Compass Points - Something Sinking

Navy conducts SINKEX

Compass Points - Something Sinking

Navy conducts SINKEX

July 10, 2024

.

Something is sinking in the Pacific, and it is not just the Navy ships being purposefully sunk as part of this summer's SINKEX. Author Jeff Schogol reports in Task and Purpose:

.

==============

.

In June, the Army tested its ability to sink ships with land-based weapons against one retired warship, the USS Cleveland, as part of Valiant Shield 2024. The amphibious transport dock broke up and sunk after being struck by a variety of ordnance, including two Precision Strike Missiles, or PrSMs. It was the first time that the missiles were used against a ship, officials said.

Also last month, a Marine AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter sank a ship-sized target as it was being towed using an AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile, or JAGM.

But the real fireworks are expected to come soon during the ongoing RIMPAC exercise, the region’s largest annual war games with U.S. and Pacific partners. Officials have said the amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa — a warship second only to full-size aircraft carrier in size — is expected to be sunk in a SINKEX finale to this year’s ongoing RIMPAC exercise, which lasts until Aug. 1.

-- Task and Purpose

.

==============

.

Sinking US Navy ships is much harder than it might sound. One missile or one torpedo is rarely able to get the job done. Even in a SINKEX, where there is no crew onboard working to save the ship, the ships do not go down easily.  Those attempting to sink the USS Tarawa later this summer might want to review what happened to the aircraft carrier USS America at a SINKEX years ago off the Virginia coast.

.

==============

.

Nearly a decade after decommissioning, the America was later towed hundreds of miles off the coast of Virginia in 2005 for a classified Navy live-fire exercise.

The exercise, dubbed "SinkEx," was intended to test the carrier's capacity to withstand battle damage and improve the durability of future ship designs.

. . . The flattop was hammered with explosions above and below the surface, the latter simulating attacks by torpedos in a real combat situation intended to break a ship's keel. The empty ship was also battered by missiles and bombs. The Navy observed the ship's destruction from afar as well as through monitoring systems installed throughout the carrier.

After four weeks of bombardment, the America still remained afloat.

It became clear that the ship wasn't going down by conventional methods, so the Navy had to scuttle the ship with charges placed onboard, opening holes in its double-layered hull for it to finally sink at 11:30 a.m. on May 14, 2005.

--Business Insider

.

==============

.

There is a great deal of focus today on sinking ships in the Pacific. The Army is practicing sinking ships this summer as part of the development of the Army's Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF). These robust Army units are already in the Pacific preparing to hit China's ships.

.

==============

.

With the PrSM and other weapons, the Army expects to be able to disrupt the network of China’s A2/AD systems, said Brig. Gen. Jeffery VanAntwerp, who oversees operations, plans, and training for U.S. Army Pacific.

“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] has designed its anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) network to defeat U.S. air and maritime forces,” VanAntwerp told Task & Purpose. “It’s not designed to find, fix, and finish distributed, mobile, networked, reloadable land forces like those recently demonstrated in Valiant Shield 24 and other exercises. With capabilities like the PrSM and the Mid-Range Capability (MRC), the Army is providing a critical contribution to the defense of our allies and partners.”

-- Task and Purpose

.

==============

.

Recent reports indicate that some US Navy Super Hornets in the Pacific are now armed with the SM-6, an air to warship missile newly tested in combat. In addition, Japan and the Philippines signed a recent agreement to have their military work more closely together. Both countries are establishing their own military missile units on forward islands.

The Army is involved in the SINKEX. The Navy is involved. A Marine AH-1Z Viper fired a missile. But where are the Marine MLR/SIF units? These Marine special island units are supposed to be the Marine Corps’ experts on sinking ships in the Pacific. Or are they? Apparently the Marine MLF/SIF missile units are not sinking ships in this summer’s SINKEX because even after five years, the Marine Corps’ MLR/SIF units have little or no actual ability to sink ships. If the Marine MLR/SIF missile units are able to sink ships, then sink ships this summer.

With the US Army's Multi-Domain Task Forces (MDTF) and Navy's new SM-6, as well as foreign military focusing on fighting China's ships in the Pacific, what does this mean for the Marine Corps? It means that whatever theoretical rational that might have once existed for the Marine Corps to focus on placing small units of Marines on Pacific islands, that rational has been sunk. The Marine Corps does not need to focus on a narrow, regional mission of defending against Chinese ships. That mission is better performed by existing US military forces including, Navy ships, subs, and aircraft, Air Force bombers, and Army's MDTFs.

All US military services should focus on their strengths. The Marine Corps cannot do as well what other services already do better, and other services can never approach what the Marine Corps does best. Let this summer's SINKEX, signal a change in the focus of the Marine Corps. Sink the focus on narrow, regional, island bound, missile units, and expand the focus on what National policy makers always need: global, combined arms, crisis response Marines ready to arrive off any foreign shore to deter, assist, and fight.

.

- - - - -

.

Task and Purpose - 07/09/2024

Here are the ships the U.S. plans to sink in the Pacific this summer

The US military is practicing using air- and land-based anti-ship missiles in ship sinking exercises as it prepares for a war against China.

By Jeff Schogol

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/us-military-sinking-exercises/

.

- - - - -

.

Business Insider - 06/29/2024

How the US Navy tried — and failed — to sink carrier USS America for weeks

By Lauren Frias

https://www.businessinsider.com/uss-america-sinking-us-navy-aircraft-carrier-fleet-durability-2024-6?op=1