Re: I give up....

"'There it is in black and blue?'"

IF you go to the web site I suggested, you'll find BLACK letters on a BLUE background. Meant as tongue in cheek - that simple, really.

In my expenditure accounting, my second sentence for the Mid February 1942 battle (the one in the Timor Sea) somehow got wiped and I didn't notice. So to repeat in complete form:

Early February (in which Houston lost the use of her aft main turret): fired 400-some 5" AA (anti-aircraft) shells, most of them punky.
Mid February: at Tjilatjap took on 500-some 5" AA (anti-aircraft) rounds of far better quality left there by light cruiser Boise. Fired between 900 and 930 5" AA rounds not long thereafter in the Timor Sea action.
Late February: fired 750 5" common (anti-ship) shells, quality not known.

"In that case, you tell me where/when HOUSTON fired those other 100+ eight inch projectiles? Explain that."

(a) That figure didn't originate with me. I just quoted the U.S.S. Houston website constructed postwar. The figure may be right or wrong, it isn't mine, so how can I know? (b) Far more importantly, everyone agrees those 8" MB shells were in terribly short supply. I thought this discussion was on the murkier question of how many 5" explosive rounds remained to the Houston after two lengthy battles in which over 900 AA projectiles and about 750 common shells were fired. Again I ask you - this time in BLACK & WHITE - how many 5" (not 8") shells did the Houston have in total after she loaded Boise's approximately 500 5" AA rounds back in Tjilatjap? I ask this question plain and simple.