SKU: alabama2

A three-masted Confederate schooner she was constructed in Laird’s Yard in Birdenhead, northwest England and completed in 1862 to the specifications of the Confederate navy.  Her active service began in August, 1862.  During nearly two years of cruising she destroyed some 70 Union ships, causing losses of about $6 million.  The end finally came off Cherbourg in the English Channel when she challenged the “Kearsarge” one of her Union pursuers, on June 19, 1864.  A steamer of 1,031 tons, the “Kearsarge” used her 11-inch shells to deadly effect.  Twenty minutes later the Confederate raider was badly damaged, and sank quickly.