这CSS萨姆特was fitted out as a cruiser by the CS Navy at New Orleans, Louisiana. Commander Raphael Semmes, a former US naval officer who had served with distinction during the Mexican War, had resigned his commission and joined the Confederate navy. Immediately, he sought an active command. He met with Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Russell Mallory seeking the command of a cruiser that could harass Union shipping. Consequently, Mallory gave Semmes command of a ship in the making, CSS萨姆特。这萨姆特的cruise launched the career of one of the greatest commerce raider commanders in history.
早些年
拉斐尔·塞姆斯（Raphael Semmes）于1809年9月27日出生于马里兰州的查尔斯县。孤儿从小就被叔叔拉斐尔·塞姆斯（Raphael Semmes）抚养长大。年轻的拉斐尔（Raphael）是准将保罗·塞姆斯（Paul Semmes）和联盟队长亚历山大·奥尔德曼·塞姆斯（Alexander Alderman Semmes）的堂兄。由于另一个叔叔本尼迪克特·塞梅斯（Benedict Semmes）的影响，他在夏洛特霍尔军事学院就读，并在17岁时被任命为美国海军中部。他休假去学习法律，后来在1834年被接纳到马里兰州的酒吧。继续担任岸上职务，他能够扩大自己的法律实践。Semmes于1837年2月被晋升。同年，他与俄亥俄州的Anne Elizabeth Spencer结婚。幸福的联盟养育了六个孩子。[1]
ON THE ROAD TO MEXICO CITY
1845年，塞默斯中尉被任命为臭名昭著的brig uss的指挥官Somers。这Somers1842年12月1日，包括三名叛变者，包括战争部长约翰·斯宾塞（John Spencer）的儿子菲利普·斯宾塞（Philip Spencer）。尽管被标记为“被诅咒的船”，但梅梅斯在墨西哥战争爆发时在墨西哥湾旁边的布里格（Vera Cruz）船长。这Somerstook Commander Duncan N. Ingraham to Campeche to discuss the efforts of citizens of the Yucatan Peninsula to secede from Mexico.[2] Once this was confirmed, Semmes took Ingraham back to Vera Cruz and continued to blockade the Mexican Gulf coast.
On December 8, 1846, while chasing a blockade runner,Somersran into a sudden squall. Despite Semmes’s efforts to save his ship, it floundered. Semmes barely escaped drowning and 44 of his crew of 80 were rescued by British, French, and Spanish ships. In the aftermath, Semmes was praised by a court of inquiry for the manner in which he handled his ship in such difficult circumstances.[3]
Semmes被重新分配给44枪护卫舰Raritan，，，，commanded by Captain French Forrest. Forrest organized the landing of United States troops to begin the siege of Vera Cruz.
登陆地点Collado Beach有一个很小的锚固，因此决定运输工具将士兵带到岸上。一旦这些船只交付了这些人，其他船只就会带来补给。在Semmes中尉的协助下，福雷斯特（Forrest）指导了这个漫长而艰巨的过程。Semmes在通往墨西哥城的道路上继续前往温菲尔德·斯科特将军中尉。塞米斯（Semmes）详细介绍了向墨西哥当局发出释放POW通过的Midshipman R. Clay Rogers的要求。这个烦恼的斯科特将军不喜欢浪费伴游无用的信息。[4]然而，塞姆斯（Semmes）到达墨西哥城时继续与军队一起继续前进。
海军中尉在1847年9月13日袭击圣科斯梅·加里塔（San Cosme Garita）。由威廉·沃思（William Worth）准将领导的美军不得不越过一条由墨西哥大炮捍卫的长长堤道。当美国助理中尉和第六步兵的元素将山榴弹炮带入圣科斯梅教堂的塔时，僵局被打破了。Semmes中尉在堤道的另一侧也是如此。格兰特（Grant）和塞姆斯（Semmes）的综合行动使沃思（Worth）的命令能够突破墨西哥的防御能力。斯科特的军队随后占领了墨西哥城，战争基本上已经结束。[5]
ANTEBELLUM DAYS
墨西哥战争结束后，塞姆斯搬到了阿拉巴马州的莫比尔。在那里担任岸上职务时，他执业法律，并于1851年出版了一本关于他在墨西哥战争中的经历的书Service Afloat and Ashore During the Mexican War.Semmes was promoted commander in 1855, and the next year, he was named inspector for the Lighthouse Service in Washington, D.C. This newly formed agency was given the duty to oversee and regulate all operations related to navigational aids including lighted buoys, light ships, and lighthouses. Highly educated and intelligent individuals, like Semmes, were assigned to this service which maintained 12 different lighthouse districts. [6]
CIVIL WAR ERUPTS
When Alabama left the Union after Abraham Lincoln’s election as president of the United States, Raphael Semmes resigned his commission and headed to Montgomery, Alabama, then capital of the Confederacy, on February 18, 1861. Semmes reflected on his new career as “a new book, whose pages were yet all blank, has been opened.”[7] Several other officers from the old Navy had already resigned their commissions. Of these, only Victor Randolph, Lawrence Rousseau, Duncan Ingraham, and Semmes were in Montgomery to meet with the Confederate Congressional Committee on Naval Affairs to discuss what the Confederacy could do to defend its ports and the Mississippi River.
