Philip's searchlight view of the Battle of Cape Matapan

From Valiant's bridge, Philip controlled the port searchlight while listening to fragments of conversation from the compass platform. An RDF report placed a stationary ship at roughly 5,000 yards, and the glow from a destroyer's searchlight helped him acquire the target. When Philip opened his shutter, the beam illuminated an Italian cruiser so close that it covered only part of the ship before the British battleships fired. His quoted recollection reconstructs the smoke, flashes, recognition lights, and sudden violence of the night engagement from one action station. The account also warns that a sailor's accurate local view may still omit events elsewhere in the formation.