Damn The Torpedoes-Full Speed Ahead...The Battle Of Mobile Bay and
Admiral Farragut's Oft-Misquoted Catch Phrase
Everyone's heard someone use the phrase when they talked about pressing on with plans or a project despite the obstacles standing in their way...some of us have probably even used it ourselves for just that reason...and not a single one of us got Admiral David Farragut's famous Heat-Of-Battle-utterred quote right. Not. A. One.
What did he really say? Ya didn’t think this was going to be that easy...or short...did ya? You really didn't think I'd let the Civil War's largest and bloodiest naval battle...which is where this famous and oft-misquoted comment was uttered... off with just a passing mention did ya? Especially with all the other little factoids and trivia-bits about the battle and it's participants...both the ships and the crews. Thought not.
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| Admiral David Farragut |
By the summer of 1864, The South only had one major deep water port left...that port being Mobile, Alabama, on aptly named Mobile Bay on the Gulf Coast of Alabama. Ocean going ships had to sail around Florida into the Gulf of Mexico to access the bay, then thread their way between a barrier island and a long narrow peninsula to enter the bay, making it far less convenient and expedient than, say, Hampton Roads or Charleston, S.C. But at least they had that port.
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| Mobile Bay. The deepwater channel passed between Fort Morgan Point, on the westernmost tip of the Fort Morgan Peninsula, and Dauphin Island, which had Fort Gaines guarding it's eastern tip. Obstructions and torpedoes (Mines) forced incoming and outgoing traffic to pass within about 900 yards of Fort Morgan. The City and port of Mobile was on the far end of the bay, about 23 miles inland. Map found on southalabama.edu |
Not for long, though, if the U.S. had anything to say about it. And they planned to have a lot to say about it. The CSA's ability to trade with foreign countries and have supplies shipped in via sea was helping them keep their end of the war going. Conversely, if the U.S. could completely deny them use of that port, it would also deny them the ability to engage in foreign trade. This would cut off much of the income that was financing the war and derail a big hunk of their supply train.
The U.S. had one major obstacle standing dead in their way though...both literally and figuratively. Sitting on the tip-end of the aforementioned peninsula was (And is) Fort Morgan, a massive star shaped masonry fort that is considered to this day to be one of the finest examples of military architecture ever thrown together. The fort was completed and manned in 1834, was captured by Confederate forces about a week before Alabama seceded from The Union, and was with-in cannon-shootin' distance of the deep-water ship channel that threaded it's way between what was by then know as Fort Morgan point and Dauphin Island. During the Civil War, Fort Morgan had 46 heavy guns, 18 of them positioned so they could be trained on the channel and it's approaches.
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| Fort Morgan as it appears today. 150 yeas ago it was bristling with 48 big guns, 18 of em positioned so they could cover the channel. You're actually looking South...towards the Gulf of Mexico...in this pic. The fort was actually an active service military installation during both WWI and WWII...with much more modern weaponry of course. It's function was the same as well...defending the entrance to Mobile Bay. Found on Smugmug. |
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| A gun crew preparing to fire one of Fort Morgan's big guns during a reenactment. This is the type of weapon that Admiral Farragut's ships were up against. The USS Chickasaw, USS Winnebago, and USS Manhattan traded shots with eighteen of them for an hour and a half as the wooden hulled warships entered the bay. |
Fort Morgan was backed up by naval support from the ironclad casemate ram Tennessee and a trio of partially armored gunboats, the CSS Morgan, CSS Gaines, and CSS Selma. Tennessee was a newer and improved Doppelganger of the long-departed CSS Virginia...she was 209 feet long with a beam of 48 feet and she displaced just shy of 2300 tons. She drew ten feet less water than Virginia ...a draft of 14 feet versus 24 feet...but she was just as slow and nearly as cumbersome. She did mount a pair of 7 inch Brooke Rifles along with a quartet of 6.4 inch Brooke Rifles, and she had a tough, well trained, and dedicated crew manning her. She was definitely a worthy adversary in a broadside gun battle.
By Summer of 1864 there was also an extensive mine field extending westward several hundred yards from from the outer edge of the channel. (Mines, BTW were called torpedoes during the Civil War...keep that in mind. While you're at it, remember the Tennessee. Both would figure heavily in what was about to happen). A line of partially sunken obstructions extended from the torpedoes almost all the way to Dauphen Island, and any ship trying to get between the obstructions and Dauphen Island had Fort Gaines' 26 guns...on the easternmost point of the island...to deal with, if they didn't run aground before they got there.
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| A model of CSS Tennessee. She was the largest of the Confederate ironclads at just under 2300 tons with a length of 209 feet, beam of 48 feet, and draft of 14 feet. Her armor was formidable as well...six inches of armor over 20 inches of oak and pine. The armor consisted of three layers of two inch plates rolled from railroad iron, and 'crisscrossed' to increase their strength. It worked...she stood up to one hell of a pounding from the U.S.ships guns, and only one round almost punched through her armor. She had a trio of Achilles heels...poor engines, which were the bugaboo of just about every Confederate ironclad, easily jammed gunport shutters, and exposed steering chains, which ran in the gray tracks forming a 'V' on her after deck. .Her funnel, boats and anchors would fair even worse that ber steering chains, being shot away early in the battle. |
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| A cutaway model of CSS Tennessee, showing some detail of her construction. This is from her port bow...her wheelhouse/conning tower is at the forward end of the casemate. Both this pic and the above pic from cottageindustrymodels.com |
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| Two of Tennessee's three tenders. CSS Selma on the left, CSS Gaines on the right. The third Tender, CSS Morgan was nearly identical to Gaines, with the exception of having low pressure boilers rather than Gaines' high pressure boilers. Morgan mounted 10 guns, unknown type, Gaines six guns...a combination of 8 Inch rifles, and 32 pounder smooth bores...and Selma 4 guns...a pair of nine inch and a single 8 inch smooth bore, and a 6.4 inch Brook rifle. All three were fast for their time, with top speeds of around 10 knots. |
By Summer of 1864 there was also an extensive mine field extending westward several hundred yards from from the outer edge of the channel. (Mines, BTW were called torpedoes during the Civil War...keep that in mind. While you're at it, remember the Tennessee. Both would figure heavily in what was about to happen). A line of partially sunken obstructions extended from the torpedoes almost all the way to Dauphen Island, and any ship trying to get between the obstructions and Dauphen Island had Fort Gaines' 26 guns...on the easternmost point of the island...to deal with, if they didn't run aground before they got there.
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| Fort Gaines. on the eastern tip of Dauphin Island, as it appears today. Fort Gaines was a coastal artillery installation during WWI, and a Coast Guard antisubmarine base during WWII. There is still a Coast Guard crash-rescue base on the island today, though the fort is not part of the base...like Fort Morgan. it is a State Park. From Wikimedia.com |
There was also a western approach and entrance to the bay known as Grant's Pass, narrower and shallower than the main channel, that threaded it's way around the west end of Dauphen Island. A shell island in the middle of the pass was home to Fort Powell, with 140 men and 18 guns.
Though it was mentioned in my article on the USS Galena this bears mentioning again. Fort Morgan's defenses were so effective, and her gun crews so well trained and...well...good that their defensive covering fire allowed all but two of the blockade runners that tried to enter Mobile Bay and one that tried to leave to make it through the blockade that the U S Navy had thrown across the mouth of the bay.
When Admiral David Farragut was tasked with taking out Fort Morgan, as well as the two other forts guarding the entrance to the bay, and taking control of Mobile Bay, he probably took one look at this set up and realized that they were in for one hell of a fight. The Confederate Navy and Army had both proven themselves to be tough, dedicated, and brave fighting men, and they were not going to let the U.S. just walk in and take the keys to the fort and the bay, so to speak. Dave Farragut was going to have to fight for those keys.
He had a good game plan though...I covered how he got his unarmored wooden hulled ships past Fort Morgan in the Galena article, but here's a quick recap. There were 14 unarmored war ships...7 big ships of the line, and seven smaller gun boats. Farragut lashed one of the smaller gunboats to the each of the larger ships' port side..away from the fort,...so the larger ship would screen the smaller gunboat, and the smaller vessels' engines could pull both beyond range of the fort's guns in the event the larger ships' boilers and/or engines got taken out. This came in handy for The USS Oneida ,the last ship in the line......when one of her boilers was hit Galena, just as planned, pulled her out of harms way.
Of course, for the seven pairs of wooden warships to get past Fort Morgan and the CSS Tennessee, there had to be a diversion of some kind...HMMMMMM...Need a diversion to keep a fort and an ironclad busy...what to do, what to do.. How 'bout assign a quartet of turreted ironclads to engage the fort and hopefully sink the Tennessee? Yeah! That'd work! And that's exactly what David Farragut did...except it wouldn't work quite as planned.
The four ironclads were towed to the area of Mobile Bay in the week or two preceding the battle, and all had arrived off of the mouth of Mobile bay by August 4, 1865...the day before the battle. Two of them...Tecumseh and Manhattan...were single turreted Canonicus class monitors, improved versions of the original USS Monitor, while the other two...Chickasaw and Winnebago...were shallow draft twin turreted river monitors. Their task was to engage the fort's guns as well as CSS Tennessee. Tecumseh and Manhattan, with heavier guns than the two river monitors, were given the job of taking out Tennessee while Chickasaw and Winnebago were assigned the job of keeping the gun crews at the fort occupied...and hopefully taking a couple or more of them out while they were at it.
