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 battle quickly turned against Alabama due to the superior gunnery displayed by Kearsarge and the deteriorated state of Alabama's contaminated powder and fuses. A signal cannon boomed and the stops to the halliards at the peaks of the mizzen gaff and mainmast were broken and the ship's new battle ensign and commissioning pennant floated free on the breeze. A joint arbitration commission awarded the U.S. $15.5 million in damages. Alabama was fitted with eight pieces of ordnance after she arrived at the Azores; six of those were 32-pounder smooth bores. Find the perfect sinking css alabama battle cherbourg stock photo. However, unless a license is purchased, content cannot be used in any final materials or any publicly available materials. 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. Single-ship action fought during the American Civil War between a United States Navy warship, the USS Kearsarge, and a Confederate States Navy warship, the CSS Alabama, on June 19, 1864, off Cherbourg, France. Alabama's heavy ordnance were one Blakely Patent 7-inch 100-pounder shell rifle mounted on a pivot carriage forward and one 68-pounder smoothbore similarly mounted aft. American Civil War-Sinking of the CSS Alabama 1864. CSS Alabama had captured or destroyed dozens of Union merchant - ERG7BG from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos, illustrations and vectors. Of her 170 crew, the Alabama had 19 fatalities (9 killed and 10 drowned) and 21 wounded[19] Kearsarge rescued the majority of the survivors, but 41 of Alabama's 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. Alabama, Catalogue No. As he helped wounded men into Alabama's only two functional lifeboats, an able bodied sailor attempted to enter one, which was already full. It is 64-inches high (hoist) by 112-inches long (fly), a proportion of 5:9, and its dark blue canton contains eight white stars, 8-inches (203 mm) high, in an unusual arrangement: The stars are not organized in a circle but configured in three, centered, horizontal rows of two, then three, and finally two. Captain Semmes and his crew sailed the world bringing diplomacy and destruction everywhere. Following her commissioning as CSS Alabama, Bulloch then returned to Liverpool to continue his secret work for the Confederate Navy.[6]. Although the wreck is in French territorial waters, the United States Government, as the successor to the former Confederate States of America, is the owner. The rest would be recruited from among captured crews of raided ships or from friendly ports-of-call. This ensign was given to Willam Anderson, whose ship chandler company made repairs to CSS Alabama, shortly before she made her fateful return voyage to Cherbourg, France. Operating in England, Confederate agent James Bulloch was tasked with establishing contacts and finding vessels for the fledgling Confederate Navy.Establishing a relationship with Fraser, Trenholm & Company, a respected shipping company, to facilitate the sale of Southern cotton, he was later able to use the firm as a front for his naval activities. Initially known only by her shipyard number "hull number 290", the ship was launched as Enrica on 15 May 1862 and secretly slipped out of Birkenhead on 29 July 1862. Closing on the Union sidewheeler, Alabama opened fire with its starboard broadside and in a quick thirteen-minute battle forced Hatteras to surrender. Sinking of the CSS Alabama Ships Captain's After Action Reports. The IBM strategic repository for digital assets such as images and videos is located at dam.ibm.com. 86.3766.1." When this did not succeed, Semmes changed his tack. This painting commissioned by Ken Sheppard of South Africa. U. S. S. KEARSARGE, English Channel, July 30, 1864 . [12][13][14] 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. Kearsarge was the only ship of the United States Navy named for Mount Kearsarge in New Hampshire.Subsequent ships were … [28], However, she and other raiders failed in their primary purpose, which was to draw Union vessels away from the blockade of the southern coastline, which was slowly strangling the Confederacy. [27] In an important development in international law, the U.S. government pursued the "Alabama Claims" against Great Britain for the losses caused by Alabama and other raiders fitted out in Britain. Had those rounds come from Alabama's 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. The CSS Alabama saw 21 of her crew wounded in the fighting with the Kearsarge though 9 crew were killed (according to the official record by Captain Semmes sent on June 21st, 1864 from Southampton to Flag Officer Samuel Barron … After three days of