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19 June in military history: Kearsarge sinks the Alabama, 1864

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Painting of a sea battle under a sky full of dark gun smoke: a black-hulled steam sloop with tall masts sinking by the stern in the middle distance, another warship half hidden in smoke behind it, a small steamer flying a red flag at right, and a sailing boat under the French flag with gray sails in the choppy green water in front.
The Battle of the USS Kearsarge and the CSS Alabama, by Édouard Manet, 1864 (detail). Public domain. Philadelphia Museum of Art, John G. Johnson Collection, via Wikimedia Commons.
Quick answer

On 19 June 1864, off Cherbourg in France, the Union sloop USS Kearsarge under Captain John A. Winslow sank the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama of Captain Raphael Semmes after about an hour of fighting. In 1944 the Battle of the Philippine Sea opened with a Japanese carrier air attack on the American Task Force 58.

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Battle of Cherbourg

19 June 1864 · 162 years ago

Hull No. 290

The Alabama was built for the Confederacy by the Lairds of Birkenhead and was known as Hull No. 290. Craig Symonds, writing for the American Battlefield Trust, dates her departure, on a supposed trial run, to 28 July 1862. She took on her guns at the Azores. Her cruise, which her executive officer John McIntosh Kell put at twenty-two months, took her to the Gulf of Mexico, where off Galveston she sank the Union warship Hatteras, to Brazil, across the Indian Ocean and into the China Sea.1

Counts of her prizes differ: the State Department's Office of the Historian gives 58 Northern merchant ships, Symonds at least 65, most of which, he writes, Semmes burned.2

A challenge at Cherbourg

The Alabama entered Cherbourg on 11 June 1864. Semmes told his superior in Paris, Flag Officer Samuel Barron, that she needed new copper and extensive boiler repairs. The Kearsarge appeared off the harbor on 14 June. The French did not let the raider into the basins of their naval arsenal.3

Semmes sent word that he meant to fight and begged the Kearsarge not to leave before he was ready. In his journal for 15 June he wrote: "The combat will no doubt be contested and obstinate, but the two ships are so equally matched that I do not feel at liberty to decline it. God defend the right, and have mercy upon the souls of those who fall, as many of us must". Kell recalls weighing the Kearsarge's 11-inch guns and her crew of 163 against the Alabama's 149. Symonds suggests that Semmes may also have hoped a victory off France would win French goodwill for the Confederacy.4

Seven circles

On Sunday morning the Alabama steamed out between 9 and 10 o'clock. The Kearsarge's log records that she came out with a French ironclad and a steamer showing the white English ensign and a yacht flag. The Kearsarge's surgeon, John M. Browne, writes that the ironclad, the Couronne, escorted her three marine miles from the coast and then steamed back into port. Crowds watched from the shore: Kell writes that many had come from Paris, and Browne puts the spectators at more than 15,000.5

The American minister in Paris, William L. Dayton, had written to Winslow that if he lost nothing by it he had best fight six or seven miles off the coast instead of three. Winslow steamed out until he was six or seven miles from the breakwater before turning to meet her, and Browne gives the same distance.6

The log says the Alabama opened fire at 10:57, at 1,000 yards, and the Kearsarge replied at 11. Winslow's first report puts the range at about 1,200 yards, Browne at about 1,800 yards, and Semmes and Kell at about a mile. The log of the Deerhound's owner, John Lancaster, has 11:10.7

To keep their starboard batteries bearing, the two ships steamed round a common center, a quarter to half a mile apart by Semmes's account and about 900 yards by Winslow's. Winslow counted seven turns of the circle before the Alabama broke away, and Lancaster's log also records seven complete circles.8

Winslow had hung his sheet chains up and down the ship's sides; Browne writes that one-inch deal boards hid them. Only after the fight, Semmes reported, did his officers find her "thoroughly iron-coated". Kell thought the result would have been different without the chains, Browne that it would have been nearly the same. Semmes blamed his powder, weakened by long keeping, and Kell judged the whole supply damaged. A 100-pound shell lodged unexploded in the Kearsarge's sternpost; the section of the sternpost holding it was later sawn off and sent to Washington.9

