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,
Wirral, opposite of the city of
Liverpool. The construction was arranged by the Confederate agent
Commander James Bulloch, who led the procurement of sorely needed ships for the fledgling
Confederate States Navy. The contract was arranged through the Fraser Trenholm Company, a cotton broker in Liverpool with ties to the Confederacy. Under prevailing British neutrality law, it was possible to build a ship designed as an armed vessel, provided that it was not actually armed until after it was in international waters. In light of this loophole,
Alabama was built with reinforced decks for cannon emplacements, ammunition magazines below water level, etc., but was not fitted with armaments or any "warlike equipment" originally. Initially known only by her shipyard number "ship number 0290", she was launched as
Enrica on 15 May 1862 and secretly slipped out of Birkenhead on 29 July 1862. U.S. Navy Commander
Tunis A. M. Craven, commander of , was in
Southampton and was tasked with intercepting the new ship, but was unsuccessful. Agent Bulloch arranged for a civilian crew and captain to sail
Enrica to
Terceira Island in the
Azores. With Bulloch accompanying him, 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 work by the three ships' crews,
Enrica was equipped as 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.
Alabamas British-made ordnance consisted of six muzzle-loading,
broadside, 32-pounder naval
smoothbores (three firing to port and three firing to starboard) and two larger and more powerful
pivot cannons. The pivot cannons were placed fore and aft of the
main mast and positioned roughly amidships along the deck's center line. From those positions, they could be rotated to fire across the port or starboard sides of the cruiser. The fore pivot cannon was a heavy, long-range 100-pounder, 7-inch-bore (178 mm)
Blakely rifled muzzleloader; the aft pivot cannon a large, 8-inch (203 mm) smoothbore. The new Confederate cruiser was powered by both sail and by a two-cylinder John Laird Sons and Company
horizontal steam engine, driving a single, Griffiths-type, twin-bladed brass screw. (Note: At the time a cylinder was also called an engine. Therefore, the machinery involved, which had two cylinders, could also be referred to as a pair of engines, which description is often found in sources.) The telescopic funnel could be raised or lowered by chains to disguise the fact that the vessel was a steamer. With the screw retracted using the stern's brass lifting gear mechanism,
Alabama could make up to ten knots under sail alone and 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
Agrippina and
Bahama had been transferred to the quarterdeck 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 assembled from among the three ships' crews began to play the tune "Dixie" as the quartermaster finished hauling down
Enricas British colors. A signal cannon was fired and the ship's new battle ensign and commissioning pennant were broken out at the peaks of the
mizzen gaff and mainmast. With that the cruiser became the Confederate States Steamer
Alabama. The ship's motto: ''Aide-toi et Dieu t'aidera'' (French which approximately translates as "
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 (few of whom were American), 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, he 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. The men began to shout "Hear! Hear!" in response. 83 seamen, many of them British, signed on for service in the Confederate Navy. Bulloch and the remaining seamen then boarded their respective ships for the return to England. Semmes still needed another 20 or so men for a full complement, but there were enough to at least handle the new commerce raider. The rest would be recruited from the captured crews of raided ships or from friendly ports-of-call. Many of the 83 crewmen who signed on completed the full voyage. in August 1863. in August 1863. His executive officer, First Lieutenant John M. Kell, is in the background, standing by the ship's wheel. Under Captain Semmes,
Alabama spent her first two months in the
Eastern Atlantic, ranging southwest of the
Azores and then turned east, targeting northern merchant ships. After an Atlantic crossing, she continued her cruise in the greater
New England region. She then sailed south, arriving in the
West Indies, where she continued disrupting merchant vessels 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 just off the
Texas coast, near
Galveston, capturing that warship's crew. She then continued further south, eventually crossing the
Equator, where she attained most of the successes of her raiding career while cruising off the coast of
Brazil. After a second, easterly Atlantic crossing,
Alabama sailed down the southwestern African coast where she continued the campaign 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 made a refitting and reprovisioning visit to
Cape Town,
South Africa.
Alabama is the subject of an Afrikaans folk song, "
Daar kom die Alibama" . She then sailed for the
East Indies where she spent six months, destroying seven more ships before finally returning via the
Cape of Good Hope en route to France.
Alabama was often hunted for by Union warships; however, she was able to successfully evade engagement. All together, she burned 65 Union vessels of various types, most of them
merchant ships.
Expeditionary raids Alabama conducted a total of seven
expeditionary raids, spanning the globe, before heading to France for refit and repairs: •
CSS Alabamas Eastern Atlantic Expeditionary Raid (August–September 1862) commenced immediately after commissioning. She set sail for the shipping lanes southwest and then east of the Azores, where she captured and burned ten ships, mostly whalers. •
CSS Alabamas 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 vessels while capturing and releasing three others. •
CSS Alabamas Gulf of Mexico Expeditionary Raid (December 1862 – January 1863) began as
Alabama effected a needed rendezvous with her supply vessel, CSS
Agrippina. Afterward, she provided support to Confederate land forces during the
Battle of Galveston in coastal Texas, by sinking the Union side-wheeler . •
CSS Alabamas South Atlantic Expeditionary Raid (February–July 1863) was her most successful raiding venture, taking 29 ships while raiding off the coast of Brazil. Here she recommissioned the
bark Conrad as . •
CSS Alabamas South African Expeditionary Raid (August–September 1863) occurred primarily while ranging off the coast of South Africa, as she worked together with CSS
Tuscaloosa. •
CSS Alabamas Indian Ocean Expeditionary Raid (September–November 1863) involved a journey of nearly 4,500 miles (7,250 km) across the Indian Ocean. Successfully evading the Union
gunboat Wyoming, she took three ships near the
Sunda Strait and the
Java Sea. •
CSS Alabamas 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 refit and repair. Upon the completion of her seven expeditionary raids,
Alabama had been at sea for 534 days out of 657, never visiting a Confederate port. She boarded nearly 450 vessels, captured or burned 65
Union merchant ships, and took more than 2,000 prisoners without any loss of life among either prisoners or her own crew.
