USS Kearsarge sinks CSS

This tale gets no coverage in the histories, but it certainly kept the North hopping for three long years.  Imagine the Bismarck doing this for three years during WWII.

.

As it is it is a snapshot of naval technology circa 1860.  Lack of coaling stations meant that sail was still relied on and the boilers likely lit only to get into port or to fight an enemy. notice all those sails are furled.  The ships were also still too small then as well with scant room for enough coal

In the end the CSS Alabama was caught leaving a French port where she had seeked resupply.  At best spies saw her and got a signal off.

USS Kearsarge sinks CSS Alabama

USS Kearsarge sinks CSS Alabama

June 19

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/uss-kearsarge-sinks-css-alabama

The most successful and feared Confederate commerce raider of the war, the CSS Alabama, sinks after a spectacular battle off the coast of France with the USS Kearsarge.

Built in an English shipyard and sold to the Confederates in 1861, the Alabama was a state-of-the-art ship—220 feet long, with a speed of up to 13 knots. The cruiser was equipped with a machine shop and could carry enough coal to steam for 18 days, but its sails could greatly extend that time. Under its captain, Raphael Semmes, the Alabama prowled the world for three years, capturing U.S. commercial ships. It sailed around the globe, usually working out of the West Indies, but taking prizes and bungling Union shipping in the Caribbean, off Newfoundland, and around the coast of South America. In January 1863, Semmes sunk a Union warship, the Hatteras, after luring it out of Galveston, Texas. The Union navy spent an enormous amount of time and effort trying to track down the Alabama.

The ship sailed around South America, across the Pacific, and docked in India in 1864. By the summer, Semmes realized that after three years and 75,000 miles his vessel needed overhauling in a modern shipyard. He sailed around Africa to France, where the French denied him access to a dry dock. Semmes moved out of Cherbourg Harbor and found the USS Kearsarge waiting. In a spectacular battle, the Kearsarge bested and sank the Alabama. During its career, the Alabama captured 66 ships and was hunted by more than 20 Federal warships.