CSS Alabama
Author | : Andrew Bowcock |
Publisher | : Bloomsbury Academic |
Total Pages | : 232 |
Release | : 2002 |
ISBN-10 | : STANFORD:36105025960092 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (92 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Built secretly by Laird's on the Mersey, to the order of the Confederate States during the American Civil War, the Alabama embarked on a hugely destructive world-wide campaign against Federal shipping that made the ship a household name. Eventually tracked down by the Union sloop Kearsarge, the raider was sunk off Cherbourg in an epic ship-to-ship action. However, the almost legendary quality of the ship's career was further enhanced post-war by a bestselling autobiography by Alabama's captain, Raphael Semmes. Nor did the ship's impact on history finish with her sinking, as her depredations caused a diplomatic row between the USA and Britain that was not resolved until the latter agreed to substantial compensation in 1871.