The Kearsarge was built in Maine in the early part of the war, and cost about $275,000. The two vessels were very evenly matched in size and armament. The following table shows the measurements:
| Kearsarge. | Alabama. | ||
| Length of keel | 198½ | 210 | |
| Length over all | 232 | 220 | |
| Beam | 33 | 32 | |
| Depth | 16½ | 17 | |
| Engines (two in each) horse power | 400 | 300 | |
| Tonnage | 1031 | 1040 |
The Alabama carried eight guns: the hundred-pounder rifled Blakely pivoted forward; the eight-inch gun pivoted abaft the mainmast, and six 32-pounders in broadside. The Kearsarge carried seven guns: two eleven-inch smooth bore pivoted guns; one 28-pounder rifle, and four 32-pounders. The officers and men on the Kearsarge numbered one hundred and sixty-three; those on the Alabama about one hundred and fifty.
On Monday the Kearsarge ran into Dover for dispatches, and on Tuesday appeared off Cherbourg. Permission was obtained for boats to visit the shore, but the ship did not anchor in the harbor. The officers of the Kearsarge were very skeptical as to the desire of Captain Semmes for a battle, and a strict watch was kept at both entrances of the harbor, lest he should give them the slip, as he had the San Jacinto. The possibility of a night attack was also discussed, and preparations made for repelling it in case it should be suddenly thrust upon them.
More than a year previous while at the Azores the spare chain cable had been hung up and down upon the sides of the vessel as an additional protection to the engines when the coal bunkers were not full, and the whole enclosed by a covering of inch deal boards. This was done upon the suggestion of the executive officer, James S. Thornton, who had seen this device used by Admiral Farragut when running past the forts on the Mississippi to reach New Orleans. Captain Semmes says he knew nothing about this chain armor. If he did know about it, he evidently underrated its effectiveness.
The ports of the Kearsarge were let down, guns pivoted to starboard, and the entire battery loaded and made ready for instant service. Thursday, Friday and Saturday passed, but the Alabama failed to show herself outside the breakwater. Communication with the shore had been forbidden, and the only intelligence of events in the harbor other than what could be made out with the glass, came through the French pilots, who reported that the Alabama was taking in a large supply of coal, sending chronometers, specie and other valuables on shore, and that swords, boarding pikes and cutlasses were being sharpened.
A message from Minister Dayton was brought off by his son, who with difficulty obtained permission from the French admiral of the district to visit the Kearsarge. He told Captain Winslow that it was his opinion that Captain Semmes would not fight, but admitted that the general opinion in Cherbourg was contrary to his own. On returning to the shore, Mr. Dayton was informed by the admiral that Captain Semmes would go out to the attack the next morning, and he spent a considerable part of the night endeavoring to communicate this intelligence to Captain Winslow, but the vigilance of the Cherbourg police prevented him from accomplishing his object. He stayed in Cherbourg the next day, witnessed the battle from a convenient height, and telegraphed the result to his father in Paris.
Meanwhile the coaling of the Alabama was completed. Some of the officers were given a banquet by admiring friends in the town on Saturday night, and the party broke up with a promise to meet again in a similar way to celebrate the victory which none seemed to doubt would soon be theirs.
Sunday morning came. The weather was fine, the air slightly hazy and a light westerly breeze rippled the harbor. Sunday was esteemed the Alabama’s lucky day. On Sunday Captain Semmes had assumed the command of her and the Confederate ensign first appeared at her mast head. On Sunday many of her most important captures had been made. On Sunday she halted the mighty Ariel, and on Sunday she sunk the Hatteras. It was inevitable that there should grow up between decks a belief that any important enterprise begun on Sunday had the best chance of success. As a factor in the coming contest, a feeling in the minds of the men who were to do the fighting that a lucky day had been pitched upon for the battle, was not to be despised. And so on Sunday, June 19th, 1864, the Alabama sallied forth to meet the Kearsarge. The French iron clad frigate Couronne accompanied her to the three-mile limit in order to make sure that no fighting should take place in French waters. A private English steam yacht, the Deerhound, followed in the wake of the Couronne and took a position affording a good view of the battle, and several French pilot boats did likewise. The taller buildings, the rigging of vessels, the fortifications, and the heights above the town, were lined with people, many of whom had come from the interior and even from Paris to view the extraordinary spectacle. It is said that more than fifteen thousand people had gathered for this purpose. The great majority sympathised with the Alabama, but there was quite a contingent of Union adherents, among whom were the captains of the Tycoon and the Rockingham, with their families and crews, eager that vengeance at last might fall upon the destroyer.