Colors down

The Kearsarge's gunner reported 173 rounds fired and gave the duration of the action as 65 minutes. After about an hour and ten minutes, Semmes reported, his ship was sinking; he made for the French coast until the water put out his furnace fires. Kell, sent below, reported that she could not float ten minutes. By Kell's account Semmes replied: "Then, sir, cease firing, shorten sail, and haul down the colors; it will never do in this nineteenth century for us to go down, and the decks covered with our gallant wounded".10

Semmes wrote that the Kearsarge fired on him five times after his colors were struck. Winslow reported that he held his fire when a white flag appeared, fired again when the Alabama opened with two port guns, then stopped. Kell denied that the Alabama fired after her colors came down. An officer then came alongside in a boat to surrender and ask for help, at 12:10 by the log.11

The Deerhound

The Alabama went down stern first, her bow rising out of the water. The log and Browne time the sinking at 12:24, Lancaster's log at 12:50. Semmes threw his sword into the sea and then went overboard with his men.12

Winslow, with only two boats fit for use, hailed the Deerhound and asked her to help pick up the men. Lancaster later wrote that "the captain cried out, 'For God's sake do what you can to save them'". The Kearsarge's log records 70 people rescued by her boats, and Winslow counted 70 prisoners brought on board, 6 officers and 64 men. Browne writes that the 70 were saved by the Kearsarge's boats and a French pilot boat. Semmes escaped on the yacht "together with about forty others, all told", by his report; Barron counted 42 who reached England. French pilot boats carried a few more, among them the Alabama's second lieutenant, Armstrong, into Cherbourg.13

Winslow wrote that he "could not believe that the commander of that vessel could be guilty of so disgraceful an act as taking our prisoners off". Lancaster answered that "a man drowning in the open sea can not be regarded as an enemy at the time to anybody".14

The reckoning

Semmes first reported 9 killed and 21 wounded; on 5 July he wrote that his loss was 47, 26 killed and drowned and 21 wounded. Kell gives 9 killed, 21 wounded and 10 drowned. Barron counted 143 on board, 110 known safe and 30 missing.15

On the Kearsarge three men were wounded, all by one shell according to Browne. One of them, Ordinary Seaman William Gowin, later died of his wound. Browne recalled that Gowin was brought to him with a smile on his face and said: "It is all right and I am satisfied, for we are whipping the Alabama".16

Navy Secretary Gideon Welles told Winslow that the President meant to recommend a vote of thanks so that he could be advanced to commodore. Symonds writes that Winslow was promoted to commodore and that Semmes, back in the Confederacy, was made a rear admiral. A former Kearsarge officer complained to the President in 1865 that the Confederacy had made its captain an admiral while Winslow was only advanced a few numbers.17

The United States held Britain responsible for the raiders built in its yards, and in September 1872 an arbitration tribunal ordered Britain to pay $15.5 million. The editors of Battles and Leaders date the award to 14 September and say it covered the Alabama, the Florida and her tenders, and the Shenandoah after she left Melbourne. The Office of the Historian calls the settlement an important precedent for solving serious international disputes through arbitration. See also the greatest battles of the Civil War.18

Also on this day

1944: on the first day of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, west of the Marianas, Japanese carrier aircraft attacked the American Task Force 58. Philip Crowl, in the US Army's official history, following Samuel Eliot Morison, writes that of his 430 carrier planes Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa lost 330 that day, including planes destroyed on Guam and Rota and operational losses, against 24 American planes shot down and 6 lost operationally. The US Strategic Bombing Survey's summary of Ozawa's interrogation, which describes an attack by carrier aircraft coordinated with shore-based naval aircraft, gives approximately 400 Japanese aircraft shot down. American submarines sank the carriers Shokaku and Taiho the same day. Ozawa said a torpedo hit Taiho at 0900 and she sank at perhaps 1100. The battle is among the near misses of our list of the greatest naval battles.19

Frequently asked questions

Who won the battle between the Kearsarge and the Alabama?

