Shark of the Confederacy - Hardcover

The English-Built Confederate commerce raider Alabama is easily the best-known ship from the American Civil War. This book is essentially the biography of that ship - how she came to be, her mission, her cruises, and her destruction. Under the command of Captain Raphael Semmes, the Alabama wreaked havoc on the flow of food and military supplies to the North with devastating raids on both sides of the Atlantic as well as the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. government considered the ship a major obstacle to Union victory and spared no effort in its attempts to locate and dispose of her. This eventually led to the dramatic confrontation between the USS Kearsarge and the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, while many French citizens looked on from the shore. The Alabama was sunk, ending the career of a ship that became legendary.
By far the most inclusive, thorough book yet written on this famous American warship, it chronicles everything from construction to destruction, as well as her recent salvage. The author details shipboard life from the perspectives of both officers and seamen and recounts the Alabama's triumphs, frustrations, and deterioration from continued operation, as well as world opinion of her, and more. He includes material on the discovery of the wreck off Cherbourg in the 1980s and the subsequent controversy over rights to the ship and the archaeological investigation. This story is certain to satisfy general readers and critical scholars alike.