Among the other ordinary ships of the fleet the contest was equal;
for the advantage that Philip had in the number of his galleys was balanced by Attalus' superiority in decked ships.
The position of affairs on Philip's right wing was such that the result was still doubtful; but Attalus was by far the most sanguine of success.
The Rhodians, as I just said, were at first from the moment that they put out to sea very widely separated from the enemy, but as they sailed a great deal faster they caught up[ the rear of the Macedonian fleet.
At first they attacked the ships which were retreating before them from the stern, breaking their banks of oars. But as soon as the rest of Philip's fleet began to put about and come to the assistance of their comrades in peril and those of the Rhodians who had been the last to put to sea joined Theophiliscus, then both fleets directing their prows against each other engaged gallantly, cheering each other on with loud cries and the peal of trumpets.
Now had not the Macedonians interspersed their galleys among their decked ships the battle would have been quickly and easily decided, but as it was these galleys impeded the action of the Rhodian ships in many ways.
For, once the original order of battle had been disturbed in their first charge, they were utterly mixed up, so that they could not readily sail through the enemy's line nor turn their ships round, in fact could not employ at all the tactics in which they excelled, as the galleys were either falling foul of their oars and making it difficult for them to row, or else attack gate them in the prow and sometimes in the stern, so that neither the pilots nor the oarsmen could serve efficiently.
But in the direct charges prow to prow they employed a certain artifice.
For dipping their prows themselves they received the enemy's blow above water, but piercing him below water produced breaches which could not be repaired.
It was but seldom, however, that they resorted to this mode of attack; for as a rule they avoided closing with the enemy, as the Macedonian soldiers offered a valiant resistance from the deck in such close combats.
For the most part they cut the enemy's line and put his banks of oars out of action, afterwards turning and sailing round again and charging him sometimes in the stern and sometimes in flank while he was still turning; thus they made breaches in some of the ships and in others damaged some part of the necessary gear.
Indeed by this mode of fighting they destroyed quite a number of the enemy's ships.
Walbank Commentary