The Union sloop USS Kearsarge. Off Cherbourg on 19 June 1864, after about an hour of fighting, the Confederate raider CSS Alabama struck her colors and sank.

Why was the CSS Alabama at Cherbourg?

She needed repairs and entered Cherbourg on 11 June 1864. The Kearsarge appeared off the harbor on 14 June, and Semmes decided to go out and fight her.

Did chain armor win the fight for the Kearsarge?

The Kearsarge's sides were hung with sheet chains hidden by boards. Kell, the Alabama's executive officer, believed the result would have been different without them; Browne, the Kearsarge's surgeon, thought it would have been nearly the same.

What happened to Raphael Semmes?

He went into the sea when his ship sank and was picked up by the British yacht Deerhound, which carried him and about forty others to England by his own count. Symonds writes that he returned to the Confederacy and was made a rear admiral.

How many men died?

Semmes first reported 9 killed and 21 wounded, and later a loss of 26 killed and drowned and 21 wounded. On the Kearsarge three men were wounded, one of whom later died.

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

  1. Craig Symonds, “Kearsarge and Alabama”; John McIntosh Kell, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”. ↩
  2. Craig Symonds, “Kearsarge and Alabama”; US Department of State, “The Alabama Claims, 1862-1872”. ↩
  3. John McIntosh Kell, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”; Raphael Semmes, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; “Abstract log of U. S. S. Kearsarge”, in, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; William L. Dayton, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”. ↩
  4. Raphael Semmes, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John A. Winslow, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John McIntosh Kell, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”; Craig Symonds, “Kearsarge and Alabama”. ↩
  5. John McIntosh Kell, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”; Raphael Semmes, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; “Abstract log of U. S. S. Kearsarge”, in, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John M. Browne, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”. ↩
  6. William L. Dayton, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John A. Winslow, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John M. Browne, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”. ↩
  7. “Abstract log of U. S. S. Kearsarge”, in, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John McIntosh Kell, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”; Raphael Semmes, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John A. Winslow, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John M. Browne, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”. ↩
  8. Raphael Semmes, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John A. Winslow, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John McIntosh Kell, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”. ↩
  9. John A. Winslow, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John M. Browne, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”; Raphael Semmes, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John McIntosh Kell, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”; S. H. Stringham, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”. ↩
  10. Franklin A. Graham, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; Raphael Semmes, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John McIntosh Kell, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”. ↩
  11. Raphael Semmes, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John A. Winslow, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John McIntosh Kell, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”; “Abstract log of U. S. S. Kearsarge”, in, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John M. Browne, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”. ↩
  12. John McIntosh Kell, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”; John A. Winslow, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; “Abstract log of U. S. S. Kearsarge”, in, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John M. Browne, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”; Craig Symonds, “Kearsarge and Alabama”; Raphael Semmes, “Memoirs of Service Afloat, during the War between the States”. ↩
  13. John A. Winslow, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John Lancaster, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; “Abstract log of U. S. S. Kearsarge”, in, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John M. Browne, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”; Raphael Semmes, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; Samuel Barron, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John McIntosh Kell, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”. ↩
  14. John A. Winslow, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John Lancaster, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”. ↩
  15. Raphael Semmes, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John McIntosh Kell, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”; Samuel Barron, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”. ↩
  16. John A. Winslow, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; John M. Browne, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”. ↩
  17. Gideon Welles, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”; Craig Symonds, “Kearsarge and Alabama”; David H. Sumner, “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion”. ↩
  18. US Department of State, “The Alabama Claims, 1862-1872”; The editors, “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War”. ↩
  19. Philip A. Crowl, “Campaign in the Marianas”; United States Strategic Bombing Survey, “Interrogation Nav. No. 3”; Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee, “Japanese Naval and Merchant Shipping Losses During World War II by All Causes”. ↩

Sources

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