Still the Norris's ships could enjoy superior numbers: on the day of May 21, the flotilla approached Alexandrovsky Fort and the Soviet lost the patrol boat Schastlivyy due to grounding while attempting to distract the British. Once the main battle erupted, at first the Soviet appeared victorious: a direct hit was scored on the bridge of Kruger (but with little damage), while other two direct hits caused more harm to the Emile Nobel, suffering 5 killed and 7 wounded. The first phase of the battle resulted in a temporary British retreat and Emile Nobel had to pull out from the fight. Other British sources state casualties were 5 killed and 3 wounded, in addition to 3 White Russians killed and 2 wounded: none of the ships suffered serious damage.Paul Halpern, The Mediterranean Fleet, 1919–1929, Routledge, 2016 Shortly after, Commodore Norris engaged the Soviets once more, focusing the superior high-fire of his ships: this time results were different when Kruger shelled and sunk the floating battery n°2 (responsible of the previous hits on the British ships with  loss of 12 men). The destroyer Moskvityanin was quickly lost due to grounding after multiple failures on guns and engines. The depot-ship Revel was full of oil and a large explosion was triggered after she was hit, mortally damaging the minelayer Demosthenes (later scuttled) and engulfing with the detonation also the mine-carrier Tuman, the auxiliary ship Gelma, the smaller Zoroaster (not to be confused with the British ship) and a number of small barges. The small submarine Minoga was also damaged by fire , meanwhile the Soviet flagship, the auxiliary cruiser Caspian was damaged after 2 direct hits. Commodore Norris halted fire having caused such losses to the enemy and after having spent most of the ammunition. During the battle, the Soviet submarine Makrel attempted to move into an attack position but could not carry out the attack . Soviet propaganda later claimed the British halted their fire due  Makrel's action  but the British ships never noticed the danger.
Still , Norris's ships could enjoy superior numbers: on May 21, the flotilla approached Alexandrovsky Fort and the Soviets lost the patrol boat Schastlivyy due to grounding while attempting to distract the British. Once the main battle erupted, the Soviets initially appeared victorious: a direct hit was scored on the bridge of Kruger (but with little damage), while two direct hits caused more harm to the Emile Nobel, which suffered 5 killed and 7 wounded. The first phase of the battle resulted in a temporary British retreat and Emile Nobel had to pull out of the fight. Other British sources state casualties were 5 killed and 3 wounded, in addition to 3 White Russians killed and 2 wounded: none of the ships suffered serious damage.Paul Halpern, The Mediterranean Fleet, 1919–1929, Routledge, 2016 Shortly after, Commodore Norris engaged the Soviets once more, focusing the superior firepower of his ships: this time results were different when Kruger shelled and sunk the floating battery n°2 (responsible of the previous hits on the British ships with , a loss of 12 men). The destroyer Moskvityanin was quickly lost due to grounding after multiple failures on guns and engines. The depot-ship Revel was full of oil and a large explosion was triggered after she was hit, mortally damaging the minelayer Demosthenes (later scuttled) . The explosion also engulfed the mine-carrier Tuman, the auxiliary ship Gelma, the smaller Zoroaster (not to be confused with the British ship) and a number of small barges. The small submarine Minoga was also damaged by fire . Meanwhile the Soviet flagship, the auxiliary cruiser Caspian , was damaged by two direct hits. Commodore Norris halted fire , having caused serious losses to the enemy and after having spent most of the ammunition. During the battle, the Soviet submarine Makrel attempted to move into an attack position but failed . Soviet propaganda later claimed the British halted their fire due to Makrel's action , but the British ships never noticed the danger.
R
the
,
D
the day of
R
Soviet
Soviets
R
at first the Soviet
the Soviets initially
D
other
R
suffering
which suffered
R
from
of
R
high-fire
firepower
A
, a
R
and engulfing with the detonation also
. The explosion also engulfed
R
, meanwhile
. Meanwhile
R
was damaged after 2
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R
having caused such
, having caused serious
R
could not carry out the attack
failed
A
to
A
,