View source for Target ship

{{short description|Ship that is shot at for practice}}
[[File:Targetship ex-USS Connolly (DD-979).jpg|thumb|A Mexican helicopter firing rockets at the former {{USS|Conolly|DD-979|6}}, an obsolete ''Spruance''-class destroyer, during  [[UNITAS Gold]] in 2009]]

A '''target ship''' is a vessel — typically an obsolete or captured [[warship]] — used as a [[seaborne target]] for naval gunnery practice or for weapons testing. Targets may be used with the intention of testing effectiveness of specific types of ammunition; or the target ship may be used for an extended period of routine target practice with specialized non-explosive ammunition. The potential consequences of a drifting wreck require careful preparation of the target ship to prevent pollution, or a floating or submerged collision risk for maritime navigation.

==Rationale==
[[File:Declassified Image of USS America Sinking by the Bow After Scuttling Charges Were Used After Four Weeks of Damage Weapon Tests.jpg|thumb|{{USS|America|CV-66|6}} sinking in the Atlantic in 2005 as a naval target. It is the largest warship ever sunk.]]

Sinking redundant warships is an effective way of testing new weapons and warships in as realistic a manner as possible.

==Preparation==

In order to meet environmental, health, and safety standards, ships now  have to be thoroughly cleaned so that all dangerous material and potential contaminants (such as [[asbestos]], refrigerants etc.) are removed. In the event of the vessel becoming an [[artificial reef]], escape exits also have to be created in it, should divers encounter problems.

==Notable examples==

;''Pacificateur''
In September 1819, the French engineer and Army artillery officer [[Henri-Joseph Paixhans]] wrote to the Ministry of the Navy to propose a fusing system to fire explosive shells at wooden warships, instead of the usual, solid round shots that were then in general naval use.<ref group="Notes">Such systems had been advocated earlier already by [[Napoleon]] himself, but the state of the technology of the 19th century made it an ineffective and dangerous practice.</ref><ref name="H4j8abhD1cC p.235-236">[https://books.google.com/books?id=iH4j8abhD1cC&pg=PA235 ''Artillery'' Jeff Kinard, Spencer C. (INT) Tucker p.235-236]</ref><ref>''Neptunia'' 262, p. 49</ref> A commission studied the matter, and decided to build two [[Paixhans gun|Paixhans howitzers]] for trial purposes in 1822.

In 1824, the 80-gun [[ship of the line]] {{ship|French ship|Pacificateur|1811|2}}, made redundant by the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]], was condemned. She was a {{sclass|Bucentaure|ship of the line|0}} two-decker of the same type as the French [[flagship]] of the [[Battle of Trafalgar]]. The two prototypes were fired at her with devastating effect. This led to the adoption of the Paixhans gun in 1827. They were used to great effect at the [[Battle of Veracruz (1838)|Battle of San Juan de Ulua]], to the interest of British and US observers, who announced the demise of wooden warships and the era of the [[ironclad]].{{cn|date=April 2021}}

;''Baden''
In 1921 former German [[battleship]] {{SMS|Baden}} was used by the Royal Navy to test new types of shells. The tests indicated that medium-strength armour could not stop the latest armour-piercing shells, causing the British switch to an [[All or nothing (armor)|all or nothing]] armour scheme for their new battleships. ''Baden'' was then scuttled in [[Hurd Deep]].<ref>{{cite book| last =Schleihauf| first =William| title =The Baden Trials| publisher = US Naval Institute Press| date =2007| pages =208| isbn =978-1844860418 }}</ref>

;''Agamemnon'' and ''Centurion''
The British [[pre-dreadnought]] battleship {{HMS|Agamemnon|1906|6}} was converted to radio-control in 1920–1921 and used for assessments of the damage that could be caused by aircraft and various calibres of guns. She was replaced in the role by the battleship {{HMS|Centurion|1911|2}} in 1926. This followed the work by the secret [[British unmanned aerial vehicles of World War I#The Royal Navy's D.C.B. Section|Distantly Controlled Boat (DCB) Section]] of the Royal Navy's Signals School, Portsmouth started in 1917. <ref name=adm253>UK National Archives ADM 1/8539/253 Capabilities of distantly controlled boats. Reports of trials at Dover 28 - 31 May 1918</ref>

;''Iowa'' (BB-4)
[[File:US Iowa (BB-4) Becomes Radio-controlled Target Ship In 1923.jpg|thumb|right|USS ''Iowa'' (BB-4) under fire, prior to her sinking (March 1923)]]