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| A model of USS Tecumseh, looking at her from her starboard bow. USS Manhattan was one of her sister ships and was identical. Both mounted a pair of 15 inch Dahlgrens in their single turret. When Tecumseh hit the mine, it exploded beneath the starboard side of her hull, just forward of her turret, blowing a garage door size hole in her hull...she went down in under a minute and a half , taking 93 of her crew with her. |
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| Two excellent digital renderings of USS Chickasaw, both by roscoedude from rcgroups.com. Top pic, you're looking at her from her port bow, bottom a profile shot from her port side. The conical roofed tower was her wheel house/conning tower, the frames are for awnings and can be quickly folded out of the way for battle. Chickasaw and her sister ship Winnebago were extremely shallow draft vessels, drawing only six feet of water. The two monitors were outwardly all but identical, but Chickasaw's turrets were both Ericsson type turrets, while Winnebago's forward turret was a newer, more sophisticated Eads type turret, with all functions powered by steam. Awesome piece of machinery when it worked right, not so much when it didn't...This turret was the one that was jammed in train throughout the battle. |
The evening of the 4th and the Oh-Dark-Hundred hours of the 5th were given over to getting the wooden war ships paired off, lashed together, and lined up as the command staff went over the battle plan, then over it again...and again...and again to make sure everyone could do it in their sleep. Speaking of sleep...at some point the crews, with the exception of those on watch, crashed out for a few hours. As sunrise approached, and the eastern sky pinked up, a light, veil like mist rose and hugged the water. The bay was as smooth as a sheet of glass that had been cut to shape and tamped into place.
Over on the USS Hartford...Admiral Farragut's flagship...a discussion was in progress RE: whether or not Hartford would be in the lead of the line of wooden warships. A conference between him and the captains of all fourteen wooden warships convinced him...reluctantly...to allow the USS Brooklyn to lead the procession past Fort Morgan and into Mobile Bay. The reasoning was that the lead ship would be assumed to be the flagship and would therefore draw the heaviest fire early on in the battle. The fear was, should Admiral Farragut be injured or killed early on in the battle, the Union Navy's game plan would devolve into confusion and the battle would become a disaster. Another good point was that Brooklyn had a quartet of chase guns...pivot guns that could fire straight over her bow...where Hartford only had two. Point three may have been the deciding point. Brooklyn was equipped with a Torpedo Rake...an early mine sweeping device...on her bows. The Admiral saw the reasoning behind the switch, and agreed with it. Brooklyn would lead the line of wooden warships.
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| Two views of an excellent model of USS Hartford, the top from her post side, the bottom a good deck detail She was armed with twenty nine inch Dahlgrens, and a pair each of 20 pounder Parrott rifles, and 13 pounder boat howitzers. The model and image there of is from cowansauctions.com |
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| A contemporary engraving of USS Brooklyn, Though she was supposed to lead the line of wooden ships due to having a torpedo rake (Early mine sweeping rig) and four chase guns forward, Hartford ended up leading the line (And invoking Admiral Farragut's 'Misquoted Catchphrase' ) after Tecumseh hit the mine, and Brooklyn's captain backed down because of the channel being blocked, forcing him towards the mine field. Drawing from cityofart.net |
Meanwhile, the Confederate forces weren't exactly taken unaware...it was obvious that the blockade fleet off the mouth of Mobile Bay had grown exponentially over night, and that something was afoot. It wasn't real difficult at all to figure out what that something was. Fort Morgan's gun crews were at the ready well before sun-up. On board CSS Tennessee, preparations were also well under way. OH...first let me introduce the admiral in charge of the Confederate naval forces. Not only was Tennessee a near carbon copy of CSS Virginia appearance wise, she was the flagship for Mobile Bay's small Confederate fleet...and the Admiral whose flag she flew was extremely familiar with casemate ironclads such as Tennessee. He was none other than Admiral Franklin Buchanan, who had been in command of the CSS Virginia during the Battle of Hampton Roads when she sank USS Cumberland and USS Congress.
He planned to use the same tactics he'd employed with resounding success against USS Cumberland against the Union ships even then massing for a run on Fort Morgan and Mobile Bay. Buchanan positioned Tennessee just north of the deadly array of torpedoes that forced any ship entering Mobile Bay to pass within range of Fort Morgan's guns. The first US ship that cleared the Torpedoes was going to eat Tennessee's ram...after all she was an ironclad ram. The scene was set...and, again, things wouldn't go quite as anyone planned.
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| Admiral Francis Buchanan...Admiral Farragut's arch rival. |
He planned to use the same tactics he'd employed with resounding success against USS Cumberland against the Union ships even then massing for a run on Fort Morgan and Mobile Bay. Buchanan positioned Tennessee just north of the deadly array of torpedoes that forced any ship entering Mobile Bay to pass within range of Fort Morgan's guns. The first US ship that cleared the Torpedoes was going to eat Tennessee's ram...after all she was an ironclad ram. The scene was set...and, again, things wouldn't go quite as anyone planned.
Admiral Farragut gave the 'Go' signal as dawn was breaking and the twin lines of Union ships began slowly moving on Fort Morgan. Tecumseh kicked off the gunfight, her two fifteen inch Dahlgrens booming into the dawn stillness at just about 6:45 AM. The fort's gunners had been waiting all night for just this event and the 18 big cannon trained on the channel began spitting fire slowly and deliberately, their booming reports echoing across the mouth of the bay. The gunners aboard the rest of the Union ships answered, fire flashing from their gun ports as huge splashes erupted around the lead ships in both columns. And...and...things started going south early on on for the U.S. Navy.
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| A map of both phases of the battle on August 5th, 1864...the dark blue ships depict the battle line as it passed Fort Morgan, the light blue the battle with CSS Tennessee. The torpedoes are actually symbolically illustrated...they actually formed a triple line of torpedoes stretching for about 800 feet across the center of the bay. |
Tecumseh and Manhattan had been tasked with taking on the CSS Tennessee while Chickasaw and Winnebago had been given the job of taking on the fort. There were two reasons for this. Both Chickasaw and Winnebago were twin-turreted river monitors with a pair of 11 inch Dahlgrens in each turret while Tecumseh and Manhattan had single turrets, each mounting a pair of 15 inchers. So the single turreted monitors heavier guns were far more capable of taking on Tennessee, even though the two river monitors had twice as many guns...15 inch shells were more likely to punch through Tennessee's armor than 11 inchers. But there was also another reason for this particular set of orders. One of the two river monitors was operating with a handicap before the first shell was fired. Winnebago's forward turret was jammed in train when she arrived, unable to rotate at all, and every effort to find the problem, much less actually fix it had been a bust. She'd be far more effective against an opponent that couldn't move around.
Chickasaw and Winnebago started firing on Fort Morgan around 7:15 AM, hoping to draw their fire away from the wooden hulled ships attempting to enter Mobile Bay,. Tecumseh was in the lead of the pair of single turreted monitors and her captain was keeping a close eye on Tennessee, visible a couple of thousand yards off of their port bow. The captains and helmsmen of all sixteen ships making the push on the bay were keeping one eye on a buoy (Or possibly a line of buoys) that was also off of their port bows. They did not want to get to the left of that buoy because it marked the easternmost boundary of the torpedo field. Ship's hulls and underwater explosions just do not mix well.
And that's where things started going south. Tecumseh's captain Tunis Craven was peering through the viewing slit in the pilot house...on top of the turret on the Canonicus class monitors...watching the CSS Tennessee. What he saw confirmed exactly what he suspected. She was steaming slowly towards the channel, water beginning to curl at her bow as she picked up speed. From the looks of things Buchanan was planning on timing it so he could put his ram through the hull of one of the lead ships in the line of Union warships...probably Brooklyn or Hartford. He told his pilot to come to port a bit, keeping his eyes on Tennessee as Tecumseh's pilot put his wheel over and the monitor's bow began to swing.
“The hell's Craven doing???” OK, we have no way to know that Brooklyn's captain James Alden actually said this, but I'd be willing to bet lunch that something like that was uttered...probably loudly. And I also bet that he told his pilot to come to port. Know that feeling when a car next to you starts to change lanes? Into your lane? Alden was seeing the same thing, just with a lot more distance and a lot less speed, as Tecumseh started to edge to the left...either towards them or in front of them. It wouldn't at all surprise me if Alden didn't say something like 'Come to port before we ram the (Expletive Deleted) Tin Can' to his pilot. Behind them the rest of the line of ships followed, their captains giving the order to follow Brooklyn's lead, Helmsmen expertly nursing the big wooden wheels over...
“Sir,,,the buoy...” OK we don't know for sure the helmsman aboard Brooklyn said this either, but that's almost a bet. Just as its almost a bet that Alden looked up and watched the buoy marking the edge of the mine field slide across his field of vision, from left to dead ahead to ahead of their starboard bow...
“ALL STOP!!" He yelled into the speaking tube connecting the helm with the engine room and the rhythmic throbbing of the Brooklyn's big steam engines ceased even as he called down to the USS Octorora, lashed to his port side to let them know what was going on. Behind them the same order was given even as some version of 'What the hell's going on?!' was likely spoken 13 times.. Keep in mind that while this was going on, all eighteen of Fort Morgan's guns capable of covering the channel were firing on them, Chickasaw's and Winnebago's combined 8 guns were pounding away at the fort, and every gun in the line of wooden ships that was with in range of the fort were firing as well...it was an extremely loud, treacherous and smokey morning at the mouth of Mobile Bay.
