But it was and has recently been by the United States. When French divers began excavating the wreck of the raider CSS Alabama they claimed the wreck was that of a private vessel and up for dibs under international salvage law. The United States, on the other hand, claimed the vessel was a warship of a sovereign nation and as such could not be salvaged by any entity but the owning nation. In addition, U.S. maritime lawyers argued, the United States was the successor nation to the original sovereign nation, the Confederate States, and as such had sole rights to the salvage of the Alabama.