Get The BookBrowse Anthology, our 880 page collection of our past decade of Best of Year reviews, now available in hardcover!

Why do we say "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"?

Well-Known Expressions

Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!

Meaning:

We're not going to look at the risks, we're just going to do it!

Background:

This saying is attributed to David Glasgow Farragut (1801-1870) - a U.S. naval officer, who received great acclaim for his service to the Union during the American Civil War. In 1864, at the Battle of Mobile Bay, he refused to consider retreat, shouting the now famous phrase--albeit a rather longer version of it.

During the Civil War, Union ships imposed a blockade on Confederate ports. One of the few ports to defy the blockade was Mobile in Alabama. In August 1864, Farragut was tasked with closing the port, thus completing the blockade of Southern ports. Mobile was heavily protected, both by on shore batteries and by tethered naval mines, known as torpedoes.

Farragut ordered his fleet to charge the bay but when one of the lead boats struck a mine and sank, the others pulled back. From his perch high up on the main mast of his flagship, the USS Hartford, Farragut shouted down (using a trumpet), "What's the trouble?" In response, he was told of the torpedoes. To which he apparently replied, "Damn the torpedoes. Four bells, Captain Drayton, go ahead. Jouett, full speed."

The bulk of Farragut's fleet (consisting of four monitors and fourteen wooden steamships) successfully entered the bay and, despite shelling from the guns at Fort Morgan, defeated Admiral Franklin Buchanan's squadron of three gunboats and the large ironclad CSS Tennessee--blowing a hole in latter, causing Buchanan to run up the white flag in surrender.

On December 21, 1864, Lincoln promoted Farragut to vice admiral. He was made full admiral in 1866.

More expressions and their source

Challenge yourself with BookBrowse Wordplays

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    Real Americans
    by Rachel Khong
    From the author of Goodbye, Vitamin, a novel exploring family, identity, and the shaping of destiny.
  • Book Jacket
    The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris
    by Evie Woods
    From the million-copy bestselling author of The Lost Bookshop.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    The Fairbanks Four
    by Brian Patrick O’Donoghue

    One murder, four guilty convictions, and a community determined to find justice.

  • Book Jacket

    Happy Land
    by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

    From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel about a family's secret ties to a vanished American Kingdom.

  • Book Jacket

    The Seven O'Clock Club
    by Amelia Ireland

    Four strangers join an experimental treatment to heal broken hearts in Amelia Ireland's heartfelt debut novel.

  • Book Jacket

    One Death at a Time
    by Abbi Waxman

    A cranky ex-actress and her Gen Z sobriety sponsor team up to solve a murder that could send her back to prison in this dazzling mystery.

Who Said...

We have to abandon the idea that schooling is something restricted to youth...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

J of A T, M of N

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.