Aboard Hartford Admiral Farragut probably thought something along the lines of ' “Let Brooklyn lead”, he says' as he grabbed one of his signalmen and had him hoist flag signal 665...the standard naval flag signal meaning 'go ahead'. I can't help but wonder if he mentally added a few exclamation points behind it. Meanwhile, shells from the fort were either sending columns of water skyward close in-board, screaming by close overhead, or occasionally slamming home. They'd been lucky so far.,..no major damage, and David Farragut intended to keep it that way. He waited for a reply as clouds of white powder smoke billowed and curled around and above the deck...this was well before the advent of smokeless powder and each time a cannon spoke, it added to the billows of sulfurous white smoke that was beginning to obstruct his view of the battle...
...An Army signalman aboard Brooklyn started using flags to send a wig-wag ....which was actually an army signaling system also known as semaphore...message back to Hartford to let Admiral Farragut in on what was going on,. Alden figured it would be quicker and allow him to be more specific than signal flags. He was wrong.
'Wonderful...none of us can read wig-wag'. thought Farragut...they had their own Army signal officers, but they were below deck, tasked with assisting the ship's surgeon unless needed. Well, they were now officially 'needed'. Admiral Farragut sent someone below to grab one of them and then started climbing the rigging to get above the smoke so he could actually see what was going on. His flag captain realized that if the admiral should be hit he'd tumble to the deck, and probably to his death. He sent a signalman aloft with a short length of rope for Admiral Farragut to secure himself to the rigging with. A short discussion RE: tying himself to the rigginr took place before Admiral Farragut saw the wisdom in doing so, and, with the help of the signalman, lashed himself to the riggimg as shells screamed past.
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| Admiral Farragut in the rigging aboard Hartford as one of his signalmen assist him in securing himself to the mast. Both Tecumseh and Manhattan are visible...Tecumseh in the left center and Manhattan right center, though the artist compressed the distance greatly to get both monitors in the painting. This would have been just before Tecumseh hit the torpedo |
Hartford's Army signalman reached the deck, grabbed his semaphore flags and quickly wig-wagged 'Repeat message, then watched the signalman on board Brooklyn wig-wag that Tecumseh was squeezing them towards the mine field, they couldn't go ahead without passing them, and they needed to know what to do. As this exchange took place, Tecumseh was beginning to close with Tennessee. Her turret may have even been swinging to bring her guns to bear...
The thought 'This is one hell of a place to carry on a conversation' probably flicked through Admiral Farragut's mind, punctuated by the screams of a couple of shells going by real close. "Signal him to GO AHEAD!! Farragut called down to his signalman. And that's when Tecumseh hit the torpedo...
They saw the massive column of white water bloom skyward a couple of hundred yards off of their starboard bows a good second or so before the distinctive muffled 'WHUMP!!' of an underwater explosion and sharp jar of the underwater shock wave reached them simultaneously. Tecumseh's bow rose with the water column, then slammed back down, hard...and kept going, The mine had blown a garage door sized hole in her unarmored iron hull, below her water line, and as her bow came down and started under she heeled over to starboard, lifted her stern out of the water, and, with her propeller still turning, just disappeared, continuing to twist as she went down. From the instant the column of water burst skyward until the instant she disappeared form sight was under half a minute, and 93 of her crew didn't have time to comprehend what was happening to them, much less actually try to escape.
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| Tecumseh heels to starboard after striking a torpedo...she went down in under half a minute, a garage door size hole opened in her starboard hull beneath her turret. |
It was such a shock that every one stopped what they were doing for just a second or two, creating an eons long instant of eerie silence, punctuated only by the shouting of the few Tecumseh crew members who'd gotten off of her before she went down, and shouted orders from the crew of Metacomet, lashed to Hartford’s port side, as she got boats away to rescue Tecumseh's few survivors.
Alden had given the order for Brooklyn's to go ahead seconds before Tecumseh hit the mine...The game plan had been for them to go back to the middle of the channel now that Tecumseh had pulled ahead of them but that plan was now screwed six ways from Sunday. The channel was packed with boats picking up Tecumseh's few surviving crew members and debris and probably USS Winnebago which took the Tecumseh survivors aboard. If she continued ahead, Brooklyn, too would end up in the middle of the minefield. Alden once again ordered 'All Stop'. Problem was the rest of the column...including Admiral Farragut's Flagship, USS Hartford...were also moving ahead. If Admiral Farragut ordered all stop again, the column of ships behind Hartford would be in danger of collapsing in on itself...and they sure...
A couple or three shells screamed past, one possibly close enough that he could feel the wind of it's passage...
As hell couldn't stay...
Hartford shuddered as a shell either hit her hull or exploded in the water close aboard...
...HERE!!!
Something had to give and quick...if he let the situation continue to develop, or more accurately, deteriorate as it was right then he'd end up with the entire line of wooden ships at a dead stop right under Fort Morgan's guns. He'd lost one of his monitors and most of her crew, at least one of the other monitors was engaged in rescuing the Tecumseh crew members who'd managed to get off of her before she went down, and Chickasaw and Winnebago were engaging the fort, but with four guns against 18 that was more or less a harassing and diversionary action, to allow the line of wooden warships to enter the bay...you know the line of wooden warships that was collapsing into confusion if something didn't happen real quick
He called down to Hartford's Captain to come to port and go around Brooklyn, and probably called to his signal officer to signal the rest of the line to follow his lead. Hartford's helmsman put her helm hard over, and her captain called for half ahead through the voice tube, then called down to Metacomet's captain to let him in on the new game plan. Water curled at their bows as the two ships started moving, and Hartford's bowsprit tracked westward as she swung to port and began easing around Brooklyn. Shell splashes erupted around them as Farragut's flagship came abreast of Brooklyn and Octorora, and he heard Alden shouting something across the narrow strip of bay separating the two ships.
“Admiral!! Sir!!” Alden was probably pointing towards a spot in the water ahead of them... “The torpedoes...you're heading right for the torpedoes!!!
And here it comes...For 150 years his words have been misquoted (And actually seriously shortened) to “Damn the torpedoes!!! Full speed ahead!!!” Of course he was still secured to his observation post on the mast above the deck, so first off he would have had to have called down to the deck crew and crew at the helm, and his orders would have had to have been, and in fact were, more specific
“Damn the torpedoes!” He called across to Alden, then he called down to the helm, where Captain Drayton was also standing (And probably also thinking about the torpedoes) “Four bells. Captain Drayton!” He called down to Hartford's Captain, giving the pre-engine room telegraph signal for 'All Head Full', then in the same breath over to Metacomet “Go ahead! Jouett, full speed!" So the actual quote, in it's uninterrupted entirety was: “Damn the torpedoes! Four bells. Captain Drayton...go ahead! Jouett, full speed!”
So now we have the actual and true quote, and the purpose of this article is fulfilled, but...you don't really think'm gonna stop here do ya??? It's just getting good...the actual Battle of Mobile Bay hasn't even gotten started good yet!
USS Hartford surged around Brooklyn and Octorora and headed right at the mine field. There were 67 torpedoes, laid in what's been described as a 'Triple row of torpedoes'...I'm not sure what the spacing between torpedoes in any given row was, or what the spacing between the rows themselves was, but my bet is when the torpedoes were laid, the Confederate sailors who did so used the specs of the typical warship of the era. Hartford was 225 feet long with a beam of 44 feet. If the mines were laid 25 feet apart...or even 30-35 feet apart...there was no way she would go between them without hitting at least one. A spacing of 35 feet between torpedoes would give a row just over 800 feet long, with the channel hard by Fort Morgan's guns on the east end and obstructions between Dauphin Island and the west end of the mine field, hard by Fort Gaines. I’ll bet that they staggered the rows as well...so dead center of an empty space between mines in the first row was opposite a mine in the second row, then the spacing of the third row was the same as the first. That way, even if a ship managed to miss the first row, the second row would nail them.
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| Two examples of torpedoes...both fashioned from beer kegs or similar barrels. The 'quills' protruding from the sides are the plungers which fired the primers when a ship struck them, detonating the mine. The mushroom shaped deices on the ends of the cables are anchors...the type on the Left floated horizontally in the water, while the blunt-ended type on the right floated vertically.Pic from thesonofthesouth.net |
The mines were beneath the surface, probably between five and 10 feet down, so you couldn't even see them. Just hear and feel them if you hit one. And they packed a wallop, as demonstrated by the fatal damage to Tecumseh. They were actually jury rigged, made from beer kegs or similar barrels, were usually pointed at both ends, and had contact prongs protruding several inches out from the sides all the way around. When struck by a ship, these prongs were pushed inward, striking and detonating a primer, which in turn detonated the mine. This is what Hartford faced as she steamed towards the Confederate torpedoes. But Admiral Farragut had a theory about them...one he was betting his ships and the lives of his crews on. Just how long had the torpedoes been under water?