没有船只，委员会在他们面前遇到了艰巨的任务。Semmes met with the newly elected President Jefferson Davis on February 19, 1861. Davis sent Semmes on a mission to the North to obtain arms and ammunition.[8]几天后，海军同盟国与斯蒂芬·罗素·马洛里（Stephen Russell Mallory）成立了秘书。马洛里（Mallory）在北部（Semmes）在北部时与塞米斯（Semmes）联系，并要求他购买能够安装XIII-或IX英寸炮弹枪的一两个轮船。该任务被证明是徒劳的。
在他从这项失败的努力中返回后，塞梅斯指挥官被提名为灯塔委员会的负责人。这是Semmes迫切希望在海上命令的最后一个位置。因此，他去了马洛里（Mallory），并分享了他对北方商船发动海上战争的概念。Semmes知道，削弱联盟的最佳方法是攻击其商业财富。马洛里同意。[9]
秘书知道拉斐尔·塞姆斯（Raphael Semmes）是一位经验丰富的海员。Semmes表现出了有价值的领导能力，例如坚定不移，有能力和勇敢的这些品质，使Semmes成为开始同盟商务突袭运动的理想官员。对于Semmes来说，这是第一次飞行的独特机会，是海上的同盟旗。
同时，在新奥尔良，卢梭上尉确定了两艘船，哈巴纳和Marques de la Havana，这可以转变为军舰。阅读卢梭的报告后，塞姆斯立即告诉马洛里哈巴纳would be perfect for commerce raiding. Accordingly, Mallory authorized the ship’s purchase. Semmes was detailed to assume command of the newly minted CSS萨姆特并努力将商船变成战斗巡洋舰。[10]
这哈巴纳
这哈巴纳was originally built in 1859 at the Birely & Lynn Shipyard in Philadelphia for Captain James McConnell’s New Orleans & Havana Steam Navigation Co. The vessel was considered extremely fast and was employed in a mail carrying service. The engine system was fabricated by the Philadelphia firm of Neafie, Levy & Co. The engine produced 400 horsepower to turn a single screw propeller. The ship could cruise at 10 knots and the steamer’s only weakness appeared to be limited space to bunker coal. Consequently,哈巴纳被树皮绑住；长度为184英尺，横梁为30英尺，草稿为12英尺[11]
Line engraving. Courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command # NH 42201
TRANSFORMATION
When Semmes arrived in New Orleans he surveyed哈巴纳，现在有了新名称，CSS萨姆特。He found the vessel to be “a good steamship” and he thought, “Her lines were easy and graceful, and she had a sort of saucy air about her.” [12]
这effort to transform the steamer into an effective raider consumed all of Semmes’s energies. The work was completed by a shipyard in Algiers, across the Mississippi from New Orleans, as萨姆特迅速改变了外观。这些客舱都被拆除，为船只的炮兵腾出了空间。在船中，其他改进包括：加强甲板以处理枪支的重量并在其下面建造一个杂物甲板，煤炭掩体，粉末杂志，水箱和其他必要的修改。Semmes不得不做这一切，因为新奥尔良没有造船厂曾经建造过军舰。因此，同盟指挥官必须自己制作所有设计，并指示工人如何实施它们。[13]
这next major problem that Semmes had to resolve was萨姆特电池。Semmes努力拥有一家当地公司Phoenix Foundry，以制作24磅的榴弹炮。但是，该公司无法生产令人满意的产品。尽管马洛里（Mallory）建议塞米斯（Semmes）使用杰克逊堡（Fort Jackson）或圣菲利普堡（Fort St. Philip）的旧大炮，但聪明的塞姆斯（Semmes）得知了最近捕获了戈斯波特海军院子。他问海军部长炮兵可以在那里找到。他要求一个XIII-INCH DAHLGREN用作枢轴枪和四个32磅重的人。
