 As the communist gunboats came out to meet them, the nationalist force still weary of previous naval engagement three days ago withdrew to open ocean, where the conditions favored the larger nationalist fleet because there was more space to maneuver.However, the communist gunboats did not pursue because the communists were fully aware their meek naval strength and once the mission of preventing the nationalist naval fleet from bombarding the communist assets was completed, the communists gunboats withdrew.Although the bombardment mission ended early and thus was not a success, the nationalists were quick to devise a plan based on the experience to counterattack by wiping out the communist naval force after luring it out to the open ocean, and then retake the islands from the communists who would not have any naval support of their own.