She surged into the minefield, her bow wave curling white...the crew collectively cringed as they distinctly heard several sharp 'SNAP!!'s as primers popped...she was hitting the torpedoes, and the primers were firing. Admiral Farragut's theory had been right on the money...they'd been under water too long. Either the primers themselves were defective or, more likely IMHO, water had gotten into the torpedo and soaked the powder. Whatever the reason, they weren't exploding. The other ships followed Hartford, their helmsmen taking great care to follow directly in the flagship's wake.
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| Hartford and Metacomet making their run through the torpedoes. Fort Morgan is firing on the ships in the background, and Tennessee is also visible, left center, firing on Hartford. The artist used a bit of artistic license to get Tennessee into the painting...she was actually on the port rather than starboard side of the column of wooden ships. Had she been in the position shown here, Tecumseh wouldn't have had to attempt tho cross the torpedo field to engage her. Painting from cityofart.com |
Buchanan watched the Union ships enter the minefield, likely fully expecting to see Hartford or one of the other ships blown out of the water, but within a few minutes it became obvious that all of them were going to make it into the bay. He called for full speed ahead, had his helmsman point Tennessee's bow towards Hartford, and gave the order to ram her. After all, this worked like a charm a couple of years back in Hampton Roads when he sank Cumberland. One BIIIG difference though. Cumberland had been at anchor and a stationary sitting duck that he'd had all the time in the world to set up, and ram. Hartford was in motion and fully capable of maneuvering. She was also capable of almost 14 knots and was, for her era. pretty maneuverable, or at least just as maneuverable as any other similar warship, and most importantly, she could turn circles around the Confederate ironclad. Tennessee, however, couldn't make more than six knots with all of her boilers fired with lamp oil soaked coal and all of the safety valves tied down. Her cruising speed was about 4 knots. And while she handled a bit better than CSS Virginia had, she was still clumsy and plodding when it came to maneuvering, with a turning radius of upwards of half a mile, so her attempt to ram Hartford was pretty much a comedy act. With guns firing on both ships, Tennessee made a run at Hartford, and Hartford simply out ran her and very likely didn't even have to take evasive action when she did so. So Buchanan tried to ram each oncoming pair of Union ships in turn as they passed, with similar and probably even more frustratingly comical results because the ships further back in the line had more time to plan their evasive action.
Of course none of the guns on any of the ships were idle or silent during these maneuvers...Tennessee's forward guns got off several rounds...and made several hits...as she made her abortive runs on the Union ships and in turn, the Union ships all got off a couple of broad sides and scored several hits on Tennessee, wrecking her funnel and turning her boats and deck hardware into junk.
Of course none of the guns on any of the ships were idle or silent during these maneuvers...Tennessee's forward guns got off several rounds...and made several hits...as she made her abortive runs on the Union ships and in turn, the Union ships all got off a couple of broad sides and scored several hits on Tennessee, wrecking her funnel and turning her boats and deck hardware into junk.
I'm pretty sure that all of the smaller ships other than Galena had cut loose from the larger ships that were shielding them as soon as they cleared the minefield, and several of them engaged Tennessee's support fleet gunboat Vs gunboat, especially USS Metacomet. She took on both CSS Morgan and CSS Selma, being driven off by the former, and capturing the latter. Meanwhile CSS Gaines was heavily damaged and grounded and burned by her crew to prevent her capture. CSS Morgan and CSS Selma had both stood off to starboard of the line of ships entering the bay, and kept up a steady, raking fire on both Hartford, and Brooklyn, causing as much or more more damage than Tennessee until they were engaged by Metacomet. Admiral Farragut dispatched Metacomet to take care of the gunboats as soon as they were clear of the torpedoes, and her crew was one very busy group of sailors for an hour or so...she first engaged Morgan and was driven off by her before finally engaging and capturing CSS Selma. Oh...In between those two aquatic dogfights, she was possibly one of the group of gunboats that engaged and heavily damaged CSS Gaines.
After the gunboats cut loose to operate independently, the wooden ships were free to maneuver without having to coordinate with the smaller steamers. That being the case, it's highly possible that the captains of a couple of the Union ships ordered the helm hard over and went astern of the Confederate ironclad...with her snail like top speed and county-sized turning radius it was absolutely no way what so ever she could counter that trick. As for Galena and Oneida, even though they were still paired up it's even more likely...verging on probable...that they did indeed go astern of Tennessee. As the last pair of ships in the column, their captains had all kind of both time and room to plan, coordinate, and execute their evasive action, and going astern of Tennessee would have several advantages, especially with Oneida being towed by Galena because the former had a boiler out of service. Going astern of Tennessee would have put Oneida’s starboard side...and her heavier guns...towards Tennessee while shielding Galena from the ironclad's fire. And again, there was no way that Tennessee could have gotten turned 180 degrees to make a run on them before they were far out of reach and range.
After the gunboats cut loose to operate independently, the wooden ships were free to maneuver without having to coordinate with the smaller steamers. That being the case, it's highly possible that the captains of a couple of the Union ships ordered the helm hard over and went astern of the Confederate ironclad...with her snail like top speed and county-sized turning radius it was absolutely no way what so ever she could counter that trick. As for Galena and Oneida, even though they were still paired up it's even more likely...verging on probable...that they did indeed go astern of Tennessee. As the last pair of ships in the column, their captains had all kind of both time and room to plan, coordinate, and execute their evasive action, and going astern of Tennessee would have several advantages, especially with Oneida being towed by Galena because the former had a boiler out of service. Going astern of Tennessee would have put Oneida’s starboard side...and her heavier guns...towards Tennessee while shielding Galena from the ironclad's fire. And again, there was no way that Tennessee could have gotten turned 180 degrees to make a run on them before they were far out of reach and range.
Buchanan finally faced the fact that he wasn't going to sink, damage or even particularly annoy the crews of any Union warships by ramming them, and broke off the attack, heading for their anchorage on the north side of Fort Morgan Point. His crew hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so Buchanan ordered them to be fed, and as southern-style breakfast aromas wafted from the galley and her engines throbbed, Buchanan had his engineering section look over her damage. Her funnel looked like a piece of Swiss cheese, her boats, davits, and pretty much anything attached to the casemate was either shot away or reduced to junk and her casemate and deck were dented, dinged, and generally pounded upon. But her armor and structural integrity were still good, her engines were pounding away without missing a beat, all of her guns were operable, she had plenty of ammunition, and there hadn't even been a serious injury among the crew. Their collective ego, however, had taken a major hit...one that Buchanan wasn't about to let go by without being redeemed.
"Follow them up, Johnston...as soon as the crew gets breakfast, and we get some coffee in us, come about, get under way for the enemy fleet's position, and call the crew to action stations...We can't let them get off that way..." he told his officers. And as Tennessee started into a wide lumbering turn, the question was asked among the crew ''What ships are goin' up against them with us?" The answer?
"There are no other ships...I think we're it." I can't help but think that the traditional scatological oath often heard when things start going south got uttered a few times on Tennessee's gun deck as they watched the Union ships get closer. The ship's surgeon, standing near Buchanan, asked him “Are you going into that fleet, Admiral?”
“I am, sir,” Buchanan told him. The surgeon turned away, shook his head, and said, as much to himself as to anyone else, “We’ll never come out of there whole.” Buchanan heard him, and spun around, glaring at him, “That’s my lookout, sir!”
Aboard the Union ships, sailors and officers were getting their own breakfast while congratulating each other and themselves on an excellent job of getting past the fort, mourning the crew of Tecumseh, and vowing retribution when someone gazed towards the fort and saw Tennessee coming towards them with as much of a bone in her teeth as she could manage. They nudged each other and pointed across the bay towards the oncoming Rebel ironclad. Runners were sent to inform captains and gunnery officers, flag signals and shouts were sent from ship to ship, and eyes swept the bay for the other Rebel warships that had to be going into battle along with Tennessee. No way she was going to take on the entire Union fleet single-handedly! And then with grudging...and maybe even not-so-grudging...respect the crews of the Union ships realized that Tennessee was coming at them alone. Aboard Hartford Admiral Farragut watched the distant speck that was Tennessee for several seconds, shook his head in wonderment, ordered his crews to battle stations, than ordered full ahead, and ordered his helmsman to to come about and aim directly for the oncoming ironclad, His thought process was something along the lines of 'He wants to play...we'll play!'
Aboard Tennessee Buchanan had the same general idea...he ordered his helmsman to head straight for Hartford, Thing is, this was a charge in slow motion...Hartford was making around 10 knots, and Tennessee was struggling to make 4 knots...with her funnel all but shot away, her engine room crew was having a hard time maintaining a good draft so they could keep the boilers really cooking and maintain a good head of steam. At the two ship's combined speed of 14 knots it would take about 15 minutes to close the four mile distance separating them, and even at that slow speed...14 knots is around 16 miles per hour...if the two warships managed to hit head on, the impact would probably sink both of them. With a combined tonnage of 4200 tons behind them, Hartford would impale herself on Tennessee's bow as Tennessee embedded herself in Hartford’s hull all the way to her casemate. If this happened, Hartford would go down in seconds, dragging Tennessee to the bottom of the bay with her.
