Raphael Semmes and the Alabama (Civil War campaigns & commanders series) - Softcover

Spencer Tucker (author) & Grady McWhiney (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1886661111 ISBN 13: 9781886661110

Publisher: State House Press / McWhiney Foundation Press, 1998

Synopsis

May 1862. The C.S.S. Alabama is launched in Liverpool and makes its way to the Azores. There it receives its armaments, is commissioned under the command of Raphael Semmes, and embarks on a 21-month journey of unparalleled destruction of the Union merchant fleet. This campaign is highlighted by the sinking of the Union warship Hatteras off Galveston. Semmes and his Alabama search the seas from Newfoundland to the South Atlantic, from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, for Union merchant vessels. More than sixty ships are sunk or captured before Semmes and his exhausted crew finally meet their match. Trapped by the U.S.S. Kearsarge while anchored in the French harbor of Cherbourg, Semmes comes out to fight. For over an hour the ships bombard each other. Finally, the Kearsarge prevails, sinks the Alabama and takes many of her crew captive. Semmes and many of the rest of the crew are dramatically rescued by the English yacht, Deerhound, and make their way to England. A detailed account by a highly regarded expert in Naval History of the incredible exploits of Raphael Semmes and the Alabama during her 75,000-mile odyssey.

About this title

Product Description:

Rare Book

About the Author:

SPENCER C. TUCKER earned his Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and is Professor of History at Texas Christian University. He is author of The Jeffersonian Gunboat Navy, Arming the Fleet: U.S. Naval Ordinance in the Muzzle-Loading Era, The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia, and Injured Honor: The Chesapeake-Leopard Affair of June 22, 1807.

About this edition

• Publisher: State House Press / McWhiney Foundation Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1886661111
• ISBN 13: 9781886661110
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 110