"Fire! Open fire!" Yelled Admiral Pedro Max Fernando Frontin to his crew.
Everyone immediately obeyed. It was the first time the Brazilian Navy was actively participating in combat during World War I.
The cruiser Bahia—named after a Brazilian state—pointed its guns to the sea and fired in the direction of the periscope.
At that time, Bahia was patrolling Gibraltar's waters on England's behalf. Everyone knew that a German submarine destroyed HMS Britannia on the Strait of Gibraltar; everyone was on high alert.
Feeling the tension, the responsibility, being night and having zero submarine detection technology, the Brazilian Navy didn't wait to see. At the first sign of danger, everyone went to battle positions.
Admiral Frontin didn't think twice before shooting.
There was no discussion; no one objected to the attack.
Everyone did what they had to do.
In a few minutes, Bahia fired its cannons for the first and last time during World War I.
After shooting, everyone run to watch the results. They anticipated metal, submarine parts. What they saw was blood.
"We got them! We got them!" The Brazilians celebrated.
But the celebration didn't last. Soon, it became clear that the Brazilian Navy didn't hit a German submarine.
"What the h...?"
Bahia's cannons did hit and killed something, but it wasn't enemies. It wasn't even people. In its first and last combat in World war I, the Brazilian Navy killed around 50 porpoises swimming close to the cruiser, as they always do. A sad day to Brazil's Navy, but an even sadder day to the porpoises.
THE END
*****
The Porpoises Battle was a Brazil's Navy event that happened at the Strait of Gibraltar in November 1918, at the end of World War I.
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batalha_das_Toninhas
