Damn the Torpedoes would be a great motto

Interesting...I decided to do a bit of wiki digging, and according to wiki, the motto of the previous USS Farragut (DDG-39, commissioned December 10, 1960), was, in fact, "Damn the Torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"

So, why the change?

The current Farragut, DDG-99, was commissioned in 2006.

Probably because it's an unattributed quote that he probably didn't say. The damning of the torpedoes likely happened during the planning of the battle while studying the maps. The full speed ahead command was likely a call for 4 bells the command for the engine room to put on all steam.

But neither of those is very inspirational so his son kind of morphed it all together and quoted his father as saying "Damn the torpedoes! Four Bells" also not very inspirational. It then morphed multiple other times into what we know today.

But, we like to use a certain unattributed quote from Patton around here and he likely didn't say that either so believe what you want.

Exactly, it is a case like the journalist said in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, ,"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

Heck, the motto my regiment has used for round about a couple of centuries comes from an apocryphal quote attributed to a mortally wounded British general by the victorious American general.

"Regulars, by God!"