4/10/2024 0 Comments Simple circe in background cssFrom those positions, they could be rotated to fire across the port or starboard sides of the cruiser. The pivot cannons were placed fore and aft of the main mast and positioned roughly amidships along the deck's center line. Īlabama 's 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. Following her commissioning as CSS Alabama, Bulloch then returned to Liverpool to continue his secret work for the Confederate Navy. After three days' work by the three ships' crews, Enrica was equipped as a naval cruiser, designated a commerce raider, for the Confederate States of America. 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. With Bulloch at his side, the new ship's captain, Raphael Semmes, left Liverpool on 13 August 1862 aboard the steamer Bahama to take command of the new cruiser. Agent Bulloch arranged for a civilian crew and captain to sail Enrica to Terceira Island in the Azores. Craven, commander of USS Tuscarora, was in Southampton and was tasked with intercepting the new ship, but was unsuccessful. Initially known only by her shipyard number "ship number 0290", she was launched as Enrica on and secretly slipped out of Birkenhead on 29 July 1862. 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. 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. The contract was arranged through the Fraser Trenholm Company, a cotton broker in Liverpool with ties to the Confederacy. 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. She was sunk in June 1864 by USS Kearsarge at the Battle of Cherbourg outside the port of Cherbourg, France.Īlabama 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 Liverpool. Alabama served as a successful commerce raider, attacking Union merchant and naval ships over the course of her two-year career. It was built in Birkenhead on the River Mersey opposite Liverpool, England by John Laird Sons and Company. "Aide Toi, Et Dieu T'Aidera," (God helps those who help themselves) Ģ × 150 HP horizontal steam engines (300 HP collectively), auxiliary sailsĦ × 32 lb (15 kg) cannons, 1 × 110 lb (50 kg) cannon, 1 × 68 lb (31 kg) cannonĬSS Alabama was a screw sloop-of-war built in 1862 for the Confederate States Navy.
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