CSS Alabama vs. USS Kearsarge, June 19, 1864-- Part 3

JUNE 19, 1864

The antagonists  closed to about one and a half miles, when Semmes opened the action with a starboard broadside.  Within minutes the firing became fierce from both ships as they fought starboard to starboard on a circular course.

Lieutenant Sinclair, CSN, wrote:  "Semmes would have chosen to bring about yard-arm quarters, fouling, and boarding, relying upon the superior physique of his crew to overbalance the superiority of numbers; but this was frustrated."  Meaning Semmes wanted really close in action and hand-to-hand.

Shot and shell from the heavier guns of thee Kearsarge crashed into the Alabama's gull, while the Union sloop of war, her sides protected by the chain armor, suffered only minor damage.  One shell from the Alabama lodged in the Kearsarge's sternpost but failed to explode.

--Old B-Runner