back-breaking work by the three ship's crews, Enrica was equipped as a naval cruiser, designated a commerce raider, for the Confederate States of America. [5] Agent Bulloch arranged for a civilian crew and captain to sail Enrica to Terceira Island in the Azores. CSS Alabama had captured or destroyed dozens of Union merchant ships, but had been pursued by USS Kearsage for two years. (A small number of these unusual 14-star national flags have survived to the modern era and are held in several Civil War archives.) Kearsarge waited patiently until the range had closed to less than 1,000 yards (900 m). The sole remaining 32-pounder has not been positively identified, but it could be underneath hull debris forward of the starboard Trotman anchor. The second was identified as lying on the iron deck structure, immediately aft of the smoke pipe; it was recovered in 2001. The Sinking of CSS Alabama during The Battle of Cherbourg, or the Battle off Cherbourg. Her chain armor was concealed behind 1-inch deal-boards painted black to match the upper hull's color. 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. Two shot were recovered, and one conical projectile was inside the barrel of the 7-inch Blakely rifle. The warship was manned by an international crew–about half Southerners, half Englishmen–and rounded out by a handful of other Europeans and even a few Northerners. Single-ship action fought during the American Civil War between a United States Navy warship, the USS... Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images Jefferson, NC: McFarland. Other Resources: Captain Winslow's Report on the Sinking of C.S.S. Her 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. The Association CSS Alabama and the Naval History and Heritage Command signed on 23 March 1995 an official agreement accrediting Association CSS Alabama as operator of the archaeological investigation of the remains of the ship. 5056 x 3318 px (16.85 x 11.06 in) - 300 dpi - 5 MB. 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 (or hoped-for intimidation) to the Kearsarge's commander,[17] "my intention is to fight the Kearsarge as soon as I can make the necessary arrangements. Primarily a raider, the Alabama sank, burned or captured more than sixty Union merchants ships from 1862 to 1864. It was stopped up and down to eye-bolts with marlines and secured by iron dogs. Ironically, in 1851, a decade before the Civil War, Captain Semmes had observed: (Commerce raiders) are little better than licensed pirates; and it behooves all civilized nations [...] to suppress the practice altogether. But even the ship’s unparalleled success had its Waterloo, and for the Confederate commerce raider, that was Cherbourg, France, 150 years ago today. Such ended the glorious tenure of the CSS Alabama - a true raider by all accounts, sinking millions of dollars in Union property over the course of her short career. Llewellyn, understanding that the man risked capsizing the craft, grabbed and pulled him back, saying "See, I want to save my life as much as you do; but let the wounded men be saved first." 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 (to "cross the T"). Following his sister's death, Raphael Semmes III donated the ensign to the state of Alabama on 19 September 1929. ", On 19 June, Alabama sailed out to meet the Union cruiser. When the men began to shout "Hear! On 11 June 1864, Alabama arrived in port at Cherbourg, France. The Confederate government had hoped that the panic of the shipping companies would force the Union to dispatch ships to protect merchant shipping and hunt down the raiders, a task which always requires a proportionately greater force when compared with the numbers of ships attacking (see Battle of the Atlantic). Captain Raphael Semmes mounted a gun-carriage and read his commission from President Jefferson Davis, authorizing him to take command of the new cruiser. The third surviving Stainless Banner is one of Alabama's original small boat ensigns. Smith's nephew, Clement Sawtell of Lincoln Square, Massachusetts, later inherited the ensign from his uncle. 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. 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 over the horizon. Alabama's visit to Cape Town in 1863 has passed (with a slight spelling change) into South African folklore in the Afrikaans song, Daar Kom die Alibama. "James D. Bulloch; Secret Agent and Mastermind of the Confederate Navy". Such presentations of ceremonial colors were uncommon to ships' captains of the Confederate Navy, but a few were known to have received such honors. Officers aboard USS Kearsarge after sinking the CSS Alabama (1864). 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