Chickasaw and Winnebago had just spent the last hour and a half exchanging fire with Fort Morgan, and drawing the fort's fire away from the wooden ships as they entered Mobile Bay, and both had suffered damaging hits...Chickasaw's funnel was in much the same condition as Tennessee's and like the Confederate ironclad, she was having trouble maintaining a draft to keep a good head of steam up. Her engine room crew loaded the fireboxes with tallow and coal tar to make the fires burn hotter so they could stay in the fight. She'd fired seventy-five shells at Fort Morgan, and her sister ship Winnebago, had gotten off fifty-six shots despite her forward turret being jammed while getting hit 19 times. Three of the Confederate shells had penetrated her deck, luckily causing no serious injuries or damage.
Now, as Oneida and Galena, the last pair of wooden ships in the line, cleared the torpedoes and passed beyond range of Fort Morgan's guns the two twin-turreted monitors broke off their exchange with the fort. Their task of setting up a diversion to allow the wooden warships to pass the fort having been accomplished, they were now free to take on any other targets of opportunity that might be about. About a half hour or so later just such a target presented herself...a fat, juicy one at that. Their captains watched in wonder as Tennessee steamed from behind Fort Morgan Point and headed for the Federal fleet. Orders were shouted down voice tubes and white water began boiling at their sterns as their propellers began thrashing water. Bows began swinging towards Tennessee as helms were put over and bow waves began curling around sharp prows as the two twin turreted river monitors got under way, joined immediately by Manhattan. The crews of Admiral Farragut's three remaining monitors intended to kick some Rebel Ironclad Butt.
Admiral Farragut signaled all of his ships to engage Tennessee, both by gunnery and ramming. USS Monongahela and USS Lackawana were closest to her, and Monohahela was first to ram her, bearing down on her at her full speed of about 10 knots while her chase guns...forward, on the forecastle...fired on the ironclad. When she hit Tennessee, a vertical eight or so feet of her bows were crushed inwards about four feet both below and above the water line, and Tennessee got off a broad side even as she was shoved off course. Then as her helmsman manhandled her big ship's wheel around to bring her back on course, Lackawana got her on the other side, also crushing her own bow and causing Tennessee to heel over. Lackawana bounced away drunkenly, and Tennessee probably didn't get a broadside off this time...her gun crews were likely knocked to the deck by the collision. Damage wise, all she got was a couple of slightly wrinkled deck plates.
Admiral Farragut signaled all of his ships to engage Tennessee, both by gunnery and ramming. USS Monongahela and USS Lackawana were closest to her, and Monohahela was first to ram her, bearing down on her at her full speed of about 10 knots while her chase guns...forward, on the forecastle...fired on the ironclad. When she hit Tennessee, a vertical eight or so feet of her bows were crushed inwards about four feet both below and above the water line, and Tennessee got off a broad side even as she was shoved off course. Then as her helmsman manhandled her big ship's wheel around to bring her back on course, Lackawana got her on the other side, also crushing her own bow and causing Tennessee to heel over. Lackawana bounced away drunkenly, and Tennessee probably didn't get a broadside off this time...her gun crews were likely knocked to the deck by the collision. Damage wise, all she got was a couple of slightly wrinkled deck plates.
It only took a minute or so for Tennessee's helmsman to bring her back on course, aimed bow on for Hartford, which had a bone in her own teeth as she bore down on the Confederate ironclad. Buchanan apparently realized just how devastating a bow to bow collision with Hartford would have been, because at the last possible second Tennessee's bow swung to starboard just enough for the collision to be a glancing blow, then the two warships to all but scraped past each other port to port, so close together that their hulls bumped a couple of times. Tennessee got one shot off from one of her port guns that passed clean through Hartford , fatally injuring one of her ensigns as it did so. Hartford's port side gun crews scrambled to depress their guns as far as they could, then cries of 'Fire! were followed by staccato 'BOOMS! as the ten portside Dahlgrens spat fire, the shells hitting Tennessee's sloped casemate and 'kershwang!ing off. The rest of Hartford's crew got creative with their weaponry, causing any object that had a little bit of heft and wasn't tied, nailed or bolted down to become a potential missile. Insults were also hurled back and forth across the narrow strip of water separating the two ships, and one Tennessee sailor became the only member of either crew to personally draw blood during this strange battle within a battle when he leaned out of a gun port and used his bayonet to slash a Hartford crewman who was leaning out of his own gun port hurling obscenities at them.
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| Admiral Farragut in the rigging on Hartford as Tennessee scrapes past their starboard side, and the ships exchange shots at a range of about 12 feet. |
During the uber-close-range exchange Admiral Farragut's flag captain, Percy Drayton, spotted Buchanan through one of Tennessee's gun ports, and yelled something to the effect of "You Infernal Traitor" at him, as Admiral Buchanan had been a career U.S.Naval officer, had helped found the Naval Academy, and had actually switched sides to fight with the South. Then again Buchanan wasn't the only flag officer in the battle to switch sides when the war began...more on that in 'Notes'
The last makeshift weapon was hurled and the last obscenity and insult yelled as the two ships passed beyond throwing and yelling range and prepared to do battle in earnest. Most likely both Hartford and Tennessee came hard to port in order to bring their guns to bear on each other, and had they been the only two ships involved that's just what it would have been...a broadside gun battle between a wooden warship and an ironclad, and Hartford would have likely been reduced to kindling. Tennessee's gunners, as well as those on board the gunboats CSS Morgan and CSS Selma had already gotten several good hits on the wooden ships, Tennessee at close range as she tried to ram them, A solo close range battle with Tennessee's 6.4 and 7 inch Brooke rifles pounding away at Hartford would have probably been devastating.
But Hartford wasn't by herself by any means, and before the two ships even exchanged the first shot, the wooden warships and monitors that had just entered the bay were jockeying for a good position to fire on Tennessee, ram her, or both. USS Chickasaw managed to snag a cherry spot...just off of Tennessee's stern. Chickasaw had a very aggressive and gung-ho crew, and they were spoiling for a fight...or more of a fight. They 'Crossed the 'T' ' at Tennessee's stern, swung her turrets so her four cannon were aimed towards the Confederate ironclad's stern and port and starboard stern quarters, and let fly with everything she had.
Winnebago ended up out of the fight with Tennessee almost before it started...remember her forward turret being jammed? Well, as she headed for Tennessee her after turret also jammed, causing her captain to have to turn the entire ship to bring her guns to bear, basically turning her into a broadside warship. And on top of that, I'm not even sure her turrets were jammed with her guns trained in the same direction. Her crew got to stand by and watch.
One of Manhattan's big fifteen inch guns was also out of action...a iron flake had lodged itself deeply and tightly in the vent hole of one of her guns, leaving only one of the big guns in service. But that one gun scored a couple of telling hits as she also stood off of Tennessee's stern quarter...one of the big 15 inch shells crushed Tennessee's armor inward well over a foot, separating plates and allowing sunlight to shine through from the outside of the casemate,. Only the fact that heavy anti-splinter netting had been hung against the interior of the casemate prevented the hit from sending jagged splinters spinning among and into her gun crews.
Tennessee was giving it as well as...and maybe a little better than...she was taking it as she took on the wooden warships. A couple more of of them tried to ram her, bouncing off of her hull, and, like Monoghala and Lackawana, likely doing more damage to themselves that they did to Tennessee while getting a close range broadside or so for their troubles as the battle became a general melee. Other than the ramming attempts, the wooden ships couldn't close the range but so much...their shot just wasn't effective enough against the ironclad's armor, and Tennessee's shots had the potential to be deadly effective against them.
Chickasaw, however, was on equal or better footing with Tennessee in the armor department and had absolutely no problem closing the range....to as little as 10 yards...yep, that's thirty feet. Her four 11 inch Dahlgrens got off 52 shots in the space of a little over an hour, and at that range it's unlikely that any of them missed. None of them penetrated Tennessee's armor, but Chickasaw's crew had the pleasure of seeing the Confederate ironclad's stern gun port shutter slam closed as one of her shells hit it...the shutter was severely bent, and obviously jammed. The gun most capable of doing her damage (And the one that probably sent one round through her deck, starting a small fire in her berthing spaces) was out of action.
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| The battle becomes a melee...Chickasaw's off of Tennessee's stern, pounding away at her with all four if her 11 inch Dahlgren' while either Brooklyn or Hartford, has just sheered off after yet another attempt to ram the Rebel ironclad. |
Keep in mind that none of the ships were stationary during the battle. Despite her funnel being all but gone, and her engine room crew having to struggle to keep steam up Tennessee was constantly jockeying to evade Chickasaw's and Manhattan's fire while the two monitors jockeyed to stay in position...I can picture the helmsmen spinning the big wooden wheels as the ship's captains, watching Tennessee's moves and countering them to stay in position, gave helm orders and shouted orders down the voice tubes to the engine room. In the engine rooms, one man had to stay on the big throttle and reversing wheels constantly, and he was likely constantly spinning them as the engine room orders were shouted down. Chickasaw had a unique propulsion system...4 screws with the starboard and port pairs of screws each powered by their own engine...giving her extraordinary low speed maneuverability for an ironclad, so she had men on the throttles/reversing wheels for both the port and starboard engines. The engine room crews were working in sweltering heat....you have to experience an August day in the South to understand the heart and humidity. Couple this with the heat from the boilers and steam pipes and engines themselves, and it was all but unbearable in the engine rooms. All of the ships were fought well, bravely, and expertly no matter which side their crews were on..
