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Article: Battle of Mobile Bay had Hampton Roads flavor.(NEWS)
- Article from:
- The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)
- Article date:
- October 10, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Virginian Pilot-Ledger Star. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead," has to be one of the most famous battle cries in U.S. naval history.
It was during the Civil War naval Battle of Mobile Bay that Adm. David Farragut, who was raised in Norfolk as a midshipman, yelled the famous words to the Union warships under his command. He ordered them to steam past Confederate floating mines, or torpedoes, and engage the rebel fleet from his flagship, the USS Hartford.
The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, by the way, became home to the Hartford after the Civil War. The vessel remained there until it was declared a derelict and burned off Craney Island in the late 1950s. Critics afterward wondered why ...