Seaborne targets are vessels or floating structures that are shot at for practice by naval or air forces. They may be remotely controlled and mobile, or towed behind other craft, or just set adrift in the sea.

Target ships

Target ships are vessels, typically obsolete or captured warships, used for naval gunnery practice or for weapons testing – perhaps most spectacularly in

Operation Crossroads Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the ...

(1946), where 95 ships were sunk in a U.S. nuclear weapons test at

Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Seco ...

Powered targets

In the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

, a Seaborne Powered Target (SEPTAR) is an

unmanned surface vehicle Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), also known as unmanned surface vessels, autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) in some cases, uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), or colloquially drone ships, or robot boats, are boats or ships that operate on the ...

used as the naval counterpart of a

target drone A target drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, generally remote controlled, usually used in the training of anti-aircraft crews. One of the earliest drones was the British DH.82 Queen Bee, a variant of the Tiger Moth trainer aircraft operational ...

. They are remote-controlled, and all but the smallest can be equipped with electromagnetic emitters to appear as a larger ship on sensors. As of 2013, U.S. Navy SEPTARs include: * Hammerhead usv-t: A high-speed drone capable of multiple vessel attacks. *Mobile Ship Target (MST): A ship-sized target some long, with a top speed of . *QST-35: A fiberglass boat with a top speed of , usable manned or unmanned, or as a mine countermeasure. *Fast-Attack Craft Target (FACT): A smaller, more agile fiberglass boat with a top speed of , intended to challenge gunners. *High-Speed Maneuvering Surface Target (HSMST): A boat similar to a harbor patrol boat, designed for operations in shallow waters, with a top speed of . *Ship-Deployable Surface Target (SDST): A small craft similar to a water scooter, which can also be used as one, with a top speed of .

Turkish Navy The Turkish Naval Forces ( tr, ), or Turkish Navy ( tr, ) is the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The modern naval traditions and customs of the Turkish Navy can be traced back to 10 July 1920, when it was establis ...

variants, * Aselsan ALBATROS-T High-Speed Unmanned Surface Target Boat * Aselsan ALBATROS-K High-Speed Unmanned Surface Target Boat

Towed targets

Targets can also be towed behind other craft, the counterparts of

target tug A target tug is an aircraft which tows an unmanned drone, a fabric drogue or other kind of target, for the purposes of gun or missile target practice. Target tugs are often conversions of transport and utility aircraft, as well as obsolescent com ...

s in aviation. The U.S. Navy employs the Low-Cost Modular Target (LCMT), a modular barge made from pontoons, scaffolding and large colored sails as visual targets, which can be shot at with guns or a variety of missiles. It is usually towed by a HSMST.

Free-floating targets

Navies have used all sort of equipment thrown overboard for gunnery practice, such as empty barrels. Modern free-floating targets are large, inflatable and bright orange; hence the nickname " killer tomato".

References

{{commonscat, Seaborne targets Naval education and training Targeting (warfare)