Admiral Buchanan was very much a hands on, in-the-middle-of-the-action kinda commander, and he was in the casemate, at the stern supervising the attempts to unjam her after gun port shutter when he suddenly noticed a real troubling lack of noise...at least from inside the casemate. While he heard the sharp 'SNAP!' of primers, those snaps were not being followed by the deafening roar of the big Brooke rifles firing. He called over to the nearest gun crew, and asked what the problem was...
"The primers, sir...we've gotten hold of a bunch of bad primers!! “
Buchanan likely cursed inwardly (And possibly not so inwardly), told the crews to do the best they could, and turned back to the crew working on the jammed gun port...two sailors were straining at it with a big pry bar as two more nailed the pry bar with sledge hammers, probably trying desperately to pop the shutter;'s pivot rod out of it's brackets so the shutter could just be shoved bodily out of the gun port and out of the way...
_by_Xanthus_Smith_(cropped).jpg) |
| Chickasaw off of Tennessee's stern quarter pounding in the latter stages of the battle...this could be just after the second shot that inextricably jammed her stern gun port shutter. |
Aboard Chickasaw, in one of the turrets, the gun crew rammed a powder charge, then a shell home, tamped them tightly in place, then strained at the block and tackle that pulled the gun back into position after loading, quick-pulling the rope hand over hand...the gun carriage rumbled on its rails as the gun captain probably twisted the turret's throttle, moving the turret a couple of degrees to adjust the train of the guns a bit...the carriage slammed against the forward stop block with a thunk, the crew jumped back, the gun captain yelled 'FIRE!!", and the gunner yanked the lanyard...the Dahlgren roared, spitting a five foot flame as the 11 inch shell screamed towards Tennessee's stern, less than thirty yards away...
The two men trying to free Tennessee's stern gun port shutter were straining hard on the pry bar when, in one if the most glaring examples of ultimate bad luck in the history of warfare, the shell slammed into the casemate and gun port shutter at exactly the place the tip of the pry bar was working. and exploded. The pry bar probably became a spinning missile, followed by shell fragments that blew through the gap between the now even more bent and inextricably jammed shutter and the casemate, and one or the other killed both sailors who had been straining at the pry bar instantly, then slammed into Buchanan's leg.
Admiral Buchanan howled as someone or something apparently tried to break his lower leg in half, and dropped hard to the deck. A couple of sailors ran to assist him, another ran to find Tennessee's captain, James Johnston and advise him that they had no fire power and that Admiral Buchanan was down...
Commander Johnston was probably in the pilot house and both heard and felt the shell that almost punched through the casemate, then a bit later the one that hit the gun port shutter for the second time. Then at nearly the same instant he noticed the lack of cannon fire created by his own ship's cannon. He was probably descending the ladder from the pilot house when one of the crew called to him that the Admiral was down at the stern end of the casemate. He jogged towards the stern (Still noting that the guns were not firing, hearing only the snapping of primers). He reached the Admiral, who was likely half sitting half lying on the deck supporting himself on his back-splayed arms, his face contorted with pain and his left leg turned and bent in ways that legs are just not meant to be turned and bent. It only took a glance to see that the leg wasn't only fractured...it was a compound fracture. Admiral Buchanan looked up and around at Johnston.
“Well Johnston, they got me again...You’ll have to look out for her now; it is your fight...”
Even as Admiral Buchanan was passing command to Johnston another fusillade of shells hit Tennessee's stern, probably fired from both Chickasaw and Manhattan, and the crews of both U.S warships had the satisfaction of seeing Tennessee'ssteering chains...which were exposed, running in a pair of tracks that ran between the after end of the casemate and the rudder post...separate, jump like a pair of seizure stricken snakes, then drop to the deck...the severed end of one of the chains moved towards the casemate as the helmsman spun the ships wheel...
...and realized in horror that there was absolutely no resistance when he turned it. And that turning the helm had absolutely no effect on her. “The helm's not answering!!!” he yelled down the ladder-way leading to the casemate,
“...The Helm's not answering!!!” Buchanan and Johnston heard at the same time, and they gave each other near identical looks of resignation. As the old fella says, that was the ball game. “Do the best you can...when all is said and done, surrender...” The Admiral recognized a hopeless situation when he saw one. There wasn’t any need for any more sailors to die fighting an unwinnable fight. Johnston ordered some of the crew to help the captain to his cabin, then jogged back to the pilot house and lowered the Confederate battle flag that was flying from a flag staff at the forward end of the casemate...but that gesture might not be seen for what it actually was. This was confirmed when a couple more Union shells slammed into the casemate, even as Tennessee wallowed helplessly, unable to maneuver or fight.
“Someone grab me a boarding pike!” he called to the crew as he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket The pike was brought partway into the pilot house, the Johnston quickly tied the handkerchief off to the end of the pike, then made his way to a hatchway and thrust the pike upward and out, the white hanky lazily flapping in the light breeze. The firing dropped off then stopped as 'Cease Fire! echoed across the waters of lower Mobile Bay.
USS Ossippee was making a run to ram the now defenseless and unmaneuverable Tennessee when Johnston thrust the boarding pike up above the casemate...Ossippee's Commander LeRoy called for All Stop, then 'reverse engines!' but Ossippee already had a good bit of momentum up...enough so that she still bumped Tennessee.
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| Tennessee surrenders...note that her funnel's gone.Chickasaw's on the far right, off of her port stern, where she'd stuck like glue for the entire battle. Ossipee's bow on in the drawing, off of Tennessee's starboard bow and preparing to take Tennesse's surrender while Winnebago kind of sits in the wings with both turrets jammed, off of Ossipee's starboard stern quarter. While Manhattan supposedly came alongside and took Tennessee's colors, she isn't visible in the drawing. Hartford's off of Tennessee's starboard stern quarter and parallel to her. Click on the pic for a larger version...all of the ships are listed, names beneath their position in the drawing, along the lower edge. |
“Stand by to be boarded...How many wounded do you have?” from Ossippee, which, thanks to her aborted ramming run on the Confederate ironclad, was the closest ship to her when she surrendered. Johnston watched as a crew from Ossippee lowered a boat and rowed over to his now defeated command. He called across the approximate number of injured they had, adding that one of them was Admiral Buchanan. Meanwhile USS Manhattan...sister ship to the sunken USS Tecumseh...slowly eased towards them, the Stars and Stripes lolling in the breeze from a flagstaff at her stern. Manhattan's helmsman expertly swung the monitor parallel to Tennessee, then brought his ship to within a couple of feet of the Confederate ironclad. A couple of sailors jumped aboard Tennessee and grabbed her colors, which were lying abandoned on the Rebel ironclad's deck. Phase one of The Battle of Mobile Bay was over.
<***>Links, Notes, And Stuff<***>
Believe it or not I thought this was going to be a comparatively short, quick post...seems I missed that one. The Battle of Mobile Bay was the Civil War's biggest and bloodiest naval battle, and had dozens of little twists, turns, and surprises. It also was one of the the lead-ins the the war's wind-down phase, though no one really realized that at the time. OH...Mobile Bay also hosted the very last major battle of the war...after what most people consider the end of the war had already occurred. But that's for another post...and this one post has probably given birth to at least four or five more.
There's actually a pretty good amount of information on the battle out there...including Admiral Farragut's after action report...which, when I found it, changed a couple of parts of this post. I still had to conjecture and speculate a little. Hope I made it accurate...and informative...and interesting. On to the 'Notes'
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*Remember Admiral Farragut's flag captain, on board Hartford, yelling at Buchanan that he was an 'Infernal Traitor? There was a reason for that. Franklin Buchanan was born and raised in Baltimore, Md and entered the Navy...that'd be the U.S. Navy...during the war of 1812. He entered the Navy as a teen and enjoyed a distinguished and eventful 45 year career in that branch of the service. This, of course, was before the little dust-up between The North and The South. During his U.S. Navy career he commanded several ships, saw action against pirates and led a party ashore to capture an enemy fort during the Mexican War. And...the biggie, IMHO...he was the founding superintendent of The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.
He was the Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard from 1859-1861, then when southern states started seceding from the Union, Buchanan was sympathetic to the Confederate cause and jumped ship, so to speak, joining the Confederate Navy. Probably, I might add, bringing some very useful information with him as he did do. So he grew up in the North, joined the U.S.Navy, then fought against the U.S.Navy (Fighting against officers who were educated at the Naval Academy that he helped found) during the Civil War. In the process he became the only officer to hold the rank of Admiral in the Confederate Navy.
Despite all of this, he was still remembered fondly by his former branch of the service...so fondly, in fact, that the Superintendent's residence at Annapolis is named 'Buchanan House' in his honor, and he's had three Destroyers named after him...DDs 131 and 464, and DDG-14.
Despite all of this, he was still remembered fondly by his former branch of the service...so fondly, in fact, that the Superintendent's residence at Annapolis is named 'Buchanan House' in his honor, and he's had three Destroyers named after him...DDs 131 and 464, and DDG-14.
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| One of Franklin Buchanan's legacies...the Superintendent's house at The U S.Naval Academy, which he helped found, is named after him. |
But Franklin Buchanan wasn't the only Admiral who jumped ship...sort of. David Farragut was born in the South, and fought for the North. He was born in Tennessee as James Farragut...son of a career Naval officer...and his name was changed to David when he took on the name of his adoptive father, David Porter, when Porter adopted him in 1808, after the death of his mother. and like Buchanan, he became a midshipman in the U.S.Navy at a very young age (Farragut was, believe it or not, 9...they trained 'em young in those days!)
