According to Procopius ("The Vandalic War", I.11), the army consisted of 10,000 infantry, partly drawn from the field army ("comitatenses") and partly from among the "foederati", as well as 5,000 cavalry. There were also some 1,500–2,000 of Belisarius' own retainers ("bucellarii"), an elite corps (it is unclear if their number is included in the 5,000 cavalry mentioned as a total figure by Procopius). In addition, there were two additional bodies of allied troops, both mounted archers, 600 Huns and 400 Heruls. The army was led by an array of experienced officers, among whom the eunuch Solomon was chosen as Belisarius' chief of staff ("domesticus") and the former praetorian prefect Archelaus was placed in charge of the army's provisioning. The whole force was transported on 500 vessels manned by 30,000 sailors under admiral Calonymus of Alexandria, guarded by ninety-two dromon warships. The traditional view, as expressed by J.B. Bury, is that the expeditionary force was remarkably small for the task, especially given the military reputation of the Vandals, and that perhaps it reflects the limit of the fleet's carrying capacity, or perhaps it was an intentional move to limit the impact of any defeat. Ian Hughes however comments that even in comparison with the armies of the early Roman Empire, Belisarius' army was a "large, well-balanced force capable of overcoming the Vandals and may have contained a higher proportion of high quality, reliable troops than the armies stationed in the east".