Brooklyn halted after losing its monitor screen and confronting the minefield, threatening to stall the Union column inside the forts' killing zone. Farragut judged that exchanging signals while stationary would cost more ships than pushing through. Once beyond the mines, Union vessels fought CSS Tennessee. Her commander, Franklin Buchanan, had previously commanded CSS Virginia and again chose ramming, but Tennessee was slower than the Union ships. Repeated impacts did not pierce her armor, yet they disrupted her machinery; monitors USS Chickasaw and USS Manhattan then bracketed her at close range as other failures accumulated. Tennessee's capture gave Farragut another ironclad, while naval firepower helped force the surrounding forts to fall.
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Breaking out of Mobile Bay's killing zone
When Brooklyn stopped under the forts, Farragut drove the column through the minefield, then defeated and captured the Confederate ironclad Tennessee.