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Posted on 06/19/2003 3:49:44 AM PDT by snippy_about_it
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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by U.S.S. Kearsarge 19 June 1864 Report of Captain Semmes, C.S. Navy,  When we got within good shell range, we opened on him with shell. Some ten or fifteen minutes after the commencement of the action our spanker gaff was shot away and our ensign came down by the run. This was immediately replaced by another at the mizzenmast-head. The firing now became very hot, and the enemy's shot and shell soon began to tell upon our hull, knocking down, killing, and disabling a number of men in different parts of the ship. Perceiving that our shell, though apparently exploding against the enemy's sides, were doing but little damage, I returned to solid shot firing, and from this time onward alternated with shot and shell. After the lapse of about one hour and ten minutes our ship was ascertained to be in sinking condition, the enemy's shell having exploded in our sides and between decks, opening large apertures, through which the water rushed with great rapidity. For some few minutes I had hopes of being able to reach the French coast, for which purpose I gave the ship all steam and set such of the fore-and-aft sails as were available. The ship filled so rapidly, that before we had made much progress the fires were extinguished in the furnaces, and we were evidently on the point of sinking. I now hauled down my colors to prevent the further destruction of life, and dispatched a boat to inform the enemy of our condition. Although we were now but 400 yards from each other, the enemy fired upon me five times after my colors had been struck, dangerously wounding several of my men. It is charitable to suppose that a ship of war of a Christian nation could not have done this intentionally. We now turned all our exertions toward the wounded and such of the boys as were unable to swim. These were dispatched in my quarter boats, the only boats remaining to me, the waist boats having been torn to pieces.  Some twenty minutes after my furnace fires had been extinguished, and the ship being on the point of settling, every man, in obedience to a previous order which had been given to the crew, jumped overboard and endeavored to save himself. There was no appearance of any boat coming to me from the enemy until after the ship went down. Fortunately, however, the steam yacht Deerhound, owned by a gentleman of Lancashire, England (Mr. John Lancaster), who was himself on board, steamed up in the midst of my drowning men and rescued a number of both officers and men from the water. I was fortunate enough myself thus to escape to the shelter of the neutral flag, together with about forty others, all told. About this time the Kearsarge sent one and then, tardily, another boat. Accompanying you will find lists of the killed and wounded, and of those who were picked up by the Deerhound. The remainder there is reason to hope were picked up by the enemy and by a couple of French pilot boats, which were also fortunately near the scene of action. At the end of the engagement it was discovered by those of our officers who went alongside the enemy's ship with the wounded that her midship section on both sides was thoroughly iron-coated, this having been done with chains constructed for the purpose, placed perpendicularly from the rail to the water's edge, the whole covered over by a thin outer planking, which gave no indication of the armor beneath. This planking had been ripped off in every direction by our shot and shell, the chain broken and indented in many places, and forced partly into the ship's side. She was most effectively guarded, however, in this section from penetration. The enemy was much damaged in other parts, but to what extent it is now impossible to tell. It is believed he was badly crippled.  My officers and men behaved steadily and gallantly, and though they have lost their ship they have not lost honor. Where all behaved so well it would be invidious to particularize; but I cannot deny myself the pleasure of saying that Mr. Kell, my first lieutenant, deserves great credit for the fine condition in which the ship went into action, with regard to her battery, magazine, and shell rooms; also that he rendered me great assistance by his coolness and judgment as the fight proceeded. The enemy was heavier than myself, both in ship, battery, and crew; but I did not know until the action was over that she was also ironclad. Our total loss in killed and wounded is 30, to wit, 9 killed and 21 wounded. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. SEMMES, Captain. Flag Officer Samuel Barron, C.S.S. Navy, Paris  Source: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Series 1, vol. 3 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1896): 649-651.
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A french knight, Chevalier Bayard, was born in the latter half of the 15th century during the rise of the powerful french nation state. By the age of 20, he became one of the youngest marshals of france and would volunteer to fight for other affiliates during the brief times that france was not at war. Bayard was admired by such diverse figures as Henry VIII of England, Gaston De Fiox (probably the finest general of the day) and Leonardo Da Vinci, because he personified many of the knightly virtues, such as:
-Prowess - Bayard was always the first man in an attack. In a single combat he had no equal and most enemy knights would simply ride around him in hope of fighting someone else.
-Courage - At the “Battle of the Spears” (30 June 1513), Bayard and approximately 15 men attempted to fight the entire force of English and German knights (over 1000 men). While this may seem to have been “bad headwork,” his courageous action enabled the main body of french troops to escape.
-Honor, Bearing - Aside from his habit of fighting duels with everyone who irritated him, Bayard was renowned for his quiet, rather genteel attitude towards his people, his generosity to the poor, and his mercy to beaten foes. His king, Frances I, referred to him as “My favorite DOG...he never barks, but bites hard.”
