“You May Fire When Ready, Gridley” Charles Vernon Gridley
The history of the United States Navy is sprinkled with famous phrases and memorable statements. “Don’t Give Up the Ship” by Captain James Lawrence and made into a flag by Oliver Hazard Perry during the War of 1812. “Damn The Torpedoes” by David G. Farragut from the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay, and “Scratch one flattop” said into the radio of Lt. Commander Robert E. Dixon when planes of his Navy dive bomber squadron sank a Japanese aircraft carrier at the Battle of the Coral Sea. Another famous naval phrase which remains in use today is “You may fire when ready, Gridley.” Who was Gridley? The only one of these famous phrases with a name in it comes from the order to open fire on the Spanish fleet by Commodore George Dewey at the Battle of Manila bay in 1898. These words were spoken to the captain of the U.S.S. Olympia, Captain Charles Vernon Gridley.
https://www.eriehistory.org/blog/you-may-fire-when-ready-gridley-charles-vernon-gridley