Unless you can cite orders to the contrary. The mission was to resupply Sumter. The ships were not authorized to use force (i.e. start shooting) unless Charleston authorities resisted (i.e. opened fire) on the resupply effort. The Navy ships did not have carte blanche orders to attack Charleston or the Confederate forces present.
“but unbeknownst to the Confederates, Lincoln had secretly left the pin in that hand grenade he threw at them.”
You mean Seward. He is the person that failed to mention, in Porter’s recall order, that it was by direction of the President. Hoping that Porter would ignore it and continue on to Pensicola as Seward had planned.
Which is why they had five warships and a troop carrier with 200 riflemen. To quote Lincoln here, "Just because you call a tail a 'leg', doesn't make it so."
The ships were not authorized to use force (i.e. start shooting) unless Charleston authorities resisted (i.e. opened fire) on the resupply effort.
"Resisted" has many possible interpretations, and the fact that they had sunk ships in the channel and ran chains across various points to prevent ships from coming up the channel can be interpreted as resistance.
But we don't need to play this sort of game, because you and I both know that they were going to resist and every member of that force also knew the Confederates were going to resist, so let's just dispense with that fig leaf and acknowledge the facts that actually existed at the time.
That Fleet was ordered to use it's entire force to place reinforcements into Sumter.
You mean Seward. He is the person that failed to mention, in Porter’s recall order, that it was by direction of the President.
Porter immediately set out to engage in war with the Confederates in Pensacola. As has been pointed out to you before, one can only surmise that his actions were consistent with the secret orders he received from Lincoln.
Lincoln paralyzed the expedition while making them appear to be a serious belligerent threat, and deliberately leaving the confederates with the belief that an attack by these ships was imminent. If you read the Confederate telegraph messages of this time, you will find they had knowledge of a bunch of ship movements and troop movements of Union forces, and that they were expecting marine landing forces to also engage at the same time this fleet was threatening the entrance to their harbor.