The fire from the vessels was most ineffectual, owing, as I
afterward learned, to the unexpected suddenness of the first volley,
which caught the ship's crews entirely unprepared and the sighting
apparatus of the guns unprotected from the deadly aim of our
warriors.
It seems that each green warrior has certain objective points for
his fire under relatively identical circumstances of warfare. For
example, a proportion of them, always the best marksmen, direct
their fire entirely upon the wireless finding and sighting apparatus
of the big guns of an attacking naval force; another detail attends
to the smaller guns in the same way; others pick off the gunners;
still others the officers; while certain other quotas concentrate
their attention upon the other members of the crew, upon the upper
works, and upon the steering gear and propellers.
Twenty minutes after the first volley the great fleet swung trailing
off in the direction from which it had first appeared. Several of
the craft were limping perceptibly, and seemed but barely under the
control of their depleted crews. Their fire had ceased entirely
and all their energies seemed focused upon escape.
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