Not only did Semmes have to track the shipment of these guns from Portsmouth, Virginia, to New Orleans, he also had great difficulty in securing adequate gunpowder and proper carriages for his cannon as well as obtaining small arms. Somehow,萨姆特队长能够实现所有这些事情。1861年6月3日，塞米斯（Semmes）有107名军官和机组人员，能够测试他的枪支和引擎以准备封锁。[14]
终于在海上
While Semmes prepared his vessels, more Union ships arrived to enforce the blockade of the Mississippi. Rather powerful ships were stationed where each pass entered the Gulf of Mexico. The most dangerous was the steam screw sloop of war USS布鲁克林。Commissioned in 1859,布鲁克林可以做出近12节。船上的枪手配备了一支X英寸的炮弹枪，该枪枪与20 ix英寸的达尔格伦斯（Dahlgrens）一起装备在枢轴中。这布鲁克林’S 30年的海军老将，指挥官查尔斯·亨利·迪尔（Charles Henry Poor）了解一切萨姆特的逃跑计划,决心摧毁the Confederate cruiser. With greater speed and firepower, the extremely aggressive Commander Poor realized that, if given the chance, his ship could blow萨姆特从水中出来。[15]出于命运的机会，大胆的塞米斯计划将他的巡洋舰带出pass a l'Enere，就在那里布鲁克林被驻扎了。
经过luck, on June 30, 1861, a fisherman came by萨姆特有消息称布鲁克林had gone on a chase of an unknown ship. This was just the news Semmes needed to orchestrate his escape. The萨姆特rushed out of the Pass a l’Outre; however, Poor noticed the Confederate cruiser and gave chase. The布鲁克林几乎进入了攻略范围。然而，Semmes的卓越帆船技巧启用了萨姆特终于到达公海。[16]
第一个同盟商务巡洋舰
塞米斯驶向古巴。而且，在那里，他于1861年7月3日获得了联盟商人的一等奖，Golden Rocket。这艘船在镇流器中，于是被捕获，船员被卸下，并被设置为急救。塞姆斯（Semmes）记得他的第一个捕获场景：“燃烧的船，萨姆特’s boat in the act of shoving off from her side, the萨姆特她自己，她的黑色侧面严峻，像一些很棒的海怪一样躺在安息中……和睡眠的大海……都被鲜亮地照亮了。火焰……可以听到像一百个炉子的大火一样咆哮着。”[17]
在接下来的三天中，在巡航加勒比海时，塞姆斯（Semmes）烧毁或绑有七艘船，包括：Cuba, Machias, Albert Ames, Ben Dunning, Lewis Kilham, Naiad,和West Wind.到1861年7月底，又捕获了另外两艘北部的船只。[18]到八月初，有关萨姆特’s depreciations against Northern commercial interests prompted business leaders to call for some action. Semmes and his crew were considered pirates and had to be stopped. The US Navy dispatched several ships to look for this “ghost ship.” The steam screw sloop of war USSIroquois似乎被困萨姆特在马提尼克岛的圣皮埃尔港口。然而，在法国当局的帮助下，塞米斯在1861年11月23日晚上设法逃脱。
巡游的尽头
尽管如此，时间已经用完了萨姆特。Several Union ships were searching the seas to capture or destroy, and the raider desperately needed fuel and machinery repair. Short on coal, Semmes put in at Cadiz, Spain. The Spanish government had been convinced by Union diplomats that萨姆特was a pirate ship; so, Spain refused to allow the cruiser to resupply. Semmes then sailed to Gibraltar capturing two ships en route.
