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HISTORY
In brief
 CSS
Alabama was a screw sloop-of-war built in 1862 for the Confederate
States Navy at Birkenhead, England by John Laird Sons and Company.
Alabama served as a successful commerce raider, attacking Union
merchant and naval ships over the course of her two-year career,
during which she never anchored in a Southern port. She was sunk in
battle by the USS Kearsarge in June 1864 at the Battle of Cherbourg
outside the port of Cherbourg, France.
Construction
Alabama was built in secrecy in 1862 by British shipbuilders John
Laird Sons and Company in North West England at their shipyards at
Birkenhead, Wirrall. This was arranged by the Confederate agent
James Dunwoody Bulloch, who was leading the procurement of sorely
needed ships for the fledgling Confederate States Navy. He arranged
the contract through Fraser, Trenholm Company, a cotton broker in
Liverpool with ties to the Confederacy.
Initially known as hull number 290, the ship was launched as Enrica
on 15 May 1862 and secretly slipped out of Liverpool on 29 July
1862. Union Captain Tunis A. M. Craven of the USS Tuscarora, which
was in Southampton at the time, was tasked with intercepting the new
ship without success. Agent Bulloch arranged for a civilian crew and
captain to sail Enrica to Terceira Island in the Azores. With
Bulloch at his side, the new ship's captain, Raphael Semmes, left
Liverpool on 13 August 1862 aboard the steamer Bahama to take
command of the new cruiser. Semmes arrived at Terceira Island on 20
August 1862 and began overseeing the refitting of the new vessel
with various provisions, including armaments, and 350 tons of coal,
brought there by Agrippina, his new ship's supply vessel. After
three days of back-breaking work by the three ship's crews, Enrica
was transformed into a naval cruiser, designated a commerce raider,
for the Confederate States of America. Following her commissioning
as CSS Alabama, Bulloch then returned to Liverpool to continue his
secret work for the Confederate Navy.
Alabama's British-made ordnance was composed of six broadside,
32-pounder, naval smoothbores and two larger and more powerful pivot
cannons. Both pivot cannons were positioned roughly amidships along
the deck's centerline, fore and aft of the main mast. The fore pivot
was a heavy, long-range 100-pounder 7-inch (178 mm) Blakely rifle,
the aft pivot a heavy, 8-inch (203 mm) smoothbore.
The new Confederate cruiser was powered by both sail and by two John
Laird Sons and Company 300 horsepower (220 kW) horizontal steam
engines, driving a single, Griffiths-type, twin-bladed brass screw.
With the screw retracted using the stern's brass lifting gear
mechanism, Alabama could make up to ten knots under sail alone and
13.25 knots (24.54 km/h) when her sail and steam power were used
together.
Commissioning and voyage
The ship was purposely commissioned about a mile off Terceira Island
in international waters on 24 August 1862: All the men from
Agripinna and Bahama had been transferred to the quarter deck of
Enrica, where her 24 officers, some of them Southerners, stood in
full dress uniform. Captain Raphael Semmes mounted a gun-carriage
and read his commission from President Jefferson Davis, authorizing
him to take command of the new cruiser. Upon completion of the
reading, musicians that assembled from among the three ships' crews
began to play the tune "Dixie" just as the quartermaster finished
hauling down Enrica's British colors. A signal cannon boomed and the
stops to the halliards at the peaks of the mizzen gaf and mainmast
were broken and the ship's new battle ensign and commissioning
pennant floated free on the breeze. With that the cruiser became
Confederate States Steamer Alabama. The ships motto: "Aide-toi et
Dieu t'aidera" (God helps those who help themselves) was engraved in
the bronze of the great double ship's wheel.
Captain Semmes then made a speech about the Southern cause to the
assembled seamen, asking them to sign on for a voyage of unknown
length and destiny. Semmes had only his 24 officers and no crew to
man his new command. When this did not succeed, Semmes changed his
tack. Semmes then offered signing money and double wages, paid in
gold, and additional prize money to be paid by the Confederate
congress for all destroyed Union ships. When the men began to shout
"Hear! Hear!" Semmes knew he had closed the deal: 83 seamen, many of
them British, signed on for service in the Confederate Navy.
Confederate agent Bulloch and the remaining seamen then returned to
their respective ships for their return voyage to England. Semmes
still needed another 20 or so men for a full crew complement, but
enough had signed on to at least handle the new commerce raider. The
rest would be recruited from among captured crews of raided ships or
from friendly ports-of-call. Of the original 83 crewmen that signed
on that day, many completed the full voyage.
