A target ship is a vessel — typically an obsolete or captured warship

Warship

A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...

 — used for naval gun

Gun

A gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...

nery practice or for weapons testing.

Rationale

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

Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

es are fired fairly frequently, they behave differently from warshots. Apart from other things, the practice torpedoes are designed to turn away from the target so they can be recovered, rather than hit it. In the wake of the Brent Spar

Brent Spar

Brent Spar or Brent E, was a North Sea oil storage and tanker loading buoy in the Brent oilfield, operated by Shell UK. With the completion of a pipeline connection to the oil terminal at Sullom Voe in Shetland, the storage facility had continued in use but was considered to be of no further value...

 incident (when Greenpeace

Greenpeace

Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...

 protested over the sinking of a PB platform in the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

), it seemed that environmental concerns would prevent future sinkings. However the sinking of Leander class frigate

Leander class frigate

The Leander class, or Type 12I frigates, comprising twenty-six vessels, was among the most numerous and long-lived classes of frigate in the Royal Navy's modern history. The class was built in three batches between 1959 and 1973...

 HMS Sirius

HMS Sirius (F40)

HMS Sirius was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy built by H.M. Dockyard Portsmouth, and was the penultimate RN warship to be built there for a period of forty years, until Vosper Thorneycroft built HMS Clyde...

 in 1998, appears to suggest otherwise.

Preparation

In order to meet Environmental and Health & Safety Standards, ships have to be thoroughly cleaned so that all dangerous material and potential contaminants (such as asbestos

Asbestos

Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...

, refrigerants etc.) are removed. In the event of the vessel becoming an artificial reef

Artificial reef

An artificial reef is a human-made underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, control erosion, block ship passage, or improve surfing....

, escape exits also have to be created in the vessel, should divers encounter problems. It is now also common practice to remove pennant number

Pennant number

In the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...

s and sink the warships anonymously, as a mark of respect to those who sailed in them.

Notable examples

Iowa
After World War 1 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, the USS Iowa was converted into a radio-controlled target ship, the first in US Naval History. A well known radio engineer, John Hays Hammond, Jr.

John Hays Hammond, Jr.

John Hays Hammond, Jr. was an American inventor known as "The Father of Radio Control" and son of mining engineer John Hays Hammond, Sr..-Biography:...

 developed the radio control gear for the Iowa. While under radio control the Iowa later was sunk in 1923 of Pacific coast of Panama during fleet exercises, with members of Congress and the press attending, by the battleship Mississippi

USS Mississippi (BB-41)

USS Mississippi , a , was the third ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 20th state, and the second battleship to carry the name. Commissioned in 1917, too late to serve in World War I, she served extensively in the Pacific in World War II, for which she earned eight battle stars...

. In the early 1930s the US Navy got serious about remote control ships and fitted the destroyer Stoddert

USS Stoddert (DD-302)

USS Stoddert was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. It was named for Benjamin Stoddert.-History:...

 with an improved radio controls developed by Leut. Commander Boyd R. Alexander, a radio design officer, and the Naval Research Laboratory in Bellevue D.C. 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 and the destroyers Boggs

USS Boggs (DD-136)

USS Boggs was a Wickes class destroyer in the United States Navy, later redesignated as AG-19 and then as DMS-3, and back again to AG-19. She was the first ship named for Admiral Charles Boggs....

 and Kilty

USS Kilty (DD-137)

USS Kilty was a Wickes class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was the first ship named for Admiral Augustus Kilty.Kilty was launched 25 April 1918 by the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California; sponsored by Miss Elizabeth Harrison Shapley; and commissioned 17 December 1918, Lieutenant...

 were converted to remote radio control.

James Longstreet
A familiar sight for more than fifty years in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts was the . This World War II Liberty Ship

Liberty ship

Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...

 was towed to a sandbar 3.5 miles (5.6 km) off shore in 1944 and was used for bombing practice through the Vietnam War.

Lützow
The German Deutschland class cruiser

Deutschland class cruiser

The Deutschland class was a series of three panzerschiffe , a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the Reichsmarine officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles...

, Lützow

German pocket battleship Deutschland

Deutschland was the lead ship of her class of heavy cruisers which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. Ordered by the Weimar government for the Reichsmarine, she was laid down at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel in February 1929 and completed by April 1933...

 was refloated by the Soviet navy after her scuttling in 1945 and used as a target in the Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

 in 1949.

Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads

Operation Crossroads

Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. It was the first test of a nuclear weapon after the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945...

 was a 1946 series of US nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll

Bikini Atoll

Bikini Atoll is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands....

 that used 95 target ships. Some were obselete US ships, such as the USS Nevada

USS Nevada (BB-36)

USS Nevada , the second United States Navy ship to be named after the 36th state, was the lead ship of the two Nevada-class battleships; her sister ship was...

 , others were ships surrendered by the Axis powers at the end of World War 2, such as the famous, German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen

German cruiser Prinz Eugen

Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down in April 1936 and launched August 1938; Prinz Eugen entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940...

.

Operation Deadlight
Operation Deadlight

Operation Deadlight

Operation Deadlight was the code name for the scuttling of U-boats surrendered to the Allies after the defeat of Germany near the end of World War II....

 was the destruction of 116 surrendered, German U-Boats that was carried out between November 1945 and February 1946 by the Royal Navy. The submarines were sunk in deep water to the north west of Ireland. Some were scuttled with explosive charges and others sank accidentally in bad weather while under tow. The remainder were sunk by ships and aircraft, using rockets, bombs, depth charges and gunfire.

HMAS Torrens
The Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 (RAN) sunk HMAS Torrens on June 14, 1999 with a single Mk48 wire guided torpedo fired from the Collins class

Collins class submarine

The Collins class is a class of six Australian-built diesel-electric submarines operated by the Royal Australian Navy . The Collins class takes its name from Australian Vice Admiral John Augustine Collins; all six submarines are named after significant RAN personnel who distinguished themselves in...

 submarine HMAS Farncomb

HMAS Farncomb (SSG 74)

HMAS Farncomb is the second of six Collins class submarines operated by the Royal Australian Navy .Named for Rear Admiral Harold Farncomb, the submarine was laid down in 1993 and launched in December 1995—the first submarine to be completely constructed in Australia.A combination of factors led to...

. Torrens was the last of six Australian River class destroyers, 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

Albany, Western Australia

Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....

. Torrens was then towed from Fleet Base West (HMAS Stirling) 90 kilometres (48.6 nmi) out to sea, west of Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

. The submarine fired the torpedo at the stationary target from a submerged position over the horizon.

The sinking of Torrens had been a display of firepower and 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".

External Links

• "Robot Warships" Popular Mechanics, July 1934, pp. 72-75 conversion of the Boggs to a radio controlled target ship