Avast, Yall! Confederate Civil War Pirates

[corsair91]

Avast, Yall! Confederate Pirates of the Civil War

https://militaryhistorynow.com/2012/05/28/avast-yall-confederate-pirates-of-the-civil-war/


With no navy to speak of at the start of the Civil War, the Confederacy turned to privateers to battle the Union on the high seas. The north, as well as the rest of the world, considered it piracy.

There was one significant flaw in the scheme: while privateering had been a legally-recognized practice dating back at least 500 years, an international maritime accord signed in 1856 known as the Declaration of Paris had outlawed the practice once and for all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Declaration_Respecting_Maritime_Law

All privateers were considered pirates by signatory countries and piracy was punishable by death.


Confederate Privateer Ships included:

J.C. Calhoun
Petrel
Savannah
Jefferson Davis


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_privateer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_runners_of_the_American_Civil_War

[corsair91]

The Battle of Cherbourg When Union and Confederate Warships Clashed Off the Coast of France

https://militaryhistorynow.com/2021/08/03/the-battle-of-cherbourg-when-union-and-confederate-warships-clashed-off-the-coast-of-france/


USS Kearsarge engages the Confederate raider CSS Alabama

Kearsarge was given hull armor by hanging 720 feet of single-link iron chain in three courses up and down the sloop's port and starboard midsection. This was done to protect its engine and boilers from enemy shot. Wooden planking, painted black to match the hull, covered the chain cladding (chain mail).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Kearsarge_(1861)

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/ships-us/ships-usn-k/kearsarge-steam-sloop-of-war.html


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Alabama
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Semmes

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/c/capt-semmes-css-alabama.html


Kearsarge is one of the names that the US Navy tries to keep
permanently in commission

The current USS Kearsarge
(LHD-3) Wasp-class amphibious assault ship


Previous USS Kearsarge

USS Kearsarge (BB-5), pre-dreadnought battleship
the only United States Navy battleship not named after a state.
later converted into a crane ship.

USS Kearsarge (CV-33)
long-hulled Essex-class aircraft carrier, launched 1945,
served in the Korean War and Vietnam War, scrapped in 1974.