"Carolyn" was not dead—yet. After "U-123" turned to starboard, "Atik" gathered steerage way, paralleling her course by turning to starboard as well, and dropped her concealment, commencing fire from her main and secondary batteries. The first shell dropped short of the U-boat, as she made off presenting a small target; the others were off in deflection. A veritable hail of .50-caliber machine gun fire, though, ricochetted around the U-boat's decks as she put on speed to escape the trap into which Hardegen had fallen. One bullet mortally wounded a midshipman standing watch on "U-123"'s bridge.