Ritter von Trapp slammed the receiver down on the black phone labelled "Pola." The phone had appeared brand new and untouched a week ago and now looked as if it had been dragged through a rockpile. Trapp had just been ordered to attack Belgrade and to show the Serbs that a cowardly attack on Austria-Hungary would be met with force and destruction even though the forces at hand were primarily customs duty boats with upgraded guns. Not only were the units unsuited to the task but the two best boats were still being repaired from their recent action near Belegis. Orders were, however, orders and Trapp made it clear: "They will never catch me dodging a tough assignment." Men on the two older classes of gunboats wondered if he might have been a little more willing to dodge.

Each flotilla brought some of their best guns on some of their most fragile platforms. As in the salt water navies of the world, gunboats were built in named classes. This permitted the shipyards to work on several boats at once with the same equipment and parts. As in the salt water commands, action was often conducted by multi-boat forces comprised of units from the same named class. It also meant that if one unit of the class had a weakness all of the boats in that class had the same weakness. Despite the severe cost of the attack, the command at Pola was satisfied that honor had been retained as shells had been thrown into Belgrade. Trapp's report on the action included the statement "It escapes me what purpose was achieved by this demonstration except to terrorize a population that until the middle of last month would flock to the waterfront to cheer as we came by. While I am sure that the newspapers will label this otherwise, terrorism by any name is repugnant." Naval command at Pola was not amused. However when word of Trapp's sudden spinal toughening reached the men in his command morale improved immediately.