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In both cases the task seemed like a suicide mission.

But David Glasgow Farragut (1801–1870) didn't care.

When a courageous commander was sought in April 1862 to carry out an attack on the southern metropolis of New Orleans (Louisiana) on the water, he was the right man.

Farragut was anything but a staunch Yankee.

The man, who had already gone to sea when he was nine, came from Tennessee and was married to a Virginian.

But when the American Civil War broke out, the flag officer (commander with his own flag) remained loyal to the Union and devised a plan to conquer New Orleans.

The problem was that the New Orleans garrison consisted of only a few thousand men, but the access across the Mississippi was covered by two heavily fortified forts with dozens of guns.

Farragut's ships and the southern flotilla met in a confined space

Source: De Agostini via Getty Images

After Farragut had bombarded the fortresses for days, he decided to "run the gauntlet".

Because of the low water level, he could not use frigates.

So on April 24, he pulled 17 steam sloops and gunboats together and headed for the Confederate dam, which was hung with shipwrecks.

Two Union gunboats had managed to open a breach the night before.

But beyond that the flotilla came within range of the fortress guns.

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With unfinished ironclad ships and civilian boats on which cannons had been mounted, the Confederates tried to stop the advance of the Union ships.

Four units were lost, but the rest got through, and the next day Farragut dropped anchor at New Orleans.

The Union flag waved over the largest city in the south.

The conquest of the Mississippi Estuary is considered one of the most important victories for the Union Navy in the Civil War.

Two years later, Farragut, now promoted to rear admiral, let his triumph follow the next.

Again, the chances of success were mixed, to say the least.

In order to interrupt the supply of southerners in the western theater of war, the port of Mobile (Alabama) should finally be taken.

But the entrance to Mobile Bay was not only defended by three forts, but also by a minefield.

The admiral tied to the mast became an icon of the Navy (poster from 1917)

Source: Getty Images

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These “torpedoes” were powder-filled barrels that were held in position by a weight lying on the seabed.

To keep his ships on course in the artillery duel, Farragut had himself tied to the mast of his flagship.

He acknowledged the explosion of a ship ahead in the minefield with the words “Damn the torpedos!

Full speed ahead! ”(To hell with the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!) And led his flotilla through the canal.

Mobile remained in Confederate hands, but the access to the port, one of the few that was still open to the blockade breakers in the south, was blocked.

Farragut's torpedo command became the buzzword of the US Navy.

He himself was the first naval officer to receive the newly created rank of admiral.

Five US warships have since carried his name.

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