The secondary armament had three main roles during a surface action. Their primary role was to protect the battleship against attacks by destroyers, torpedo boats and the like. It was for this reason that the guns were typically smaller, faster firing weapons, as this would increase the chances of hitting a manoeuvring target. The second role was to carry out what was called 'harassing fire' against enemy battleships. The secondary armament was incapable of penetrating the belt armour of an opposing battleship at typical engagement ranges. However, all battleships had unarmoured or lightly armoured sections which these guns could damage. This fire could wreck steering mechanisms, rangefinders and radars, or kill damage control parties. The final role was only needed in night actions. The secondary armament was used to fire star shells - essentially parachute flares - to illuminate a target for the main guns.