August 5, 1864---"Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

AUGUST 5, 1864:  

The Battle of Mobile Bay: 

With Fort Gaines under assault from the landward side, Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut leads a Union fleet against Mobile Bay, the largest remaining Confederate port on the Gulf of Mexico, and the major blockade-running port on the Gulf Coast. Holding on to Mobile is crucial for holding on to the Confederacy’s Southern tier. 

The harbor is protected by the outlying and under-attack Fort Gaines, Fort Morgan with 46 guns, and tiny Fort Powell. Unfortunately, all of the forts have fixed guns that cannot be turned landward and the forts are not positioned to be mutually supportive. Thus, investing Fort Gaines from the land is in effect, kicking in the front door to Mobile. The main remaining defenses of the harbor consist of mines (called “torpedoes”) anchored in the mouth of the bay. Along with the torpedoes, the Confederacy has three small sidewheelers, the C.S.S. SELMA, the C.S.S. GAINES, and the C.S.S. MORGAN, none of which can withstand a concentrated fleet action. 

Fort Gaines

 

Fort Morgan

The only real weapon the Confederacy can bring to bear on the attacking Union fleet is the new ironclad C.S.S. TENNESSEE. The TENNESSEE is 209 feet L.O.A. with a beam of 48 feet. Her plate is six inches thick. She carries 2 7-inch Brooke rifles and 4 6-inch Brooke rifles, and a wicked ram. She represents the main Confederate force against the Union’s 14 sidewheel steamers and 4 ironclad monitors. All the Union vessels have been upgraded, two are “heavy” monitors with extra ironcladding and additional and larger guns, and one wooden ship, U.S.S. BROOKLYN, is outfitted as an experimental minesweeper. 

C.S.S. TENNESSEE

Unfortunately, even with four boilers, TENNESSEE is slow-moving, making not more than 5 knots at best. This disparity in maneuverability allows the monitors to buzz around the TENNESSEE like gnats around an elephant, landing shots all over her. Fortunately, the TENNESSEE is impervious to the blows, and trades fire with the Union ships for three hours until a lucky shot from one of the monitors disables her steering gear. The Union fleet swarms in and batters TENNESSEE with shot at closer range. Eventually, the disparity in numbers tells. TENNESSEE is blasted into submission, and runs out of powder and shot long before the Union fleet does. Farragut demands that the drifting ship strike its colors. The badly damaged ship surrenders, eventually to become the U.S.S. TENNESSEE. 

"Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

Having removed the main seaward barrier to entering Mobile Bay, the Union fleet passes Fort Gaines. Against orders, the U.S.S. TECUMSEH tries to rush the minefield, and gets blown up, losing all but 21 of her crew of 114, including her Captain. This briefly causes the fleet to reduce headway. 

Farragut, who has lashed himself to the mast of his flagship, the U.S.S. HARTFORD the better to maintain a complete view of the battle, contacts Captain James Alden of the minesweeper BROOKLYN by speaking tube: “What is the delay?” Farragut asks. “There are torpedoes in our path,” Alden replies, to which Farragut famously bellows back, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” 

U.S.S. BROOKLYN

The typical Civil War “torpedo” was a pitch-sealed gunpowder barrel or else a conical wooden or metallic container loaded with explosives and anchored to the bottom by a heavy plate anchor. The rode was usually rope, though sometimes chain. The Civil war torpedo was a simple contact mine. 

Luckily for the Union fleet, the BROOKLYN’s improvised “cowcatcher” works, and the ship clears a path for the others. Once inside the bay proper, the Union ships open fire on the forts. Dispirited at the loss of the mighty TENNESSEE, the men at Fort Powell run up the white flag almost immediately. Fort Gaines, already in a precarious state, cannot hold out against the combined land and sea assault of the Union and surrenders several hours later. 

A columbiad gun salvaged from Fort Powell

After the surrender of Fort Gaines, the Union troops involved there are moved to Fort Morgan, and a naval bombardment begins. Although the fort is completely isolated and unable to deter the Union occupation of Mobile Bay, the Confederates inside the fort hold out until August 22nd. 

The Union loses the U.S.S. TECUMSEH and 114 of its crew, along with 40 other men killed and some 200 wounded; roughly 320 men are casualties out of a Union force of 5,500. The Confederacy loses three of its four ships (including C.S.S. TENNESSEE, which becomes a Union vessel), two forts, 1,600 captured, and about 50 men killed or wounded. 

Despite the seizure of the waterway, the city of Mobile itself remains in Confederate hands. However, in order to hold the city, a large number of garrison troops are effectively immobilized who might otherwise have been sent to assist Lee or Hood; thus, the Battle of Mobile Bay has far-reaching implications for the Confederate cause. 

The Battle of Mobile Bay receives intense news coverage in the North and Farragut is lionized for his daring. Union morale, which has been arguably the worst of the entire war, rises dramatically. In the crude polls of the day, President Lincoln’s re-election chances go from nil to fair. Conversely, the South’s morale is devastated by the loss of the harbor, the forts, its newest ironclad, and the fact that Lincoln may yet win re-election. 

An anchor of the U.S.S. HARTFORD on display at Fort Gaines