A monitor did not need high speed because destroyers supplied the rapid manoeuvre and close protection it lacked. Roberts's task near a landing area was to keep its guns in action and survive, not chase torpedo craft. One story, tentatively placed around Salerno, has an escorting destroyer striking a torpedo boat with its stern during a close attack. Both the episode and its setting remain doubtful because the story appears in only one highly dramatic account, and the destroyer is not named. Even as uncertain evidence, the anecdote clarifies the intended division of labour between a stable bombardment platform and its fast escorts.
Notable Point · 11:50-13:26
The monitor's job was not high-speed defence
An anecdote tentatively placed around Salerno illustrates the division of labour: escorts handled fast threats while Roberts remained the stable gun platform.