USS Kearsarge ( 1861 ) USS " Kearsarge " , a " Mohican " - class sloop - of - war , is best known for her defeat of the Confederate commerce raider CSS " Alabama " during the American Civil War . The " Kearsarge " was the only ship of the United States Navy named for Mount Kearsarge in New Hampshire . Subsequent ships were later named " Kearsarge " in honor of the ship . Hunting Confederate raiders . " Kearsarge " was built at Portsmouth Navy Yard in Portsmouth , New Hampshire under the 1861 American Civil War emergency shipbuilding program . The new steam sloop - of - war was launched on 11 September 1861 ; she was sponsored by " Mrs . McFarland , " the wife of the editor of the " Concord Statement " , and was commissioned on 24 January 1862 , with Captain Charles W . Pickering in command . Soon after , she was hunting for Confederate raiders in European waters . " Kearsarge " departed Portsmouth on 5 February 1862 for the coast of Spain . She then sailed to Gibraltar to join the blockade of Confederate raider CSS " Sumter " , forcing the ship ' s abandonment there in December of 1862 . However , " Sumter " s commanding Captain , Raphael Semmes , having returned to England for reassignment , was soon recommissioning off the Azores , in international waters , the newly built British sloop " Enrica " as CSS " Alabama " . From there , " Alabama " went on to become the most successful commerce raider in naval history . From Cádiz in November of 1861 until March 1863 " Kearsarge " prepared for her engagement with " Alabama " ; she searched for the raider ranging along the coast of Northern Europe all the way to the Canaries , Madeira , and the Outer Hebrides . The following year , on 14 June 1864 , " Kearsarge " arrived at Cherbourg and found " Alabama " in port ; the raider had returned there for much needed repairs after a very long , multiple ocean cruise at the expense of 65 Union merchant ships . " Kearsarge " took up station at the harbor ' s entrance to await Semmes ' next move . Battle of Cherbourg . On 19 June , " Alabama " stood out of Cherbourg Harbor for her last action . Mindful of French neutrality , " Kearsarge " s new commanding officer , Capt . John A . Winslow , took the sloop - of - war clear of territorial waters , then turned to meet the Confederate cruiser . " Alabama " was the first to open fire , while " Kearsarge " held her reply until she had closed to less than . Steaming on opposite courses , the ships moved in seven spiraling circles on a southwesterly course , as each commander tried to cross his opponent ' s bow to deliver deadly raking fire . The battle quickly turned against " Alabama " due to her poor gunnery and the quality of her long - stored and deteriorated powder , fuses , and shells . Unknown at the time to Captain Semmes aboard the Confederate raider , " Kearsarge " had been given added protection for her vital machinery by chain cable mounted in three separate , vertical tiers along her port and starboard midsection . This hull armor had been installed in just three days , more than a year before , while " Kearsarge " was in port at the Azores . It was made using of single - link iron chain and covered hull spaces long by deep . It was stopped up and down in three layers to eye - bolts with marlines and secured by iron dogs . This was then concealed behind deal - boards painted black to match the upper hulls color . This chain cladding was placed along " Kearsarge " s port and starboard midsection down to her waterline , for the purpose of protecting her engines and boilers when the upper portion of the cruiser ' s coal bunkers were empty . This armor belt was hit twice during the fight : First in the starboard gangway by one of " Alabama " s 32 - pounder shells which cut the chain armor , denting the hull planking underneath , then again by a second 32 - pounder shell that exploded and broke a link of the chain , tearing away a portion of the deal - board covering . Even if the shells had been delivered by " Alabama " s more powerful 100 - pounder Blakely pivot rifle , the impacts were more than above the waterline and would therefore have missed her vital machinery . One hour after she fired her first salvo , " Alabama " was reduced to a sinking wreck by " Kearsarge " s more accurate gunnery and its powerful Dahlgren smoothbore pivot cannons . " Alabama " went down by the stern shortly after Semmes struck his colors , threw his sword into the sea to avoid capture , and sent one of his two