Final cruise '' by
Édouard Manet, 1864 On 11 June 1864,
Alabama arrived in port at
Cherbourg, France. Captain Semmes soon requested permission to
dry dock and overhaul his ship, necessary after naval action and so long at sea. Pursuing the raider, the American
sloop-of-war, , 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 with provisions and to provide blockading assistance.
Kearsarge had now boxed in
Alabama. Up to this point, Semmes had faced another warship only once—the much less well armed blockade ship
Hatteras. He believed that the
Kearsarge was not superior to
Alabama, and did not wish for his ship to be interned by the French. Therefore, after preparing his ship and drilling the crew for the coming battle during the next several days, Semmes issued, through diplomatic channels, a challenge to the
Kearsarges 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. Jurist
Tom Bingham later wrote, "The ensuing battle was witnessed by
Édouard Manet, who went out to paint it, and the owner of an English yacht who had offered his children a choice between watching the battle and going to church." As
Kearsarge turned to meet her opponent,
Alabama opened fire.
Kearsarge waited until the range had closed to less than 1,000 yards (900 m). According to combatants, 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 (to "
cross the T"). The battle quickly turned against
Alabama due to the superior gunnery displayed by
Kearsarge and the deteriorated state of
Alabamas contaminated powder and fuses. Her most telling shot, fired from the forward 7-inch (178 mm) Blakely pivot rifle, hit very near
Kearsarges 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
Kearsarges steering, possibly sinking the warship, and ending the contest. In addition,
Alabamas too rapid rate-of-fire resulted in poor gunnery, with many of her shots going too high, and as a result
Kearsarge's outboard chain armor received little damage. Semmes later said that he did not know about
Kearsarge's armor at the time of his decision to issue the challenge to fight, and in the following years firmly maintained he would have never fought
Kearsarge if he had known. ''Kearsarge's'' hull armor had been installed in just three days, more than a year before, while she was in port at the Azores. It was made using of single link iron chain and covered hull spaces long by deep. It was stopped up and down to eye-bolts with marlines and secured by iron dogs. Her chain armor was concealed behind 1-inch deal-boards painted black to match the upper hull's color. This "chaincladding" was placed along
Kearsarges port and starboard midsection down to the waterline, for additional protection of her engine and boilers when the upper portion of her coal bunkers were empty (coal bunkers played an important part in the protection of early steam vessels, such as
protected cruisers). A hit to her engine or boilers could easily have left
Kearsarge dead in the water, or even caused a boiler explosion or fire that could destroy the cruiser. Her armor belt was struck twice during the fight. The first hit, by one of
Alabamas 32-pounder shells, was in the starboard gangway, cutting the chain armor and damaging the hull planking underneath. A second 32-pounder shell exploded and broke a link of the chain armor, tearing away a portion of the deal-board covering. Had those rounds come from
Alabamas more powerful 100-pounder Blakely pivot rifle, they would have easily penetrated, but the likely result would not have been very serious, as both shots struck the hull a little more than five feet above the waterline. Even if both shots had penetrated
Kearsarges side, they would have missed her vital machinery. However, a 100-pound shell could have done a great deal of damage to her interior; hot fragments could have easily set fire to the cruiser, one of the greatest risks aboard a wooden vessel. A little more than an hour after the first shot was fired,
Alabama was reduced to a sinking wreck by
Kearsarges powerful Dahlgrens, forcing Captain Semmes to
strike his colors and to send one of his two surviving boats to
Kearsarge to ask for assistance. was in the
English Channel, near
Cherbourg, during the battle between
Alabama and
Kearsarge According to witnesses,
Alabama fired about 370 rounds at her adversary, averaging one round per minute per gun, a fast rate of fire compared to
Kearsarges gun crews, who fired less than half that number, taking more careful aim. In 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 threaten
Kearsarge.) A hand-held white flag at
Alabamas stern spanker boom finally halted the engagement. Prior to this, she had her steering gear damaged by shell hits, but the fatal shot came later when one of
Kearsarges shells tore open a mid-section of
Alabamas starboard waterline. Water quickly rushed through the hull, eventually flooding the boilers and taking her down by the stern to the bottom. As
Alabama sank, the injured Semmes threw his sword into the sea, depriving
Kearsarges commander, Winslow, of the traditional surrender of the sword (an act which was seen as dishonorable by many at the time). Of her 170 crew, the
Alabama had 19 fatalities (9 killed and 10 drowned) and 21 wounded
Kearsarge rescued most of the survivors, but 41 of
Alabamas officers and crew, including Semmes, were rescued by
John Lancaster's private British steam yacht
Deerhound, while
Kearsarge stood off to recover her rescue boats as
Alabama sank. Captain Winslow had to stand by and watch
Deerhound spirit his adversary away to England. Semmes and the 41 crew members successfully reached England. Semmes eventually returned to the Confederacy and became a Confederate admiral in the last weeks of the war. The sinking of
Alabama by
Kearsarge is honored by the
United States Navy with a
battle star on the Civil War
campaign streamer. ==Officers==