Military Quote of the Day: “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” – US Navy Admiral David Glasgow Farragut. Have you ever wondered where the expression “damn the torpedoes” came from?
According to a U.S. Naval Institute account, the expression, which it calls “probably the most famous quote in U.S. naval history,” dates back to the Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War, although whether it was said and what followed are much disputed.
That battle took place in August of 1864. Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, who fought for the Union despite being from Tennessee, commanded the West Gulf Blockading Squadron as the Union sought to capture Mobile.
In 1864, Farragut, teaming up with the Army, “made plans to attack the forts at the mouth of Mobile Bay and pass into the bay.” His complex battle plan included sending eight screw sloops and six gunboats into the bay in pairs, with four monitors arriving in a separate column, to try to get through Fort Morgan.
“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,” the USNI account said.
The Showdown
It all went down on August 5, 1864, with Farragut aboard his flagship, the Hartford.
The sides fired at each other, and once battle smoke obscured his view, Farragut decided to climb up. “To get a better view of the action, he gradually climbed the rigging until he reached the futtock shrouds just under the main top,” the USNI account said.
With Farragut high up and attached by a line his crew handed him, the Hartford began to absorb hits, and it soon became clear that Farragut’s battle plan hadn’t gone as planned.
Before long, the leading monitor vessel, the Tecumseh, was sunk, taking down its crew of more than 100.
This left the Hartford and two other ships bunched together, making it hard to maneuver. But Farragut turned things around and ultimately won the battle.
A Disputed Quote
According to USNI, what was said at the crucial moment is disputed, although every version boils down to “go, full speed ahead, regardless of the torpedoes.” “Torpedoes” were not torpedoes as we understand them today, but rather naval mines.
A newspaper account appeared a few weeks later, stating that Farragut declared, “Give her one bell, give her two bells, give her eight bells,” referring to the ship’s system of signaling how fast it should go.
The “Damn the Torpedos” quote first appeared in Commodore Foxhall A. Parker’s book Battle of Mobile Bay, published in 1878, 14 years after the battle.
It stated that Farragut had said, “Damn the torpedoes! Jouett, full speed! Four bells, Captain Drayton!” In a biography published in 1879 by Farragut’s son, the quote was put as “Damn the torpedoes! Four bells! Captain Drayton, go ahead! Jouett, full speed!”
Others, however, question whether anyone could have heard such clear statements over the battle’s gunfire, at least loud enough for the message to carry from one ship to another.
Another version came from Bartholomew Diggins, captain of the watch and a gunner on the Hartford’s deck. “Go ahead, damn the torpedoes, go ahead,” Diggins’ account said, although it differed from the others in that Farragut was talking to his own men, as opposed to the other ship.
Another account, in the 1880s, stated that Captain Thornton Jenkins of the Richmond had written years later that Captain Craven of the Tecumseh had said to him, “Damn the Torpedoes,” when they met before the battle. This indicates, according to the USNI account, that it was a common phrase among naval officers at the time.
“We will never know if Farragut ever uttered any of the numerous phrases that his contemporaries attribute to him,” the USNI account says.
“The fact that a slogan was in print only two weeks after the battle, and that many of the witnesses related a similar version, makes a strong case for the underlying viability of one of the great bits of U.S. Navy folklore.”
Farragut’s Legacy
Farragut died in 1870. But those words, whatever they were, would outlive him.
“Damn the torpedoes. Go ahead” appeared on a recruiting poster in World War I, along with Farragut’s likeness, and the phrase has entered the lexicon in the military and beyond.
Many things are named for him, including a square and two Metro stations in Washington, a street in Manhattan, and a neighborhood in Brooklyn.
In 2023, the Navy renamed the Naval Academy’s Superintendent’s quarters after Farragut, after it had previously been named for Cmdr. Franklin Buchanan, whom Farragut defeated in the famed Battle of Mobile Bay.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
