In fact, he thought, that second shot would've more than likely destroyed the ship.
"If you destroy the ship, the Americans will not know for sure how many we have."
So they destroyed their ship, or one of the boys did.
And he'll do anything to get it, short of destroying the ship.
The other two could not explain what had destroyed their ship.
"We try and find a way to destroy the ship."
"How do you know they don't want to destroy the ship?"
If so, why destroy the ship and attract our attention?
If they destroyed his ship, he'd be trapped here until he could find a new one.
It suggested that he was going to destroy his ship.