The Chikuma was so close to the low-lying DE that her gunners seemed to have trouble depressing their guns sufficiently to take the Roberts under fire. At that depressed angle the gunners couldn’t reload. Each time the Japanese cruiser let loose with a flaming, windy blast, the guns would rise up and the turrets would turn inboard as the crew reloaded. Silently then the guns would train out again. “We’d see the flash of fire; then we’d hear the blast, and seemingly much later but actually at about the same time—whoosh— they’d go right over our heads.”
