CSS Alabama — Confederate Raider Model, No Sails (Bare Rigging) | Admiral Line
CSS Alabama — Confederate Raider Model, No Sails (Bare Rigging) | Admiral Line
Model details
- Materials
- Mahogany, Western red cedar, Rosewood, Brass
- Construction
- Plank-on-frame, built by hand
- Condition
- Fully assembled, ready to display
- Display
- Wooden base with brass nameplate
- Collection
- Tall Ship Models - Admiral Line
- Item no.
- T292
The Alabama with her canvas struck — which is arguably how she should be shown, since under steam alone she hunted with her sails furled and her propeller down.
Without sails, the hybrid nature of the ship reads clearly: a full barque rig above, a screw and funnel below, the combination that let her stay at sea for two years without a home port.
Construction
- Plank-on-frame hull in western red cedar, rosewood and mahogany
- Three masts with complete hand-knotted standing rigging
- Bare yards — no sails fitted
- Funnel, pivot guns, ship's boats, wheel and deck fittings
- Metal anchors and wooden rudder
- Solid wood base and engraved brass nameplate
- Fully assembled
History
Built covertly at Birkenhead in 1862 and armed at sea to keep Britain formally neutral, Alabama took 65 Union merchant prizes under Raphael Semmes across the Atlantic, the Gulf and the South China Sea. She never once entered a Confederate port. USS Kearsarge sank her off Cherbourg on 19 June 1864 in a fight lasting barely an hour.