Under Captain Semmes, Alabama spent her first two months in the
Eastern Atlantic, ranging southwest of the Azores and then
redoubling east, capturing and burning northern merchant ships.
After a difficult crossing, she then continued her path of
destruction and devastation in the greater New England region. She
then sailed south, arriving in the West Indies where she raised more
havoc before finally cruising west into the Gulf of Mexico. There,
in January 1863, Alabama had her first military engagement. She came
upon and quickly sank the Union side-wheeler USS Hatteras just off
the Texas coast, near Galveston, capturing that warship's crew. She
then continued further south, eventually crossing the equator, where
she took the most prizes of her raiding career while cruising off
the coast of Brazil. After a second Atlantic crossing, Alabama
sailed down the southwestern African coast where she continued her
war against northern commerce. After stopping in Saldanha Bay on 29
July 1863 in order to verify that no enemy ships were in Table Bay,
she finally made a much-needed refitting and reprovisioning visit to
Cape Town, South Africa. She then sailed for the East Indies, where
she spent six months destroying seven more ships before finally
redoubling the Cape of Good Hope en route to France. Union warships
hunted frequently for the elusive and by now famous Confederate
raider, but the few times Alabama was spotted, she quickly outwitted
her pursuers and vanished beyond the horizon.
All together, she burned 65 Union vessels of various types, most of
them merchant ships. During all of Alabama's raiding ventures,
captured ships' crews and passengers were never harmed, only
detained until they could be placed aboard a neutral ship or placed
ashore in a friendly or neutral port.
Expeditionary raids of the CSS Alabama
All together, Alabama conducted a total of seven expeditionary
raids, spanning the globe, before heading back to France for refit
and repairs and a date with destiny:
- The CSS Alabama's Eastern Atlantic Expeditionary Raid
(August–September, 1862) commenced immediately after she was
commissioned. She immediately set sail for the shipping lanes
southwest and then east of the Azores, where she captured and burned
ten prizes, mostly whalers.
- The CSS Alabama's New England Expeditionary Raid
(October–November, 1862) began after Captain Semmes and his crew
departed for the northeastern seaboard of North America, along
Newfoundland and New England, where she ranged as far south as
Bermuda and the coast of Virginia, burning ten prizes while
capturing and releasing three others.
- The CSS Alabama's Gulf of Mexico Expeditionary Raid (December,
1862 – January, 1863) was centered around a needed rendezvous with
her supply vessel, CSS Agrippina. After that, she rendered aid to
Texas during Major General Banks' invasion near Galveston, Texas.
There, she quickly sank the Union side-wheeler USS Hatteras.
- The CSS Alabama's South Atlantic Expeditionary Raid
(February–July, 1863) was her most successful raiding venture,
taking 29 prizes while raiding off the coast of Brazil. Here she
recommissioned the bark Conrad as the CSS Tuscaloosa.
- The CSS Alabama's South African Expeditionary Raid
(August–September, 1863) occurred primarily while ranging off the
coast of South Africa, as she worked together with the CSS
Tuscaloosa.
- The CSS Alabama's Indian Ocean Expeditionary Raid
(September–November, 1863) was composed of a long trek across the
Indian Ocean. The few prizes she gathered were in the East Indies.
- The CSS Alabama's South Pacific Expeditionary Raid (December,
1863) was her final raiding venture. She took a few prizes in the
Strait of Malacca before finally turning back toward France for a
much needed refit and long overdue repairs.
Upon the completion of her seven expeditionary raids, Alabama had
been at sea for 534 days out of 657, never visiting a single
Confederate port. She boarded nearly 450 vessels, captured or burned
65 Union merchant ships, and took more than 2,000 prisoners without
a single loss of life from either prisoners or her own crew.
Final Cruise
On 11 June 1864, Alabama arrived in port at Cherbourg, France.
Captain Semmes soon requested permission to dry dock and overhaul
his ship, much needed after so long a time at sea and so many naval
actions. Pursuing the raider, the American sloop-of-war, USS
Kearsarge, under the command of Captain John Ancrum Winslow, arrived
three days later and took up station just outside the harbor. While
at his previous port-of-call, Winslow had telegraphed Gibraltar to
send the old sloop-of-war USS St. Louis with provisions and to
provide blockading assistance. Kearsarge now had Alabama boxed-in
with no place left to run.
Having no desire to see his worn-out ship rot away at a French dock
while quarantined by Union warships, and given his instinctive
aggressiveness and a long-held desire once again to engage his
enemy, Captain Semmes chose to fight. After preparing his ship and
drilling the crew for the coming battle during the next several
days, Semmes issued, through diplomatic channels, a bold challenge
to the Kearsarge's commander, "my intention is to fight the
Kearsarge as soon as I can make the necessary arrangements. I hope
these will not detain me more than until to-morrow or the morrow
morning at farthest. I beg she will not depart until I am ready to
go out. I have the honor to be Your obedient servant, R. Semmes,
Captain."
