The enormous disproportion between the damage sustained by the ships and batteries respectively may be accounted for, partly by the inferior construction of the works, and partly also by the inferior practice of the gunners by whom they were manned. There were other faults in the defence. For example: the batteries were so placed as to be unable, except at Fort Pharos, to support one another; there was no bomb-proof cover; there was too small a stock of ammunition in readiness; and the men who should have been employed as reliefs for manning the rifled guns wasted their efforts with the smooth bores, which were practically useless.
With regard to the fire of the fleet generally, a variety of opinions has been expressed. One authority states that, with the exception of the Inflexible and Temeraire, the English gunners did not greatly distinguish themselves. Many of the shells of the Monarch, Inflexible, and Superb fell short.[23] The fire also was said to have been too slow, thus giving the enemy's artillerists time to recover themselves. The fire of the Inflexible was stated to have been particularly disappointing in this respect. That of the Alexandra was much more rapid than that of the others, as her much greater expenditure of ammunition shows.
A naval officer of experience has expressed the opinion that, considering the nature of the works attacked, an old line-of-battle ship, with her numerous though much smaller guns, would have been more effective than the modern ships which took part in the bombardment. If one considers the great size and weight of the majority of the projectiles used, as well as the capacity of the shell and the consequent amount of their bursting charges, one can hardly fail to be astonished at the small effect produced on the sand parapets, especially when it is remembered that the latter were in many cases, according to modern theory, too weak to afford any real protection. It is a fact, and one on which too much stress cannot be laid, that in only one instance was any one of the parapets pierced by a shell from the fleet, and that Fort Mex was the only battery which could not have been sufficiently repaired during the night to resume the action on the following day. One remarkable feature of the fire from the fleet was the enormous number of shells which failed to explode, and this has never been satisfactorily accounted for.
The expenditure of ammunition by the squadron appears from the following table:—
| Ship. | Common. | Palliser. | Shrapnel. | Segment. | Empty Shell. | Shot. | Case. | Total.[24] | Martini- Henry. | Nordenfeldt. | Gatling. | Rockets |
| Alexandra | 379 | 23 | 1 | 4 | 407 | 4000 | 340 | |||||
| Superb | 257 | 83 | 25 | 34 | 12 | 411 | 1161 | 880 | ||||
| Sultan | 247 | 24 | 3 | 44 | 10 | 10 | 338 | 1800 | 2000 | |||
| Penelope | 241 | 45 | 32 | 62 | 380 | 5000 | 1672 | |||||
| Monarch | 227 | 5 | 129 | 6 | 367 | 1800 | 3440 | 2680 | ||||
| Temeraire | 139 | 70 | 13 | 6 | 228 | 160 | ||||||
| Invincible | 221 | 25 | 2 | 2 | 250 | 2000 | 2000 | 1000 | ||||
| Inflexible | 139 | 21 | 11 | 37 | 208 | 2000 | ||||||
| Beacon | 21 | 1 | 61 | 18 | 101 | 320 | 3 | |||||
| Condor | 162 | 8 | 31 | 201 | 1000 | 200 | 13 | |||||
| Bittern | 66 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 89 | ||||||
| Cygnet | 72 | 71 | 143 | |||||||||
| Decoy | 69 | 69 | 40 | |||||||||
| Helicon | 6 | 6 | ||||||||||
| Total | 2246 | 233 | 261 | 154 | 175 | 126 | 3 | 3198 | 10,160 | 16,233 | 7100 | 37 |
The hits received by the fleet were as follows:—
Alexandra. Twenty-four shot and shell penetrated the ship above the armour-plating. Several shot and shell struck the armour; of these, some made indentations on the plates from five inches to one inch in depth. The foremost funnel was struck in three places. The total number of hits was about sixty.
Sultan. Number of hits, twenty-seven, of which two struck the armour, denting two plates, and starting one. One shot went through the after funnel. The holes made in the side were as follows:—One sixteen inches by twelve inches; another fifteen inches in diameter; and a third fourteen inches in diameter. A hole sixteen inches by ten was made through the mainmast.
Superb. Fourteen hits, of which seven were on the hull, and seven on the upper works and spars. A 10-inch shell struck the port side, and, bursting, tore a hole in the side ten feet by four feet, within three feet of the water-line. The armour-plating on the port side was struck by two shells, of which one indented the armour three inches, and the other burst, starting a plate, and breaking fourteen rivet-heads. Some of the rigging was shot away, and a hole twelve inches in diameter was made in the foremast. Two other holes in the side were as follows:—One ten inches in diameter, four feet above the water-line; the other twelve inches in diameter (made by a 10-inch shot), five feet above the water-line.
Penelope. Eight hits, of which three were on the armour, making little or no indentation. Of the others, one passed through the after embrasure on the starboard side; another hit the starboard quarter gallery; the third struck a 9-pounder gun, carried off the sight and damaged the carriage; the fourth hit the mainyard, port side; and the fifth struck the muzzle of one of the 8-inch guns, then broke up and destroyed the transom plate of the carriage. The gun and carriage were put out of action.