-Loyalty - Bayard never deviated from his loyalties to king, church, friends, and country.
The shield and banner which make up part of the World Famous Pukin” Dogs’ crest were taken from the shield that Bayard carried into battle so many years ago. It is only fitting that the officers and men of the World Famous Pukin’ Dogs of Fighter Squadron 143, who emulate the qualities of the famous knight, continue to carry his shield into battle.
Semper Dog
Bump. May they rest in Peace.
Photo #: NH 78638
USS Kearsarge (1862-1894)
Off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, shortly after her return from European waters in 1864.
Donated by Hamilton Cochran, 1974.
Photo #: NH 61669
USS Kearsarge (1862-1894)
Ship's officers pose on deck, at Cherbourg, France, soon after her 19 June 1864 victory over CSS Alabama. Her Commanding Officer, Captain John A. Winslow, is 3rd from left, wearing a uniform of the 1862 pattern. Other officers are generally dressed in uniforms of 1863-64 types. View looks aft on the port side. At left is Kearsarge's after XI-inch Dahlgren pivot gun, with its training tracks on the deck alongside.
Photo #: NH 52027
USS Kearsarge (1862-1894)
Ship's crew at their battle stations, shortly after her June 1864 action with CSS Alabama. View looks aft from the forecastle, showing both XI-inch Dahlgren smoothbore cannon trained to starboard, as they were during the fight. Portly officer in the center foreground appears to be Acting Master James R. Wheeler.
Photo #: NH 52030
USS Kearsarge (1862-1894)
Watercolor by an unidentified artist, depicting Kearsarge wrecked on Roncador Reef, in the Caribbean Sea, on 2 February 1894.
Courtesy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936. 
A model of the CSS Alabama - this originally resided in Cammel Lairds but is now on display at the Williamson Art Gallery & Wirral Museums.
CSS ALABAMA was built in Portsmouth, England, outfitted in the Azores and participated in coastal bombardments during the Civil War in support of the Confederate States of America (CSA). During her brief, but infamous history (1861-1864) she sank or captured 68 vessels. Although she saw extensive action in the Western Atlantic, she never actually entered a United States port. The CSS ALABAMA was sunk in a skirmish off the coast of France and is now used as a training platform for French Naval Divers.
The forward pivot on the Kearsarge, an XI-inch Dahlgren shell gun
The Gun that Sank the Alabama
The meeting of the Monitor and the Merrimack was certainly the most far-reaching naval action of the Civil War, but it could not match the gripping drama played out on the high seas off of Cherbourg, France, when the USS Kearsarge finally brought the Confederate raider Alabama to task after almost two years in which she had laid waste the merchant marine of the United States. Although the entire armament of the Kearsarge contributed its fire to the sinking of the Alabama, this is the gun celebrated in song for accomplishing that feat:
A ball from the forward pivot that day
Roll, Alabama, roll.
Blew the Alabama's stern away.
Oh roll, Alabama, roll
This gun is an XI-inch Dahlgren shell gun, shown here with Master J. R. Wheeler and Engineer S. L. Smith. The Kearsarge had two of these guns on board; both have been transferred from the Mare Island to the Chatham Annex in Williamsburg, Virginia, where they will eventually be installed in a museum to be built there.
Perhaps the most interesting fact about the Kearsarge was that she was 'iron-clad'. But I should explain what that means. It would seem that Lieutenant-Commander James S. Thornton, her executive officer, had earlier served with Admiral Farragut and had noted how effective it had been to protect the midship section of a ship from the fort guns they had to pass to reach New Orleans. (David Glasgow Farragut - 1801-1870 - A brief quote about what he did. "To prepare the ships to run past the forts, the crews crisscrossed the hulls with great chains until they were almost as well protected as the ironclads.") So the idea was adopted by the Kearsarge. Chains were attached to the sides of the ship in the Azores long after she was constructed and more than a year prior to the battle with the Alabama. Chain plating, made of one hundred and twenty fathoms of iron sheet-chain (what exactly is sheet-chain, I wonder) covered an area amidships 49 1/2 feet long and 6 feet 2 inches high. The chains were affixed by iron dogs and would protect the engines when the upper part of the coal bunkers were empty. The chains were covered, some might indeed and did say 'concealed', by one-inch deal (pine) boards. In the words of John M. Browne, Surgeon of the Kearsarge:
The work was done in three days, at a cost for material not exceeding seventy-five dollars. In our visit to European ports, the use of sheet-chains for protective purposes had attracted notice and caused comment. It is strange that Captain Semmes did not know of the chain armor; supposed spies had been on board and had been shown through the ship, as there was no attempt at concealment; the same pilot had been employed by both ships, and had visited each during the preparation for battle.
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