On 19 June, Alabama sailed out to meet the Union cruiser. As
Kearsarge turned to meet her opponent, Alabama opened fire.
Kearsarge waited patiently until the range had closed to less than
1,000 yards (900 m). According to survivors, the two ships steamed
on opposite courses in seven spiraling circles, moving southwesterly
with the 3-knot current, each commander trying to cross the bow of
his opponent to deliver a heavy raking fire. The battle quickly
turned against Alabama due to the superior gunnery displayed by
Kearsarge and the deteriorated state of Alabama's contaminated
powder and fuses. Her most important shot, fired from the forward
7-inch (178 mm) Blakely pivot rifle, hit very near Kearsarge's
vulnerable stern post, the impact binding the ship's rudder badly.
That rifled shell, however, failed to explode. If it had done so, it
would have seriously disabled Kearsarge's steering, possibly sinking
the warship, and ending the contest. In addition, Alabama's too
rapid rate-of-fire resulted in frequent poor gunnery, with many of
her shots going too high, thus sealing the fate of the Confederate
raider. As a result, Kearsarge benefited little that day from the
protection of her outboard chain armor, whose presence Semmes later
said was unknown to him at the time of his decision to issue the
challenge to fight. In fact, in the years that followed, Semmes
steadfastly claimed he would have never fought Kearsarge if he had
known she was armor-clad.
his hull armor had been installed in just three days, more than a
year before, while Kearsarge was in port at the Azores. It was made
using 120 fathoms (720 feet) of 1.7-inch (43 mm) single link iron
chain and covered hull spaces 49 feet (15 m), six-inches (152 mm)
long by 6-feet, 2-inches deep. It was stopped up and down to
eye-bolts with marlines and secured by iron dogs. It was concealed
behind 1-inch deal-boards painted black to match the upper hull's
color. This chaincladding was placed along Kearsarge's port and
starboard midsection down to the waterline, for additional
protection of her engines and boilers when the upper portion of her
coal bunkers were empty. This armor belt was hit twice during the
fight: First in the starboard gangway by one of Alabama's 32-pounder
shells that cut the chain armor, denting the hull planking
underneath, then again by a second 32-pounder shell that exploded
and broke a link of the chain armor, tearing away a portion of the
deal-board covering. If those rounds had come from Alabama's more
powerful 100-pounder Blakely pivot rifle, the likely result would
not have been too serious, as both struck the chain armor a little
more than five feet above the waterline. Even if both shots had
penetrated Kearsarge's side, they would have completely missed her
vital machinery.
A little more than an hour after the first shot was fired, Alabama
was reduced to a sinking wreck by Kearsarge's powerful 11-inch (280
mm) Dahlgrens, forcing Captain Semmes to strike his colors and to
send one of his two surviving boats to Kearsarge to ask for
assistance.
According to witnesses, Alabama fired 370 rounds at her adversary,
averaging one round per minute per gun, a very fast rate of fire,
while Kearsarge's gun crews fired less than half that many, taking
more careful aim. During the confusion of battle, five more rounds
were fired at Alabama after her colors were struck. (Her gun ports
had been left open and the broadside cannon were still run out,
appearing to come to bear on Kearsarge.) Then a hand-held white flag
came fluttering from Alabama's stern spanker boom, finally halting
the engagement. Prior to this, she had her steering gear compromised
by shell hits, but the fatal shot came later when one of Kearsarge's
11-inch (280 mm) shells tore open a midsection of Alabama's
starboard waterline. Water quickly rushed through the defeated
cruiser, eventually drowning her boilers and forcing her down by the
stern to the bottom. As Alabama sank, the injured Semmes threw his
sword into the sea, depriving Kearsage's commander Captain John
Ancrum Winslow of the traditional surrender ceremony of having it
handed over to him as victor. Kearsarge rescued the majority of the
survivors, but 41 of Alabama's officers and crew, including Semmes,
were rescued by the private British yacht Deerhound, while the
Kearsarge stood off to recover her rescue boats as the Alabama sank.
Captain Winslow was forced to stand by helplessly and watch
Deerhound spirit away to England his much sought after adversary,
Captain Semmes and his surviving shipmates.
The sinking of the Alabama by the Kearsarge is honored by the United
States Navy with a battle star on the Civil War campaign streamer.
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