Before D-Day, the Tenth Destroyer Flotilla and HMS Black Prince met German ships at night off Ushant. The action reversed an older expectation that destroyers would supply illumination for larger combatants. Black Prince instead fired starshell rapidly so the destroyers could concentrate on the targets it revealed. Starshell exposed the firing ship less directly than a searchlight, while the destroyers' own shell bursts could identify, range, and damage an enemy through 'illumination by fire.'
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HMS Black Prince illuminated the Battle of Ushant
At Ushant, a cruiser reversed the older illumination relationship by firing starshell so destroyers could concentrate on the targets it revealed.