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| A bit more informal photo of Admiral Farragut...in front, at the ship's wheel, and Hartford's captain, Percival Drayton behind the Admiral.standing at Hartford's helm.The helm is at the after part of the deck, behind them is the mizzenmast...probably the one that the Admiral climbed to get above the smoke form their cannon..and the after deckhouse, below the poop deck,.. |
Like Buchanan, Farragut enjoyed a 40+ year naval career. The rank of Rear Admiral was created for him during the Civil War, and like his counterpart in the Confederate Navy, he became the first full Admiral in the U.S. Navy. David Farragut was an active duty Navy officer for life,and was in his 6th decade of active service when he died in 1870. He has been honored with three postage stamps over the years.
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One little bit of trivia that lots of historians seem to over look...During the Battle of Mobile Bay, the ship Admiral Farragut fought against was named after his home state...Tennessee.
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Johnston made no bones about why Tennessee was defeated, and gave Chickasaw's crew a back-handed compliment while he was at it. When Johnston surrendered to Commander LeRoy, the two veteran commanders discussed the battle...ironclads being new technology, LeRoy was probably especially interested in Johnston's take on the battle....and Johnston had no problem giving it to him.
“If it had not been for that damned black hulk hanging on our stern, we would have got along well enough; she did us more damage than all the rest of the Federal fleet.” and his pilot, also standing there, chimed in as well.
“Damn him! He stuck to us like a leech. We could not get rid of him. “
Meanwhile, Chickasaw's crew got, ego-boost wise, the cherry job of the battle...after all but single handedly defeating Tennessee, she got to tow the captured Confederate ironclad back the the U.S. fleet's anchorage.
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There was a reason that, no matter what maneuver she tried, Tennessee couldn't shake 'That damned black hulk'. Chickasaw had four screws rather than the more customary one or two. Each pair, using a for the time extremely sophisticated gear box, was turned by a single engine, and each pair could be reversed, making Chickasaw very maneuverable in the type of slow speed running battle she engaged Tennessee in. Many observers were in awe as Chickasaw's pilot, captain, and engine room crew, by coordinating helm and engine room orders, sometimes all but crabbed the big twin turreted monitor sideways to stay right on Tennessee's stern...this is especially amazing considering that she had no power boost for her helm, and engine room orders were shouted down voice tubes.
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Though Union Forces took control of Mobile Bay on August 5th, 1864 Fort Morgan didn't fall as quickly or easily. Troops were landed about 4 miles behind the fort, cutting it off from any assistance from Mobile, then established a beach head about three miles closer to the fort in a trench that had been built, then abandoned by the Confederate forces. They then advanced on Fort Morgan by building a series of parallel trenches a few hundred yards apart until they were within bombardment range of the fort, while the warships in the bay generally harassed the fort with frequent bombardment from the bay side.
Bad weather slowed them down somewhat on several days, but by August 22nd everything was in place for an entire day of heavy bombardment that threatened the fort's magazines and set the main barracks building...a huge 10 sided structure called The Citadel...on fire. This fire not only threatened the fort's magazines...and a couple of them did cook off...it also gave the Union ships out in the bay an extremely well illuminated aiming point. Troops inside the fort fought the fire under bombardment, finally extinguishing it after several hours of firefighting as shells crashed in around them. At about 6AM, after accessing the situation and deciding that they were done, the fort's commanding officer ordered the guns spiked, and ran up a white flag. And, at about 6AM on August 23, the Battle of Mobile Bay was over.
Bad weather slowed them down somewhat on several days, but by August 22nd everything was in place for an entire day of heavy bombardment that threatened the fort's magazines and set the main barracks building...a huge 10 sided structure called The Citadel...on fire. This fire not only threatened the fort's magazines...and a couple of them did cook off...it also gave the Union ships out in the bay an extremely well illuminated aiming point. Troops inside the fort fought the fire under bombardment, finally extinguishing it after several hours of firefighting as shells crashed in around them. At about 6AM, after accessing the situation and deciding that they were done, the fort's commanding officer ordered the guns spiked, and ran up a white flag. And, at about 6AM on August 23, the Battle of Mobile Bay was over.
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| 'The Citadel' inside Fort Morgan, after the bombardment...it caught on fire, lighting the target up very effectively and giving the U.S. ships an aiming point. The building was so badly damaged it was razed. |
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| Fort Morgan Point light house, just west and slightly south of the fort on the tip of Fort Morgan Point, after the battle. This illustrates the effect of heavy mid 19thy Century heavy naval artillery very nicely. The small building just to the right of the lighthouse is the hot shot furnace, used to heat cannon balls until they were red hot, so they would set wooden ships they were fired at on fire...early incendiary rounds. The Confederate forces didn't get a chance to put it to use at The Battle of Mobile Bay. |
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Fort Morgan wasn't the only fort that Admiral Farragut had to deal with, of course...he also had to contend with Fort Gaines. on Dauphen Island, and Fort Powell, on a shell island in Grant's Pass, the western entrance to Mobile Bay. Both went down far earlier and far easier than Fort Morgan, though.
Fort Powell was the first, and easiest to deal with. After Tennessee was captured and Mobile Bay secured, Admiral Farragut sent Chickasaw to shell the fort from the Mobile Bay, and the twin turreted monitor did just that, sending a couple of dozen shells down range, then swinging back east to assist the troops preparing for a push on Fort Gaines, on Dauphen Island, with naval gunfire if needed. Not a single one of Fort Powell's 18 guns fired a single shot. Her C.O. was convinced that resisting the Union forces would only result in needless bloodshed, and he spiked the guns, destroyed the magazine, and he and his entire 140 man garrison waded ashore and made their way to Mobile.
Fort Gaines was slightly harder to crack...but not that much harder. Sand dunes shielded the Federal ground forces as they moved artillery pieces into position, and the Union warships were massed in Mobile Bay preparing to shell the fort from the bay, which they did with vigor and deadly accuracy for three days, especially the monitors, and I have a feeling most especially Chickasaw. She had become the workhorse of the fleet with her six foot draft and twin gun turrets. Her shallow draft allowed her to come in just beyond the surf line and pound the fort from point blank range while the shells from Fort Gains' guns just 'BLANG'ed noisily but harmlessly off of her armor.
While Fort Gaines' garrison was having to deal with the naval bombardment the Army artillery began screaming in from the land side (revealing a serious weakness in the Forts construction...almost no protection from the landward side of the fort). Fort Gaines C.O recognized an unwinnable situation when he saw one, and met with Admiral Farragut and the Army commander...Major General Granger...under a flag of truce. Fort Gaines was surrendered on August 8th.
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| One of the shell hits from Chickasaw's guns, still evident in Fort Gaines' masonry after 150 years |
While Fort Gaines' garrison was having to deal with the naval bombardment the Army artillery began screaming in from the land side (revealing a serious weakness in the Forts construction...almost no protection from the landward side of the fort). Fort Gaines C.O recognized an unwinnable situation when he saw one, and met with Admiral Farragut and the Army commander...Major General Granger...under a flag of truce. Fort Gaines was surrendered on August 8th.
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One of the ships shelling Fort Morgan looked awful familiar to the troops in the fort...an awful like the old CSS Tennessee. Could be because she was the old CSS Tennessee, which was repaired after her capture and placed back in service by the U. S. Navy as the USS Tennessee . After shelling Fort Morgan, she was sent to New Orleans for further repair and modification. She remained in service as a U.S.Navy ship for the remainder of the war, serving on the Mississippi River. She was decommissioned in August 1865, and sold for scrap in late November 1867. Though Tennessee is long gone, several of her guns are on display at various Naval installations in the southern U.S.
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| Tennessee after her capture in summer 1865...she was now USS Tennessee. Note all of the awnings...ironclads on both sides were notorious for being brutally hot during the summer, and the crews spent as much time on deck as possible. |
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CSS Tennessee was actually the third ship of that name in the Confederate Navy. The first Tennessee was a passenger steamer that was converted to a Blockade Runner early in the war. She was captured by the Union forces, and actually became the first USS Tennessee of the Civil War when she was converted into a cruiser and commissioned as a US NAvy vessel. She was renamed USS Mobile after Admiral Buchanan's flagship was captured and commissioned as a U.S.Navy ship.
The second CSS Tennessee was to be the second Arkansas class casemate ram and was under construction in Memphis when that city fell in April 1862. Both were under construction when Federal forces approached the city, but Arkansas was near enough finished to be quickly launched and towed to Greenwood, Miss. to be finished. The second CSS Tennessee, however , was not as far along in the building process, and her hull wasn't yet water tight, so she was burned to prevent capture.
Interestingly enough, the first CSS Tennessee...the blockade runner...has been all but forgotten. If you hear or read ' CSS Tennessee I, this always refers to the Arkansas class ironclad that was burned to prevent her capture...and any reference to CSS Tennessee II is always a reference to Admiral Buchanan's flagship.
The second CSS Tennessee was to be the second Arkansas class casemate ram and was under construction in Memphis when that city fell in April 1862. Both were under construction when Federal forces approached the city, but Arkansas was near enough finished to be quickly launched and towed to Greenwood, Miss. to be finished. The second CSS Tennessee, however , was not as far along in the building process, and her hull wasn't yet water tight, so she was burned to prevent capture.
