Idiom
damn the torpedoes
Meaning
Used to dismiss the risks of a dangerous action.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“I will start the business and damn the torpedoes.”
“The project is risky, but we decided to damn the torpedoes and launch it anyway.”
“Despite the warnings from his advisors about the potential for failure, he chose to damn the torpedoes and proceed with his ambitious plan.”
Examples
simple
“I will start the business and damn the torpedoes.”
contextual
“The project is risky, but we decided to damn the torpedoes and launch it anyway.”
complex
“Despite the warnings from his advisors about the potential for failure, he chose to damn the torpedoes and proceed with his ambitious plan.”
Origin
From "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!", a famous order issued by Admiral David Farragut during the Battle of Mobile Bay, a paraphrase of the actual order, "Damn the torpedoes! Four bells. Captain Drayton, go ahead! Jouett, full speed!".
Key words
Related idioms
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