Klik op een omslag om naar Google Boeken te gaan.
Bezig met laden... Two Years on the Alabama (1895)door Arthur Sinclair
Geen Bezig met laden...
Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek.
You will be addicted with this superb story! You can publish it on NovelStar, just submit your story to hardy@novelstar.top or joye@novelstar.top Onderdeel van de uitgeversreeks(en)
Confederate proclamation of nationhood was backed by an energetic and reasonably well equipped land defense. Not so for its coastal and sea defenses; much of its hope of tipping the balance in its contention with the Union rested on international support, trade, and naval defense. In search of a naval arm to counter Northern superiority on the seas, the South turned to foreign sources for a seaborne arm. Confederate agents in England cagily used scarce gold, promises of cotton, and British sympathy to obtain the devastating naval weapons of speedy and deadly raiders. Foremost among these was the Alabama, a screw steamer with full sail power, launched in May 1862. In only twenty-two months of action, this ship engaged nearly 300 vessels and destroyed 55 Northern merchant ships worth millions of dollars. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
Actuele discussiesGeenPopulaire omslagen
Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)973.7History and Geography North America United States Administration of Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1865 Civil WarLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
Ben jij dit?Word een LibraryThing Auteur. |
Put into service by the nascent Confederate States of America, they set themselves upon the seeking out, capture and (usually by burning) destruction of enemy (US of A) merchant shipping.
It's not really a sea-going story so much as a memoir with some after-the-fact political whitewashing for effect. These sailors never did wrong, never complained, never sailed slow, never missed a shot, never missed stays, never turned down battle and never molested the women. Always gallant, always smiling, polite and cheerful, their enemies were unarmed and under-armed merchant and packets that the Alabama would chase, detain, search, pillage and almost always burn. A sophisticated, mustache-twirling wolf among sheep, indeed.
One cannot argue with the evidence that commercial shipping to and from the northern states was severely disrupted during this time, even if you discount their own crowing somewhat. If that was their goal, they were successful. In seeking out like-sized man-o'-war for combat, they were not.
Their only action ended in disgrace and took place near the end of the war. Whether the captain truly thought the Alabama would prevail, thought they would be blockaded until grounding on their own beef bones or if he knew the war was over and this was akin to Pickett's Charge, the Alabama ended up
This view of the world's navy doesn't much match with O'Brian's of several decades earlier, but don't read it for that reason. Read it because it's a first-person account of a bit of history that most people never knew about: that the Confederate States were the terror of the high seas for a few years in the sixties. ( )