Once there he was unable to procure coal or arrange for repairs. Three Union warships — USSKearsarge，USSChippewa和USS图斯卡罗拉- 出现在直布罗陀出现，阻止了任何逃生。因此，Semmes还清了机组人员，并撤销了萨姆特。Semmes and his officers returned to London with plans to return to the Confederacy. Once they reached Nassau, Semmes received orders to return to Great Britain where he would assume command of a new commerce raider. [19] “Old Beeswax,” as his crew liked to call him because of his unusual moustache, would soon resume his attacks on Union commerce in a much more powerful fashion.
这萨姆特事实证明，同盟国贸易突袭在对北方商业利益造成财务损失方面相当有效。此外，由于美国海军不得不派遣一些最好的船只来定位和摧毁像萨姆特。
在短短六个月,萨姆特had destroyed or bonded 18 Northern merchant ships. Mallory knew, as did Semmes, that this type of assault on Northern businesses had to continue.
NOTES
1 Stephen Fox,深狼：拉斐尔·塞姆斯（Raphael Semmes）和臭名昭著的同盟国袭击者阿拉巴马州，，，，New York: Vintage Books, 2007, p. 23.
2 K. Jack Bauer,这墨西哥战争: 1846-1848，纽约：Macmillan Publishing Co.，Inc.，1974，109-110。
3 Raphael Semmes,在墨西哥战争中维修和上岸，，，，Cincinnati: Moore & Anderson, 1851, 94-95.
4同上，159-161。
5鲍尔，314-316。
6 Sarah Kay Bierle，“灯塔委员会：1852-1910”，《公报》 665在线。Gazette665.com/2017/07/26/the-lighthouse-board-board-1852-1910/，于2020年10月5日访问。
7 Raphael Semmes,Memoirs of Service Afloat，纽约：J。P。Kennedy and Sons，1869年，第81页。
8叛乱战争的正式记录。ser。4，卷。1，第106页。
9 Semmes,Memoirs of Service Afloat，p。92。
10 Ibid.
11保罗·H·西尔弗斯通，内战海军，1855- 1883年，马里兰州安纳波利斯：海军学院出版社，2001年，第1页。162。
12 Semmes,回忆录，p。96.
13 Raimondo Luraghi，《同盟海军的历史》，马里兰州安纳波利斯：海军学院出版社，1996年，第79-80页。
14个Semmes，Memoirs，，，，99-109.
15 Silverstone, p. 21.
16个Semmes，Memoirs，112-114;和Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion，华盛顿特区：政府印刷厂，1894年。Ser.1，第1卷。我，第34页。
17 Semmes，回忆录，p。121。
18 Silverstone，p。162。
19 Semmes,回忆录，p。329。
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bauer, K. Jack,这墨西哥战争，，，，1846-1848.纽约：Macmillan Publishing Co.，Inc。1974。
Bierle, Sarah Kay. “The Lighthouse Board: 1852-1910.” Gazette 665 online. gazette665.com/2017/07/26/the-lighthouse-board-1852-1910/. Accessed October 5, 2020.
福克斯,斯蒂芬。深狼：拉斐尔·塞姆斯（Raphael Semmes）和臭名昭著的阿拉巴马州。纽约：复古书籍，2007年。
Luraghi，Raimondo。同盟海军的历史。马里兰州安纳波利斯：海军学院出版社。1996。
叛乱战争的正式记录，第4卷，第1卷。华盛顿特区：政府印刷办公室。1904年。
联盟和同盟海军的官方记录，Series 1, Volume 1. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1894.
Semmes, Raphael.在墨西哥战争中维修和上岸。辛辛那提：摩尔和安德森。1851年。
_____.Memoirs of Service Afloat。New York: J. P. Kennedy & Sons.1869.
Silverstone, Paul H.内战海军，1855- 1883年。马里兰州安纳波利斯：海军学院出版社。2001。
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