After World War I ended, the US Navy and Army did live fire testing of attacking warships from the air.  To get the testing as close to wartime conditions as possible, a well known radio engineer, [[John Hays Hammond Jr.]], developed the radio control gear to convert {{USS|Iowa|BB-4}} into a remote-controlled target ship, a US naval first. She was sunk off the Pacific coast of Panama during fleet exercises by the battleship {{USS|Mississippi|BB-41|2}}, with members of the [[United States Congress]] and the press attending.<ref name=tws090802>{{cite news|title=Coast Battleship No. 4 (ex-USS Iowa, Battleship # 4) – As a Target Ship, 1921–1923|publisher=Department of the Navy—Naval Historical Center|date=2009-09-08|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-i/bb4-t.htm|access-date=2009-09-08|archive-date=2010-02-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209003739/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-i/bb4-t.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the early 1930s the US Navy put considerable effort into the development of remote control ships and fitted the destroyer {{USS|Stoddert|DD-302|2}} with improved radio controls developed by Lieutenant Commander Boyd R. Alexander, a radio design officer, and the Naval Research Laboratory in Bellevue DC for further testing and evaluation.  The evaluation proved so successful that the US Navy moved up their plans for radio controlled warships and in 1932 the obsolete battleship [[USS Utah (BB-31)#Inter-war period|USS ''Utah'']] and the destroyers {{USS|Boggs|DD-136|2}} and {{USS|Kilty|DD-137|2}} were converted.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4CcDAAAAMBAJ&dq=Popular+Science+1932+plane&pg=PA24 "U.S. Navy Gets Crewless Ghost Fleet"] ''Popular Science'', February 1932</ref>

;''James Longstreet''
A familiar sight for more than fifty years in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, was {{SS|James Longstreet}}. This World War II [[Liberty ship]] was towed to a sandbar {{convert|3.5|mi|km}} off shore in 1944 and was used for bombing practice through the [[Vietnam War]].

;Operation Crossroads
[[File:Crossroads baker explosion.jpg|thumb|[[Operation Crossroads]]]]
[[Operation Crossroads]] was a 1946 series of US nuclear tests at [[Bikini Atoll]] that used 95 target ships. Some were obsolete US ships, such as {{USS|Nevada|BB-36|6}}, others were ships surrendered by the [[Axis powers]] at the end of World War II, such as the German [[heavy cruiser]] {{ship|German cruiser|Prinz Eugen||2}} and the Japanese battleship {{ship|Japanese battleship|Nagato||2}}.

;''Torrens''
The [[Royal Australian Navy]] (RAN) sank {{HMAS|Torrens|DE 53|6}} on June 14, 1999 with a [[Mark 48 torpedo|Mk48 wire guided torpedo]] fired from the {{sclass|Collins|submarine|1}} {{HMAS|Farncomb|SSG 74|6}}. ''Torrens'' was the last of six Australian {{sclass2|River|destroyer escort|1}}s, the others (''Derwent'', ''Parramatta'', ''Stuart'', ''Swan'' and ''Yarra'') having been disposed of previously. Before the sinking ''Torrens'' had been thoroughly cleaned of all fuels, oils and potentially environmentally harmful substances. Her gun turret was donated to the South Western City of [[Albany, Western Australia|Albany]]. ''Torrens'' was then towed from Fleet Base West (HMAS ''Stirling'') {{Convert|90|km|mi}} out to sea, west of [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]]. The submarine fired the torpedo at the stationary target from a submerged position over the horizon.

The sinking of ''Torrens'' was a display of firepower that provided some much needed positive publicity for the ''Collins''-class submarines, plagued by numerous technical problems and criticised over troubles with the combat system and noise reduction. Ric Shalders, commander of the Submarine Squadron said "the requirement of new submarine trials, the new need to test war-stock and the availability of the Torrens all came together to produce a very satisfactory result".<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.btinternet.com/~warship/Feature/sink/sink.htm
|title=The Royal Navy Postwar: Type 12 Sinkings
|date=8 April 2001
|author=Jeremy Olver
|publisher=www.btinternet.com
|access-date=2009-06-25
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061212183255/http://www.btinternet.com/~warship/Feature/sink/sink.htm|archive-date=2006-12-12}}</ref>

==As exercises==

[[File:USS Towers (DDG-9) sinking Pacific Ocean after being used as a target, 9 October 2002 (021009-N-8590B-005).jpg|thumb|right|ex-{{USS|Towers|DDG-9}}, a US ''Charles F. Adams''-class guided missile destroyer, at the end of a SINKEX]]

The US military term '''Sink Exercise''' ('''SINKEX''') is used for the test of a weapons system usually involving a [[torpedo]] or [[missile]] attack of an unmanned target ship. The US Navy uses SINKEXs to train its sailors on the use of weapons.<ref name="Pike1">{{cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/sinkex.htm|title=SINKEX - Sinking Exercise|last=Pike|first=John|date=2005-09-01|work=GlobalSecurity.org|access-date=2009-03-24}}</ref>

This technique is used to dispose of decommissioned warships.<ref name="Name">{{cite web|url=http://navysite.de/navy/sinkex/|title=US Navy Ship Sinking Exercises (SINKEX)|last=Doehring|first=Thoralf|year=2008|access-date=2009-02-21}}</ref> The US Navy performs SINKEXs north of [[Kauai, Hawaii]]; in the [[Pacific Ocean]] off the coast of California; and near [[Puerto Rico]].<ref name="Name" />

== See also ==
* [[Sinking ships for wreck diving sites]]

==Notes==

{{Reflist|group=Notes}}

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links==

{{commons category|Target ships}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=LeADAAAAMBAJ&dq=Popular+Science+1930+plane+%22Popular+Mechanics%22&pg=PA72 "Robot Warships" ''Popular Mechanics'', July 1934, pp. 72–75] conversion of the Boggs to a radio controlled target ship

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[[Category:Ship types]]
[[Category:Ships sunk as targets| ]]
[[Category:Ship disposal]]