Interestingly enough, the first CSS Tennessee...the blockade runner...has been all but forgotten. If you hear or read ' CSS Tennessee I, this always refers to the Arkansas class ironclad that was burned to prevent her capture...and any reference to CSS Tennessee II is always a reference to Admiral Buchanan's flagship.
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If you've been reading my Blog...and I hope a few people other than myself have been doing so...you remember me commenting on the conversion of USS Roanoke to a triple turreted ironclad, and the truly horrendously botched up job that became. Had her conversion been designed and executed properly...or had her flaws been corrected when they were recognized...assignments such as shelling heavily fortified bases like Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines would have been the perfect job for her. She would have really been perfect for shelling fortified positions had they armed her with 6 big 15 inch Dahlgrens...two per turret...such as the ones that Manhattan and her ill fated sister Tecumseh mounted. So armed and properly fitted out, she could have stood in the channel and pounded the fort with upwards of 80 heavy shells per hour all day long. But, sadly, her conversion was botched and she was a dog in any sea rougher than the average bath tub, denying the U S Navy a truly formidable weapon.
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Don't think for a minute that the US Navy was the only navy capable of missing the mark with ship design. What a lot of people don't know is the fact that the Admiral Buchanan did have another ironclad at his disposal,...the CSS Nashville, which was fitting out in Mobile. One big problem...the Nashville was such a dog that she made the converted ironclad USS Roanoke look like a cigarette boat. She was built in Montgomery, Alabama as the first ship in a class of side wheel ironclads that would exploit the availability of riverboat engines. She'd be the only ship of the class to be...well, almost...completed (A sister ship, CSS Phoenix, was so badly damaged when she was launched that she was relegated to use as a floating battery, then sunk as an obstruction).
CSS Nashville was a 270 foot long, 1240 ton behemoth. She was heavily armored and her side wheels made her extremely maneuverable...reversing one and going ahead on the other allowed her to turn in nearly her own length...but she was slow and her huge armored wheel boxes and engines on the main deck as well as the way her casemate was sloped seriously reduced the number of guns she could mount. Her heavy armor...six inches forward and two inches aft...was too heavy for her structure. On top of that, she never was completely finished or armed. Her guns were the highest tech naval artillery available in the latter part of the war, but the steep slope of her casemate created a need for custom made long barreled cannon and only three were ever cast. While Admiral Farragut was concerned about the possibility of her backing Tennessee up in Mobile Bay, Nashville never left her wharf during the battle. She was involved in a couple of skirmishes late in the war and was in fact involved in one of the very last naval actions of the conflict, but for the most part she was never really utilized...or ever even completely finished. This won't be the last you hear of her though... CSS Nashville is well worth her own post.
CSS Nashville was a 270 foot long, 1240 ton behemoth. She was heavily armored and her side wheels made her extremely maneuverable...reversing one and going ahead on the other allowed her to turn in nearly her own length...but she was slow and her huge armored wheel boxes and engines on the main deck as well as the way her casemate was sloped seriously reduced the number of guns she could mount. Her heavy armor...six inches forward and two inches aft...was too heavy for her structure. On top of that, she never was completely finished or armed. Her guns were the highest tech naval artillery available in the latter part of the war, but the steep slope of her casemate created a need for custom made long barreled cannon and only three were ever cast. While Admiral Farragut was concerned about the possibility of her backing Tennessee up in Mobile Bay, Nashville never left her wharf during the battle. She was involved in a couple of skirmishes late in the war and was in fact involved in one of the very last naval actions of the conflict, but for the most part she was never really utilized...or ever even completely finished. This won't be the last you hear of her though... CSS Nashville is well worth her own post.
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| Overhead and port side profile views of CSS Nashviille. Found on madhampstes.blogspot.com |
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Speakin' of CSS Nashville...there were actually two ships of that name in the Confederate Navy. The first was a commerce raider/blockade runner that gave the U.S. Navy fits during the early part of the war. She just may get a post of her own as well.
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U SS Tecumseh was not the only Union vessel lost during the Battle of Mobile Bay. The U S S Philippi was the former Confederate blockade runner Ella, a fast side-wheel steamer that was captured by the USS Howquah off of Fort Fisher, N.C. on November 10 1863. She was converted to a picket and supply ship and was attached to Admiral Farragut's fleet as a supply ship. She was following the fleet into Mobile Bay, her captain blatantly disregarding orders to stay out in the Gulf until the bay was secured and came within range of Fort Morgan's guns. She was shelled, and her boiler knocked out by one of the fort's guns. Two of her crew were killed in the exchange of gunfire, and I'm not even sure she got a shot off. After Philippi was disabled, CSS Morgan...one of Tennessee's tenders.. sent a crew over on a small boat to board her and set her on fire...she burned and sank off of Fort Gaines. Her captain was court marshaled, found guilty of disobeying orders and causing the loss of his ship, and dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Navy.
Philippi was all wood, 140 feet long with a displacement of about 360 tons, and mounted a 24 pounder, a 20 pound Parrott rifle, and a pair of 12 pounder rifled guns. Her wreck...or what's left of it...is still on the bottom of the Gulf, and was possibly found by one of Clive Cussler's wreck hunting expeditions 1n 1989
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If we're going to talk about the loss of USS Phillippi we've also got to mention that scrappiest of all Confederate gun boats...at least on Mobile Bay...CSS Morgan. First she was attacked by, tangled with, and drove off USS Metacomet. Then she sent a crew to finish off Phillippi. And finally she escaped under cover of darknsss and made a run to Mobile, making it despite Federal cruisers chasing and firing on her the whole way.
I looked for a pic of CSS Morgan... for all of her spunkyness and sass, there's not a single view, be it drawing, painting, or photo... of her to be found on line. Anywhere.
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Metacomet was one of Admiral Farragut's workhorses in a big way, but probably her most notable...and least well known...task was her mission of mercy after the battle. Admiral Farragut noted that his now vanquished rival and former arch foe Admiral Buchanan was in a bad way...compound fractures are even now not minor injuries, 150 years ago they were debilitating, almost always requiring amputation. The US naval hospital in Pensacola was far better equipped to handle serious battle caused injuries. (This is relative of course...today a Patient First is hundreds of ways better equipped than that hospital would have been). Quite a few U.S.Navy personnel had been injured, and Tennessee's surgeon was adamant that Admiral Buchanan be removed to a hospital...a view that Admiral Farragut concurred with. He sent a message to Fort Morgan's C.O...Brigadier General Richard Page...asking that Metacomet be allowed passage out of the bay...taking injured from both sides to Pensacola...and back into the bay, bringing back nothing that she didn't leave with. Brig. General Page agreed to the arrangement, and Metacomet added 'Hospital Ship' to her many talents.
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| USS Metacomet |
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While Mobile Bay was now solidly in U.S. Hands, the city of Mobile remained a Confederate city right up to the end of the war. The city of Mobile was defended by an intricate series of well manned earth works and gun emplacements and trying to take the city would have tied up resources that could be used elsewhere while causing needless casualties. Mobile Bay being in U.S. hands caused Mobile to be essentially land locked despite being a port city....there was no way any Confederate ships could enter or leave the port. The city's usefulness as a naval shipyard, a base for blockade runners and as a distribution center for supplies was now less than zilch and there was absolutely no need to commit manpower to taking the city at this point in the war.
While Mobile could no longer contribute anything to the actual war effort, the fact that the city remained in Confederate hands did have an effect on the morale of the citizens of the northern states or more accurately, their perception of the significance of the U.S. victory in Mobile Bay. In 1864, the war was not going well for the U.S. forces...they had been handed a number of numbing defeats, Cold Harbor, to this day the worst defeat the U.S. Army has ever suffered, being one of them. In light of this fact, the public wondered why the victory at Mobile Bay was so important if Mobile was still in Rebel hands. This public perception of the victory didn't really change until Atlanta fell...in some ways (And this is my opinion here) the U.S. victory at Atlanta was somewhat like the U.S. victory at Midway in WWII. Not only was it a major victory that marked a major turning point in the war, it was also a huge boost to public morale. And as the US victories mounted, the questions about Mobile ceased. Mobile actually remained a Confederate city until, literally, the end of the war. The city was surrendered to Union forces three days after Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox, and the day after The Battles of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely...considered by a majority of Civil War historians to be the last major battle of The Civil War.
<<<<LINKS>>>>
The inevitable Wikipedia article about The Battle Of Mobile Bay
http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/mobilebay.htm
http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/mobilebay.htm
U.S.Naval Archive site that includes Admiral Farragut's general orders concerning the battle and his after action report...an awesome read!
Excellent site about the history of Fort Morgan
Fort Gaines fortwiki page...an excellent illustrated history of Fort Gaines.
Site with some excellent to awesome artwork depicting the Battle of Mobile Bay as well as an excellent write-up on CSS Tennessee. This is where I got all of the illustrations of the battle itself.
http://bet-you-didnt-know.blogspot.com/2013/09/what-happened-to-em-part-ivmobile.html
A bit of shameless pluggun' here...my first 'What Happened To 'Em' blob post concerning the ships of The Battle of Mobile BAy
http://bet-you-didnt-know.blogspot.com/2013/09/what-happened-to-em-part-ivmobile.html
A bit of shameless pluggun' here...my first 'What Happened To 'Em' blob post concerning the ships of The Battle of Mobile BAy
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