The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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Dirty Little Secrets
Machine-Guns Disable Destroyers
by James Dunnigan
June 27, 2006
Discussion Board on this DLS topic
On June 7th, the U.S. Navy held another
"Sink-Ex" (Sinking Exercise) some 450 kilometers off North Carolina. A
Sink-Ex uses decommissioned navy ships for target practice, or, as in
this case, to test new tactics. What the navy wanted to examine was the
ability of current naval guns (from .50 caliber machine-gun to 5 inch
cannon) to disable ships without sinking them. The subjects of the
Sink-Ex were two decommissioned Spruance-class destroyers (Comte de
Grasse and Stump). These 7,800 ton ships, two of the largest destroyers
ever built, were to be first subjected to gunfire, then Harpoon and
Maverick missiles from air force B-52 and B-1B bombers overhead. The
missiles did not get used, because the hail of gunfire sank the two
ships within 90 minutes. With cameras and sensors recording the damage,
a variety of guns were turned loose on the ships, to see what kind of
damage could be inflicted, how quickly and how accurately. Most of the
results are classified, but it did appear that the .50 caliber and 20mm
machine-gun were very accurate and effective, and capable of quickly
disabling a ship without sinking it. Also tested were 40mm automatic
grenade launchers. The two ships were quickly sent to the bottom
(12,000 feet below) with 5 inch gun fire directed at the waterline of
the toe 28 year old ships.
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