It is February 16, 1942. At the Norfolk Navy Yard, hundreds of workers and high officials have gathered to witness the launching of the U.S.S. Alabama. Mrs. Lister Hill, wife of the junior Senator from Alabama, anxiously awaits the signal to christen the powerful vessel as she starts down the ways. A few workmen hurriedly complete last minute preparations. Everything is in readiness. Suddenly, the signal! A husky swing smashes a bottle of champagne across her bow! Bedlam breaks loose as neighboring ships salute the giant newcomer, and a mighty addition to the U. S. Fleet slides majestically down the ways. With her go the stirring traditions of a great navy—traditions built during peace and war—and with her go memories of the glorious part ships of her name have had in building those traditions.
Her name, itself, has a warlike origin. When the Spaniards settled along the Gulf Coast in 1541 they found a fierce, warlike Indian tribe called the Alibamons. From this date until they were finally suppressed in 1814, these Indians fought savagely against the advances of the white man. Although they were outnumbered by the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians, their unceasing battle for their land caused it to become known as the Territory of the Alibamons. In 1817 it became the Territory of Alabama and was admitted to the Union in 1819.
Alabama was first adopted as a ship name following the Act of March 3, 1819, and has since been borne by six warships: a 74-gun ship of the line built in 1819, a steamer purchased in 1843, a gunboat bought during the Civil War, the C.S.S. Alabama, a first-class battleship authorized in 1896, and a first-class battleship launched in 1942. Of these ships, the most widely renowned is the C.S.S. Alabama, but each of them has played, or will play, a great role in the history of the United States.
The first Alabama was laid down at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in 1817, and was originally intended to be a storeship. At this time, little interest was shown in the Navy, and work on her was delayed over a period of many years. Indeed, it is likely that she would never have been finished had it not been for the aid of the many political campaigns during the years she was under construction. Most of this period found her lying neglected in the shipyard. During political campaigns, however, interest was revived and prospective voters were employed as well-paid workmen. In this fashion, she spent 47 years in the shipyard at Portsmouth before she was finally launched on April 23, 1864. No other ship in history required so much time between the laying of her keel and her launching.
The superstitious sailors of her day may have considered it a bad omen that she spent so many years on the ways. It was, however, to prove only an indication of the many years of faithful service she was to have. After her launching in the last year of the Civil War, she was renamed the New Hampshire and served during the war both at sea and as store- ship at Port Royal. After the Civil War she served as a receiving ship at Newport, and in 1895 was loaned to the New York Naval Militia. She served as a training ship there for several years and on November 30, 1904, her name was changed to the Granite State. As the Granite State she served as a training ship, and was comparable for her day to our Prairie State of today. She remained on loan to the New York Naval Militia until August 19, 1921, when she was sold. Thus ended a period of 104 years’ service in our Navy. During this time she was to be renamed twice and was to see four other ships of her name make history on the high seas.
By one of those strange quirks of fate, the original Alabama was not the first ship of this name to see wartime service. By an even stranger one, the first Alabama to see wartime service under the Stars and Stripes never actually served in the Navy at all. When the Mexican War began, the original Alabama was spending her 29th year on the stocks at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. As the enemy had no force to meet our ships on their element, no opportunities for brilliant naval engagements presented themselves. Ships for the transportation of troops and supplies were a vital need, however, and it was as a troopship that an Alabama first saw service under the United States flag. This ship was purchased by the War Department and served under it throughout the war. In March of 1849, while she was lying unused at New Orleans, the Alabama was transferred to the Navy Department by the Secretary of War. Since her retention was expensive, she was immediately sold and passed from service without actually serving in the Navy.
When one thinks of the Alabama in connection with the Civil War, a picture of the great Confederate raider and her hopelessly gallant duel with the U.S.S. Kearsarge immediately comes to mind. Few people realize that three other ships of that name saw service during the War between the States as Union vessels. We have already seen the role played by the original Alabama on the stage of history while she was masquerading as the New Hampshire. Others, too, were to adopt a stage name while engaged in the struggle against the state for which they were named. One of these, renamed the U.S.S. Fox, was purchased at a Key West prize court by the Navy Department. She was a small schooner but saw hot action in the lower Mississippi region. In April of 1863 she was chased into the Mississippi Sound. On September 12, 1863, she was burned and then taken by the Confederates. Her last curtain call was at Key West, Florida, on June 28, 1865, when she was sold at public auction.
