Captain Semmes and 41 of the crew were saved by the Deerhound and managed to escape the scene to England to avoid facing Union courts and treason counts. Such ended the glorious tenure of the CSS Alabama - a true raider by all accounts, sinking millions of dollars in Union property over the course of her short career. The CSS Alabama saw 21 of her crew wounded in the fighting with the Kearsarge though 9 crew were killed (according to the official record by Captain Semmes sent on June 21st, 1864 from Southampton to Flag Officer Samuel Barron of the CSS Navy in Paris).
Interestingly, The CSS Alabama was destined not to dock at any North American shore during her active nearly-two year career. Amazingly, she spent 534 of her 657 operational days at sea (81%). The USS Kearsarge - destroyer of the Alabama - was awarded a Battle Star by the US Navy and 17 of her crew received the Medal of Honor for actions concerning the CSS Alabama. The Kearsarge eventually struck a reef in her post-war years and was abandoned off of Roncador Cay in the Caribbean on February 2nd, 1894. Attempts to raise her were deemed fruitless and several artifacts were later recovered for display, the ship being a total loss.
The wreck of the CSS Alabama was discovered in 1984 by the French Navy minehunter "Circe" in 200 feet of water off of Cherbourg prompting an initiative in 1988 to reclaim the vessel on behalf of a joint French-American effort as an archeological find. The CSS Alabama Association was set up in Mobile, Alabama to monitor the status of the find and is actively working with French authorities and archeologists to discover more of the wreck (the wreck lies within French territorial waters). Some of her artifacts have since been recovered and brought topside for formal examination into the daily life and fighting conditions of Confederate Navy sailors.
Below is the actual report from Captain Winslow of the USS Kearsarge to Gideon Wells, the then-acting Secretary of the US Navy - concerning the battle against the CSS Alabama:
U. S. S. KEARSARGE,
Cherbourg, France, June 19, 1864
SIR: I have the honor to inform the Department that the day subsequent to the arrival of the Kearsarge off this port, on the 14th instant, I received a note from Captain Semmes, begging that the Kearsarge would not depart, as he intended to fight her and would not delay her but a day or two.
According to this notice, the Alabama left the port of Cherbourg this morning at about 9:30 o'clock.
At 10:20 a. m. we discovered her steering toward us. Fearing the question of jurisdiction might arise, we steamed to sea until a distance of 6 or 7 miles was attained from the Cherbourg breakwater, when we rounded to and commenced steaming for the Alabama. As we approached her within about 1,200 yards she opened fire, we receiving two or three broadsides before a shot was returned. The action continued, the respective steamers making a circle round and round at a distance of about 900 yards from each other. At the expiration of an hour the Alabama struck, going down in about 20 minutes afterwards, and carrying many persons with her.
It affords me great gratification to announce to the Department that every officer and man did his duty, exhibiting a degree of coolness and fortitude which gave promise at the outset of certain victory.
I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant,
JNO. A. WINSLOW,
Captain
Hon. GIDEON WELLES
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