This Confederate cruiser had been built in 1862 at Birkenhead near Liverpool. The Alabama, rigged as a three-masted vessel, was equipped with two three-hundred horsepower engines. It was designed to carry twelve guns on the main deck.

It was captained by Raphaël Semmes, considered the most skilled ship-handler of his day.

Twenty-six crewmembers died during the battle. Three graves in the Cherbourg cemetery are a reminder of the episode. Part of the crew was saved and brought to dry land by Cherbourg boats. Raphaël Semmes was saved and sought refuge in England. The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865.

The wreck was discovered in October 1984 by a team of mine-clearing divers from the Cherbourg naval port. A search programme has been launched.

In the summer of 1994, one of the guns from the wreck, part of the tiller bearing the motto "God helps those who help themselves" and other items were brought up to the surface.

But the story doesn't end there. Once the Civil War was over, the USA sued Great Britain for reparations for the damage caused by the Alabama and other raiders built in England.

This led to history's first-ever international arbitrage in 1872. The decision returned in Geneva, known as the "Alabama arbitrage", is one of the remarkable rulings of international law.