The ship was finally destroyed by a fire in 1918.
And it won't matter to our people whether their ship is destroyed or taken.
In fact, he thought, that second shot would've more than likely destroyed the ship.
"If you destroy the ship, the Americans will not know for sure how many we have."
So they destroyed their ship, or one of the boys did.
"They won't get anything because the ship will be destroyed."
And he'll do anything to get it, short of destroying the ship.
The other two could not explain what had destroyed their ship.
It was not simply that they ran the risk of the ship being destroyed.
In this case, however, the important thing was not how many ships had been destroyed.