The Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864, was a naval and land engagement of the American Civil War in which a Union fleet commanded by Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, assisted by a contingent of soldiers, attacked a smaller Confederate fleet led by Admiral Franklin Buchanan and three forts that guarded the entrance to Mobile Bay: Morgan, Gaines and Powell. Farragut's perhaps apocryphal order of "Damn the torpedoes! Four bells. Captain Drayton, go ahead! Jouett, full speed!" became famous in paraphrase, as "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"
Battle of Mobile Bay, by Louis Prang. At left foreground is the CSS Tennessee; at the right the USS Tecumseh is sinking.
Admiral Franklin Buchanan, CSN
Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, USN
Major General Gordon Granger, USV, Farragut's land forces commander
David Glasgow Farragut was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. He is remembered for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased as "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" in U.S. Navy tradition.
Farragut as a rear admiral, c. 1862–1864
Farragut as he appears in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, c. 1863
Farragut on board Hartford