The correct answer to this open question is the following.
The kind of words that President McKinley used to describe the explosion of the USS Maine were the following.
He literally said in his discourse: "The Naval Court of Inquiry, which, it is needless to say, commands the unqualified confidence of the government, was unanimous in its conclusion that the destruction of the Main was caused by an exterior explosion that of a submarine mine. It did not assume to place the responsibility. That remains to be fixed."
On February 15, 1898, US President William McKinley understood that probably diplomacy was not the only way to solve the situation in Cuba. The USS MAin ship had been sunk by the Spanish Navy. Some theories stated that it had not been the Spaniards who sank the USS Main, but a mine. A lot of controversies started on this issue. Using this sinking as the main argument, President McKinley asked Congress a declaration of war against Spain on April 20, 1898. After four months of armed conflicts, the United States won the Spanish-American War.
