CSS Alabama

CSS Alabama was a <a href="/facts/Screw_sloop/S7G4e8QF">screw sloop-of-war</a> built in 1862 for the <a href="/facts/Confederate_States_Navy/y1DjJ5yw">Confederate States Navy</a>. The vessel was built in <a href="/facts/Birkenhead,_England/X4Mhxn0d">Birkenhead</a> on the <a href="/facts/River_Mersey/Hx7ucQul">River Mersey</a> opposite <a href="/facts/Liverpool/kTqATlxg">Liverpool</a>, England, by <a href="/facts/John_Laird_Sons_and_Company/Kp6PB0up">John Laird Sons and Company</a>. Launched as Enrica, she was fitted out as a cruiser and commissioned as CSS Alabama on August 24, 1862. Under Captain Raphael Semmes, Alabama served as a successful <a href="/facts/Commerce_raider/hFB8Q4fD">commerce raider</a>, attacking, capturing, and burning <a href="/facts/Union_(American_Civil_War)/KW6wJt7J">Union</a> merchant and naval ships in the North Atlantic, as well as intercepting American grain ships bound for Europe. The Alabama continued through the West Indies and further into the East Indies, destroying over seven ships before returning to Europe. On June 11, 1864, the Alabama arrived at Cherbourg, France, where she was overhauled. Shortly after, a Union sloop-of-war, <a href="/facts/USS_Kearsarge_(1861)/odwGH823">USS Kearsarge</a>, arrived; and on June 19, the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Cherbourg_(1864)/RGASlYjI">Battle of Cherbourg</a> commenced outside the port of <a href="/facts/Cherbourg,_France/NAEthI1n">Cherbourg, France</a>, whereby the Kearsarge sank the Alabama in approximately one hour after the Alabama's opening shot.

CSS Alabama open-in-new

CSS Alabama