'Damn the Torpedoes'

On August 5, 1864, at the Battle of Mobile Bay, the Union Army led by Rear Admiral Farragut with the cry of "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" won the day. An excerpt from the article:

"Probably the most famous quote in U.S. naval history is that attributed to Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut during the Battle of Mobile Bay. There has certainly never been a greater U.S. naval hero. This is evident given the tributes bestowed on him during his lifetime and after his death. Over the years, many different Farragut-themed products appeared, including trading cards, clothing items, stamps, and even U.S. currency. The chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy reverently has a stained-glass window depicting him during the iconic Civil War battle.

Farragut commanded the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, responsible for the coast of the Gulf of Mexico from St. Andrews Bay, Florida, to the Rio Grande River. In 1862, when the city of New Orleans fell to Union forces, the port of Mobile, Alabama, became the most important city to the Confederacy on the Gulf coast. While its capture was a naval priority, it was not one for the U.S. Army until mid-1864. Union troops’ advance on Atlanta spurred interest in the capture of Mobile and its use as a base of operations for a drive northward.1

In conjunction with the Army, Farragut made plans to attack the forts at the mouth of Mobile Bay and pass into the bay He conceived an optimistic battle plan involving eight heavily armed screw sloops and six gunboats that would steam into the bay lashed in pairs. The real punch of the attack would come from four monitors. They were to pass into the bay in a separate column and contend with the Confederate ironclad Tennessee and with Fort Morgan at the bay’s mouth. Coordinating a double line of vessels—one column of which was composed of ships lashed in pairs—through a narrow channel under fire and in a swift current involved many uncontrollable variables.

Tunis A. M. Craven of the danger of the torpedo field that stretched from the western side of the bay to the edge of the main channel. The Tecumseh’s skipper, anxious to engage the Tennessee, told the pilot to swing the vessel across the channel and head directly for the Confederate ironclad.2

The Tecumseh’s turn across the channel to engage the Tennessee cut directly ahead of the column of wooden ships, forcing it westward. As the Tecumseh and the other ironclads passed in front of the Brooklyn, Captain James Alden had to slow his vessel, along with the gunboat Octorara. This directly affected all the warships in the line behind. Alden had the Army signalman on board relay back to the Hartford, “The monitors are right ahead; we cannot go in without passing them.”3

Army Lieutenant John Coddington Kinney, the signalman on board the Hartford, began to decipher the signals from the Brooklyn. That ship and her mate now stopped, cut off by the Tecumseh, which was still steaming toward the Tennessee to engage her at close quarters. At 0725, from the deck of the Hartford, Kinney read the “monitors are right ahead” message. It was relayed to Farragut by an aide, and the response sent back was, “Tell the monitors to go ahead and then take your station.”4"