remaining longboats to " Kearsarge " with a message of surrender and a rescue appeal for his surviving crew . " Kearsarge " finally sent ship ' s boats for the majority of " Alabama " s survivors , but Semmes and 41 others were rescued instead by the nearby British yacht " Deerhound " and escaped to the United Kingdom . The battle between " Kearsarge " and " Alabama " is honored by the United States Navy by a battle star on the Civil War campaign streamer . In addition , 17 of " Kearsarge " s crew received the Medal of Honor for valor during this action : The medals were awarded on 31 December 1864 . Home for repairs . " Kearsarge " then sailed along the French coast in an unsuccessful search for the commerce raider CSS " Florida " , then proceeded to the Caribbean before turning northward for Boston , Massachusetts , where she was decommissioned for repairs on 26 November . She was recommissioned four months later on 1 April 1865 and sailed for the coast of Spain on 14 April in an attempt to intercept CSS " Stonewall " ; the Confederate ram eluded Federal warships and surrendered to Spanish authorities at Havana , Cuba on 19 May . After cruising the Mediterranean Sea and the English Channel south to Monrovia , Liberia , " Kearsarge " was decommissioned on 14 August 1866 in the Boston Navy Yard . Post War service . " Kearsarge " was recommissioned on 16 January 1868 and sailed on 12 February to serve in the South Pacific operating out of Valparaíso , Chile . On 22 August , she landed provisions for destitute earthquake victims in Peru . She continued to watch over American commercial interests along the coast of South America until 17 April 1869 . Then she sailed to watch over American interests among the Marquesas , Society Islands , Navigators Islands , and Fiji Islands . She also called at ports in New South Wales and New Zealand before returning to Callao , Peru on 31 October . She resumed duties on the South Pacific Station until 21 July 1870 , then cruised to the Hawaiian Islands before being decommissioned in the Mare Island Navy Yard on 11 October 1870 . " Kearsarge " was recommissioned on 8 December 1873 and departed on 4 March 1874 for Yokohama , Japan , arriving there on 11 May . She cruised on Asiatic Station for three years , protecting American citizens and commerce in China , Japan , and the Philippines . From 4 September to 13 December , she carried Professor Asaph Hall ' s scientific party from Nagasaki , Japan , to Vladivostok , Russia , to observe the transit of Venus . She departed Nagasaki on 3 September 1877 , and via the Suez Canal , she visited Mediterranean ports before returning to Boston on 30 December . She was decommissioned at Portsmouth , New Hampshire on 15 January 1878 . " Kearsarge " was recommissioned on 15 May 1879 for four years of duty in the North Atlantic ranging from Newfoundland to the Caribbean Sea and the coast of Panama . She departed New York on 21 August 1883 to cruise for three years in the Mediterranean , then Northern European waters , and finally along the west coast of Africa . She returned to Portsmouth on 12 November and was decommissioned in the Portsmouth Navy Yard on 1 December 1886 . Wrecked . " Kearsarge " was recommissioned on 2 November 1888 and largely spent her remaining years protecting American interests in the West Indies , off Venezuela , and along the Central Americas . She departed Haiti on 20 January 1894 for Bluefields , Nicaragua , but she wrecked and on a reef off Roncador Cay on 2 February ; her officers and crew made it safely ashore . Congress appropriated $ 45 , 000 to tow " Kearsarge " home , but a salvage team of the Boston Towboat Company found that she could not be refloated . Some artifacts were saved from the ship , including the ship ' s Bible . The salvaged items , along with a damaged section of her stern post with an unexploded shell from CSS " Alabama " still embedded in it , are now stored or on display at the Washington Navy Yard . " Kearsarge " was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 1894 . Popular culture . Liverpool writer Jimmy McGovern has written a play , " King Cotton " , which culminates with the battle between " Kearsage " and " Alabama " . It premiered at The Lowry in September 2007 . Clive Cussler ( born July 15 , 1931 ) American adventure novelist and marine archaeologist , has written the fictional novel " Valhalla Rising " , in which " Kearsarge " is attacked by a submerged vessel and run aground , causing her wreck .