full speed ahead

1. adjective Moving or proceeding with the utmost speed, energy, or enthusiasm. With all the legal hurdles behind us, it was full speed ahead as we began construction of the new resort. It took a while for solar panels to catch on for ordinary consumers, but now it's full speed ahead. I just knew it would be full speed ahead once people were introduced to our product!

2. adverb As quickly and efficiently as possible; with all possible energy and determination. We'll have to go full speed ahead if we want to get this done by the deadline! We're ready to go full speed ahead once the health inspector signs off. I don't care that it might bankrupt the company! Go full speed ahead and get it done already!

full steam ahead

1. adjective Moving or proceeding with the utmost speed, energy, or enthusiasm. With all the legal hurdles behind us, it was full steam ahead as we began construction of the new resort. It took a while for solar panels to catch on for ordinary consumers, but now it's full steam ahead. I just knew it would be full steam ahead once people were introduced to our product!

2. adverb As quickly and efficiently as possible; with all possible energy and determination. We'll have to go full steam ahead if we want to get this done by the deadline! We're ready to go full steam ahead once the health inspector signs off. I don't care that it might bankrupt the company! Go full steam ahead and get it done already!

full speed/steam ahead!

Proceed with all possible rapidity and power. Both versions refer to the steam engine in ships and locomotives, as does with a full head of steam. “Full steam” meant a boiler that had developed maximum pressure. The terms became popular through an order attributed to David Glasgow Farragut at the Battle of Mobile Bay (Aug. 5, 1864): “Damn the torpedoes! Full steam ahead!” (Torpedoes in those days referred to mines.) They were transferred to nonmilitary enterprises soon afterward, but ironically one of them resurfaced in literal fashion more than a century later. In 1989 environmental activists from the Greenpeace movement sailed out among U.S. Navy boats that were testing torpedoes off the coast of Florida in order to impede what they perceived as a hazard to the surrounding ecology. The Greenpeace order of the day was, again, “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead,” and the navy, either unwittingly or on purpose, collided with the Greenpeace vessel, which was severely damaged.