[snippy_about_it]

'The contest was decided by the superiority of the 11-inch Dahlgrens, especially the after-pivot, together with the coolness and accuracy of aim of the gunners of the Kearsarge, ahd notably by the skill of William Smith, the captain of the after-pivot, who in style and behavior was like Long Tom Coffin in Cooper's "Pilot."



This Sunday naval duel was fought in the presence of more than 15,000 spectators, who, upon the heights of Cherbourg, the breakwater, and rigging of men-of-war, witnessed "the last of the Alabama. " Among them were the captains, their families, and crews of two merchant ships burnt by the daring cruiser a few days before her arrival at Cherbourg, where they were landed in a nearly destitute condition. Many spectators were provided with spy-glasses and camp-stools. The Kearsarge was burning Newcastle coals, and the Alabama Welsh coals, the difference in the amount of smoke enabling the movements of each ship to be distinctly traced. An excursion train from Paris arrived in the morning, bringing hundreds of pleasure-seekers, who were unexpectedly favored with the spectacle of a sea-fight. A French gentleman at Boulogne-sur-Mer assured me that the fight was the conversation of Paris for more than a week.'

John M. Browne,
Surgeon Of The "Kearsarge"
The Duel Between The "Alabama" And The "Kearsarge"

[snippy_about_it]

............



LATEST UPDATE:

Divers recover cannon from CSS Alabama in English Channel
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer ^ | Tue, Jul. 12, 2005

Posted on 07/14/2005 10:35:41 AM PDT by nickcarraway

[alfa6]

Off to work Bump for the Freeper Foxhole

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[U S Army EOD]

Damnyankees just got in a few lucky shots.

[PhilDragoo]

"For God's sake, do what you can to save them!"

The Duel Between The "Alabama" And The "Kearsarge"

Reports of the Union Navy
From the Official Records, a series of reports dealing with this battle.

Reports of the Confederate Navy
From the Official Records, a series of reports dealing with this battle.

Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren (1809-1870) was a naval ordnance innovator and commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron during the Civil War. Dahlgren became a midshipman in 1826. Service on the U.S. Coast Survey (1834-37) distinguished his early career. In 1847, Lieutenant Dahlgren was assigned to ordnance duty at the Washington Navy Yard. Over the next fifteen years, he invented and developed bronze boat guns, heavy smoothbore shell guns, and rifled ordnance. He also created the first sustained weapons R&D program and organization in U.S. naval history. For these achievements, Dahlgren became known as the "father of American naval ordnance." His heavy smoothbores, characterized by their unusual bottle shape, were derived from scientific research in ballistics and metallurgy, manufactured and tested under the most comprehensive program of quality control in the Navy to that time, and were the Navy's standard shipboard armament during the Civil War. Promoted to commander in 1855, captain in 1862, and rear admiral in 1863, he became commandant of the Washington Navy Yard in 1861 and chief of the Bureau of Ordnance in 1862.

The Dahlgren Gun