When President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of the entire southern coastline, the US Navy only had 93 warships, and almost half of these were outdated or unusable. So, the US Navy went on a buying spree purchasing every steamer that could mount cannons. One of these vessels was theSt. Marywhich was soon commissioned as USSHatteras. In turn, the Confederacy did not have a navy and sought to obtain ships overseas to attack Northern merchant ships. The most successful of these commerce raiders was CSSAlabama.These two warships would have a fatal encounter on January 11, 1863, off Galveston, Texas, resulting in the sinking of USSHatteras.

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