Kearsarge v Alabama

[Rhea Cole]

Some time ago, I was looking for something else and came across this:

Civil War Echoes: Graf Spee 1939 - Emerging Civil War

75 years ago today, the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee fought a British squadron off the River Plate on South America’s coast. After an hour of battle, the Graf Spee’s captain, Hans Langsdorff, ran into neutral Montevideo harbor for repairs. The Civil War connection to this battle...

emergingcivilwar.com

The paragraph I am particularly interested in is as below:



I'm curious about where Chris Kolakowski found the information that Semmes' memoirs were required reading for officers of the Imperial German Navy and that they made such an impression on Captain Langsdorff. I'm not disputing it; I'm looking for the source(s) that state that because I think it/they would have even more information that I'd find interesting.

Liberty Lady, Why don't you ask Chris? I have known him for years & am quite sure that he would be happy to discuss your questions with you. He contributes to the Emerging Civil War daily post. It is free & highly recommended.

You can reach him here.

Link

Chris Kolakowski – Wisconsin Veterans Museum

wisvetsmuseum.com

 

[Old Soldier]

Some time ago, I was looking for something else and came across this:

Civil War Echoes: Graf Spee 1939 - Emerging Civil War

75 years ago today, the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee fought a British squadron off the River Plate on South America’s coast. After an hour of battle, the Graf Spee’s captain, Hans Langsdorff, ran into neutral Montevideo harbor for repairs. The Civil War connection to this battle...

emergingcivilwar.com

The paragraph I am particularly interested in is as below:



I'm curious about where Chris Kolakowski found the information that Semmes' memoirs were required reading for officers of the Imperial German Navy and that they made such an impression on Captain Langsdorff. I'm not disputing it; I'm looking for the source(s) that state that because I think it/they would have even more information that I'd find interesting.

In the days of long ago Germany was not a maritime nation. There were some ports on the Baltic coast and, eventually they had a North Sea coast too and the Kiel Kanal. Most of the new Germany's constituent states and Duchies were land-bound. There was no sea-going tradition. Most of their marine warfare was coastal and their coast was defended more by shore batteries than a navy. Kaiser Bill was a close relative of the British Royal Family and was very interested in - and jealous of - the Royal Navy, a major force in those days - and the Guarantor of British freedom. He studied closely and began to build his own fleet of modern warships. The only trouble is, he did not have the officers with the experience of sea warfare. With this in mind, he got them to read about it so they would have some idea of what to do, especially against a stronger foe. In WW1, the fleet failed miserably in two head-to-head (bow-to-bow?) confrontations with the British Home Fleet in the North Sea, such that they basically stayed in the Baltic. Their use in war, it seemed, was over. Warships would probably better to be raiders, something never tried by the German Navy. So, where do you get the knowledge? Why, from the other 'raiders', the Americans in the 1770s and the Confederates in the 1860s. They had upset the Royal Navy AND the US Navy.

German naval raiders in WWI were surface warships and disguised merchantmen used by the Imperial German Navy to cripple Allied trade. Operating globally, vessels like the SMS Emden, the converted auxiliary cruiser SMS Wolf, and the sailing ship SMS Seeadler successfully sank or captured scores of Allied merchant ships, diverting immense enemy resources. At the end of WW1, with the Treaty of Versailles, they had a tonnage limitation, both for individual ships and for the fleet. This led to their heavily armed fast 'crusiers' being called 'pocket battleships'. There were going to be 'raiders' too

Civil War Echoes: Erich Raeder's Navy - Emerging Civil War

Raphael Semmes published his Memoirs of Service Afloat During The War Between The States in 1869, providing a far-ranging discussion of the Confederate naval war and his role in it as a commerce raider, squadron commander, and field commander. This book so impressed Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II...

emergingcivilwar.com

Admiral Raphael Semmes' 1869 memoir, Memoirs of Service Afloat, was required reading for officers in the Imperial German Navy under Kaiser Wilhelm II. German naval strategists studied the book for its pioneering insights into commerce raiding (guerre de course) and the strategic use of cruisers to disrupt a larger enemy's maritime trade.

 

[gary]

Easy. The hammocks were folded away since no one was using them, they were all at action stations. They also provided some protection from spalls.

or wood splinters in the case of oak vessels. Shiver me timber meant something back then.

 

[Library Lady]

Thank you for posting the Emerging Civil War page on Grand Admiral Raeder, @Old Soldier . That leads me to believe that the additional source of information I'm looking for is a biography of Raeder. The Friends of my village library had one for sale a couple months ago which, unfortunately, I didn't buy, and it was gone last month when they had a special flash sale during the ice cream social to kick off summer reading. There's another regular sale Saturday, so I'll have to look very carefully to make sure I didn't miss it. On the other hand, maybe whoever bought it will donate it back when they're done with it. There is one biography available as an E-book on Hoopla, but that's not ideal for me unless I don't have a choice.

 

[Old Soldier]

or wood splinters in the case of oak vessels. Shiver me timber meant something back then.

It was more to do with storm damage actually.

 

[gary]

It could be either storm or pesky cannon balls.

BTW, you've heard of that 18th Century (or older) sailor saying:

A messmate before a shipmate,
A shipmate before a stranger,
A stranger before a dog,
A dog before a soldier.

I don't think the RN of today holds soldiers in contempt like they did in the days of tall ships.

 

[Old Soldier]

It could be either storm or pesky cannon balls.

BTW, you've heard of that 18th Century (or older) sailor saying:

A messmate before a shipmate,
A shipmate before a stranger,
A stranger before a dog,
A dog before a soldier.

The army has a simple reply to that. Two fingers.

BTW - I am also an old merchant seaman too!