The third Alabama to see service with the United States Navy during the Civil War was a wooden, side-wheel steamer which was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard in 1861. She carried a heavy armament for her type of vessel, and served in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron for the duration of the war. She was taken out of commission at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on July 14, 1865, after a relatively uneventful career.
These three Union vessels are entirely obscured by the C.S.S. Alabama, the greatest surface raider in the history of naval warfare. She was launched from the yard of Laird Brothers at Birkenhead near Liverpool, England, in 1862. She was not given a name, but was known by her yard number as Number 290. Despite orders for her seizure obtained by agents of the United States, she slipped down the Mersey on a “trial run” and put to sea. Although she was pursued by the U.S.S. Tuscarora, she soon vanished into the broad expanse of ocean and made good her escape.
Ten days later the 290, or Enrica as she had been christened in the shipping articles, came to an anchor at the little- frequented island of Terceira in the Portuguese Azores. At this time she was commanded by English officers and manned by an English crew, so the Portuguese authorities readily extended the facilities of the port. Eight days later, on August 18, 1862, the bark Agrippina arrived from London and immediately began to transfer ammunition, coal, ship’s stores, and the necessary guns for the Enrica’s armament. Since both vessels were flying the British flag and were regularly entered on the customhouse books, Portuguese neutrality was satisfied, and the transfer was rapidly completed. A few days later, the British steamer Bahama, from Liverpool, arrived with the future officers of the Enrica on board. The three vessels took to the open sea and made certain they were beyond Portuguese jurisdiction; the seamen were called aft, and Captain Raphael Semmes, C.S.N., stepped upon the quarter-deck and read his commission from Jefferson Davis. A starboard gun emphasized the change, as the British flag dropped to the deck and was replaced by the Confederate Stars and Bars. The Confederate States sloop-of-war Alabama was in commission. From this day, United States shipping was to be driven from the oceans to shrink beneath the protection of coastal guns as this ruthless destroyer combed the seas.
In the two years that she remained at sea, the Alabama was responsible for the almost complete destruction of United States commerce. Some 56 Union vessels, including whalers, cargo ships, mail steamers, and passenger vessels, fell into her hands. Since no neutral ports were open to prizes, and the Alabama had no Confederate port to which she could return, she was forced to destroy her prizes at sea. This increased the air of mystery that surrounded the Alabama, and added to the panic that kept Union merchantmen near friendly ports.
In her two years of service, the Alabama met two United States warships in battle. Her first engagement was with the U.S.S. Hatteras as off Galveston, Texas, on January 11, 1863. The two vessels were very nearly equal in strength. Although the Alabama had larger pivot guns, this was balanced in part by the fact that the Hatteras was 100 tons larger than was the Alabama. The crew of the Hatteras was 108 strong; that of the Alabama 110. This engagement was begun after it was quite dark and terminated 13 minutes later with the sinking of the Hatteras. A crew well trained in the handling of their ship and her guns had sunk a comparable enemy with only one man wounded and negligible damage to their ship.
This engagement did much to heighten the legend of the Alabama's invincibility— a legend which was to be rudely shattered off Cherbourg the next year. On June 19, 1864, the Alabama steamed proudly out from Cherbourg to meet a greatly superior opponent, the U.S.S. Kearsarge. One hour and thirty minutes later, the bones of the greatest raider in naval warfare were lying on the wreck-strewn bottom of the English Channel.
The fifth Alabama to sail across the pages of history was launched by the Cramp Ship and Engine Building Company of Philadelphia in 1898. She was the first modern battleship to bear this name. Unlike her predecessors, she was destined for long service without ever engaging in battle. She accompanied the Great White Fleet on its 46,000-mile voyage begun in 1907, and was still on the active list when the United States entered the World War. She did not go overseas, however, but served as a training ship for seamen on the east coast of the United States. She was broken up and scrapped in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Conference of 1922.
Today, the sixth Alabama has slid proudly down the ways. Although she is unfinished, she has built in her the proud traditions of the United States Navy. As much a part of her as her engines or her guns are the noble words: “If the mast goes, we go with it!”; “We have met the enemy and they are ours!”; and “Don’t give up the ship!”. In her, too, is the fighting spirit of her predecessors—the Alibamons fighting gallantly to hold their land, of the first Alabama with 104 years’ service, and of the C.S.S. Alabama, the greatest raider of all time. Soon she will be completed, and will go forth to join the fleet. Her guns will speak, loudly, but with the voice of authority and not the braggart’s boast. Her guns will speak “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”