Army helicopters, Navy drones sink two retired ships at RIMPAC

When the U.S. military partners with other nations for large-scale training exercises, it likes to give everyone a big target to blow up and sink. This month, U.S. forces and partner militaries got to sink not one but two decommissioned Navy ships.

As part of the ongoing Rim of the Pacific multi-national exercise, American and allied militaries unloaded missiles and other weapons on the USS Peleliu and USS Mobile Bay on July 11 and 17, respectively. It was part of a sinking exercise, or SINKEX.

Video released by the Navy’s 3rd Fleet show the ships being hit above and below the waterline, with fire and water bursting up from the direct strikes.

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The operation featured units from the United States Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Spain, Italy and Japan, with several helicopter units firing missiles into the decommissioned vessels.

Both ships were taken out more than 50 nautical miles away from the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The U.S. contingent included units from the Army, Navy and Air Force, with AH-64 Apache helicopters blasting the USS Mobile Bay with Spike Non-Line of Sight missiles.

The Navy meanwhile used multiple one-way attack surface drones to hit the Peleliu. These kinds of maritime attack drones have been used extensively by Ukraine in its ongoing war, and the U.S. recently used them for the first time in combat this month against Iran.

The SINKEX let the participating units gain “proficiency in tactics, targeting and live-firing against a surface ship at sea,” the 3rd Fleet said in a statement.

“SINKEXs are a prime example…