involved in the Korean War...US troops (Green Beret) already in Vietnam prior to the Tokin Gulf incident. And the USS Cole...Eye witness's identified the assailants as middle eastern men.
Not a good percentage of possible 'stagings' to hold a conspiricy theory...But wait, I forgot, the mere hint of conspiracy is valid for most theorists...Funny how theorist and terrorist end the same...

If you mean naval Pearl Harbor and the USS Cole are obvious they were sneak attacks. The Maine is the only other I know of and it was probably an accident with the powder magazines or coal bunkers exploding. a lot of people know that magazines could explode with the powders used then. But in coal fired ships so could the coal bunkers. The main was coal fueled. And yes there was the Reuben James but it was actively engaged in convoy duty at night. We had already supplied the same types of ships to the British in the Destroyers for bases deal. It is possible the U-boat torpedoed it thinking it was a British ship.