Which ships were the most successful surface raiders?

What were the most successful surface raiders, and does CSS Alabama count?

Age-of-Sail frigates are strong candidates. Modern commerce raiders and sea-controlling cruisers performed comparable merchant-interdiction work, but the response does not assess CSS Alabama separately.

Age-of-Sail frigates may be the strongest candidates for the most successful surface raiders. In modern war, auxiliary cruisers and similar vessels fit the familiar raider label. Royal Navy cruisers also captured German, Italian, and Japanese merchant ships while operating from a position of sea control. Their work served the same merchant-interdiction function even though historians seldom describe those cruisers as raiders. The label therefore depends partly on a navy's strategic position and not solely on what an individual ship does. The response does not assess CSS Alabama separately.