After nearly two years of highly successful cruising at the expense of the United States' commercial shipping, CSS Alabama returned to European waters in early June 1864. Badly in need of a refit, she put into Cherbourg, France, on 11 June. News of her presence soon reached the USS Kearsarge , which promptly steamed to Cherbourg, arriving on the 14th. Seeing that he was blockaded, with repairs delayed and with the probabability that his ship would not be able to resume her raiding activities, Alabama's Captain Raphael Semmes challenged Kearsarge's Captain John Winslow to a ship-to-ship duel. That suited Winslow very well, and he took station offshore and waited.
After four days of coaling, drill and other preparations, Alabama steamed out of Cherbourg harbor in the morning of 19 June 1864, escorted by the French ironclad Couronne, which remained in the area to ensure that the combat remained in international waters. On paper, Kearsarge and Alabama were well-matched, with the Union warship having a slight advantage in gun power and speed. As the Confederate approached, Kearsarge steamed further to sea, to ensure that Alabama could not easily return to port.
At 10:50 AM, Captain Winslow put his ship around and headed for the enemy. Alabama opened fire a few minutes later, at a distance of about a mile, and continued to fire as the range decreased. As the ships closed to about a half-mile, Kearsarge turned and began to shoot back. Both ships had their guns trained to starboard, and the engagement followed a circular course, with the ships steaming in opposite directions and turning to counter the other's attempts to gain an advantageous position. Superior Federal gunnery, and the deteriorated condition of Alabama's powder and shells, soon began to tell. Though Alabama hit her opponent several times, the projectiles caused little damage and few casualties. One shell hit Kearsarge's sternpost, failed to explode and survives today as a relic of the battle.
After about an hour's shooting, Alabama was beginning to sink, with several men killed and many others wounded. Among the injured was Semmes, who turned and tried to run back toward Cherbourg. However, when Kearsarge headed him off and the rising water stopped his engines, Semmes struck his flag. As Alabama sank, some twenty minutes after firing ceased, most of her crew were rescued by the victor and by the British yacht Deerhound. Those saved by the latter, including Semmes and most of his officers, were taken to England and thus escaped capture and imprisonment. One of the Civil War's most significant naval actions was at an end, as was the career of the Confederacy's most destructive ocean raider.
For additional information on the Kearsarge - Alabama
fight, see:
This page features a special selection of images of the battle between USS Kearsarge and CSS Alabama.
For more comprehensive pictorial coverage of this action,
see:
For other pictures of the two ships, see:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 65736 USS Kearsarge vs. CSS Alabama, 19 June 1864 Line engraving published in the "Illustrated London News", 2 July 1864, depicting an early stage in the battle. Kearsarge is on the left, with Alabama in the right distance. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 150KB; 740 x 575 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 86059 "Naval Combat - Kearsarge and Alabama off Cherbourg, France - June 19, 1864" Photograph of a painting, published by E.H. Hart, 1162 Broadway, New York, circa the later 1880s, depicting the action between USS Kearsarge and CSS Alabama. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 116KB; 740 x 425 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 42376 "The action between the Ironclad Federal steamer 'Kearsarge' and the Confederate steamer 'Alabama', off Cherbourg, June 19th 1864." Print after a painting by W.F. Mitchell. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum. Beverly R. Robinson Collection. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 470 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 59354 USS Kearsarge vs. CSS Alabama, 19 June 1864 Contemporary line engraving, depicting an early stage in the battle. Alabama is on the right, with Kearsarge in the left distance. Courtesy of F.S. Hicks. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 144KB; 740 x 585 pixels |
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Photo #: K-29827 (Color) USS Kearsarge vs. CSS Alabama, 19 June 1864 Painting by Xanthus Smith, 1922, depicting Alabama sinking, at left, after her fight with the Kearsarge (seen at right). Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York. Official U.S. Navy Photograph. Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 500 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 42379 Action between USS Kearsarge and CSS Alabama, off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864 Civil War era photograph of an artwork, mounted on a Carte de visite. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 450 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 1261 "Hauling Down the Flag -- Surrender of the Alabama to the Kearsarge off Cherbourg, France, 19 June 1864" Artwork by J.O. Davidson, depicting the sinking of CSS Alabama, as seen from USS Kearsarge. The crew of one of Kearsarge's eleven-inch Dahlgren pivot guns is celebrating their victory. Collection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 540 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 96016 Navy Memorial Museum, Building 76, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. View in the Civil War exhibit area, March 1980, showing the sternpost of USS Kearsarge with an unexploded shell from CSS Alabama embedded in it, a relic of the 19 June 1864 battle between those two ships. Other artificts visible include the Historical Data Plaque of USS Cushing (DD-797), immediately to the right of the Kearsarge sternpost. Photographed by PH3c F. Brownson. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 154KB; 590 x 765 pixels |
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For more comprehensive pictorial coverage of the action
between USS Kearsarge and CSS Alabama, see:
For other pictures of the two ships, see:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
13 July 2000