- In Sink the Alabama, the Confederate "pirate ship" Alabama wreaks havoc on Union commercial vessels in the Civil war, evading capture on five oceans as U.S. Naval Secretary Gideon Welles tries to track it down. Despite its neutrality and opposition to slavery, Britain fails to stop the Alabama and other ships from being built and launched in its ports. A fifth column of Confederate sympathizers and a well-financed propaganda campaign convinces the British public that the American civil war is not about slavery but about Southern independence. Semmes is called a "pirate" by the Northern press as he burns Union ships after their passengers have been removed along with provisions and valuables stolen by the crew. Semmes become famous worldwide as he escapes capture time after time. He goes as far as Singapore and the Indian Ocean, but with his crew near mutiny and his ship needing repair, Semmes puts in to Cherbourg France and is trapped there by the USS Kearsarge. Semmes decides to do battle rather than surrender and the Alabama is sunk after a battle off the French coast, with large number of spectators lining the shore..—Robert Clem
- In Sink the Alabama, the Confederate "pirate ship" Alabama wreaks havoc on Union commercial vessels in the Civil War, evading capture on five oceans as U.S. Naval Secretary Gideon Welles tries to track it down. Despite its neutrality and opposition to slavery, Britain fails to stop the Alabama and other ships from being built and launched in its ports. A fifth column of Confederate sympathizers and a well-financed propaganda campaign convinces the British public that the American civil war is not about slavery but about Southern independence. At sea for 22 months without being captured, the Alabama's captain Raphael Semmes is called a "pirate" by the Union but becomes a celebrity worldwide. Navy Secretary Gideon Welles steps up his campaign to catch the Alabama. With his crew near mutiny and his ship needing repair, the Alabama's captain Raphael Semmes puts in for repair in Cherbourg France and is trapped there by the USS Kearsarge. The Alabama is sunk after a battle off the French coast watched by thousands.
- Raphael Semmes, an Alabamian denied command of a ship by the U.S. Navy, joins the Confederates at the outbreak of the Civil War. The South has few ships to fight with, so Semmes proposes commerce raiding, used by the weaker naval power in warfare. After a successful run on the converted ferryboat CSS Sumter, on which he captures and burns 18 U.S. merchant vessels, Semmes is given command of the British-built CSS Alabama. Despite its neutrality and opposition to slavery, Britain fails to stop the Alabama and other ships from being built and launched in its ports. A fifth column of Confederate sympathizers and a well-financed propaganda campaign convinces the British public that the American civil war is not about slavery but about Southern independence. For 22 months the Alabama attacks and burns 65 U.S. commercial vessels on the high seas. His success and his narrow escapes from the U.S. Navy make Semmes a celebrity around the world, especially in Britain. U.S. Navy Secretary Gideon Welles receives criticism for not finding and sinking the Alabama and assigns 18 ships to track it down.
Despite the South's major defeats in July 1863, Raphael Semmes presses on. A near mutiny among his now ragtag crew and the deteriorating condition of his ship forces Semmes to head for Europe to obtain repairs. In summer 1864 the Alabama is trapped in Cherbourg France by the USS Kearsarge. After a battle offshore the Alabama is sunk but Semmes escapes on an English yacht and heads back to the Confederacy. His abolitionist wife Anne urges him to give up but Semmes is summoned to Richmond and fights to the end before returning to Anne in 1865. Gideon Welles issues an arrest warrant for Semmes for failing to surrender off Cherbourg and Semmes is marched off to prison. Welles is devastated by his friend Abraham Lincoln's assassination, which shocks the British into support for the Union cause. In 1872 Britain agrees to pay the U.S. $15.5 million for the damage done to its merchant marine by the Alabama and other British-built ships.
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