Target ship
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As a target ship will be war or auxiliary vessels designated to be used in support of combat training or weapons testing as targets. As part of training, they can be used for range measurement exercises, but also as targets for shooting with torpedoes, missiles or artillery or for dropping torpedoes or bombs from aircraft. Target ships are not built separately for this purpose. Instead, older models of ships, types of ships that are no longer in use, or loot ships that are no longer required from wars are used for this purpose. Often, however, due to modifications or the construction of special systems or imitation devices (simulators), different ship classes than the one to which the target ship originally belonged are represented.
When transferring to the bombardment site, target ships are operated by special commands that disembark before the start of the exercise. In order to be able to move the ship afterwards, drive and control systems are prepared for the radio remote control. In Germany, for example, the former ships of the line Zähringen from 1915 and Hessen from 1935 were used as remote-controlled target ships for the training of Navy personnel.
Target ships without propulsion or steering system that can only be towed are called target hulks . Depending on the purpose of the exercise, target ships can anchor or sail and be intended for repeated or single use (sinking). Target ships for multiple use can also be filled with cork or solid foam to prevent or delay sinking.
Any active ship can also be used as a target ship for torpedo training if, as almost always, torpedoes are fired without a warhead, the running depth of which is set so large that they undermine the target ship. Often the target ships are the torpedo catching boats , which then retrieve the practice torpedoes .
List of target ships (selection)
- Tank corvette SMS Bayern , Imperial Navy, 1878–1919
- Ship of the line SMS Baden , Royal Navy, 1919
- Ship of the line Zähringen , Reichsmarine / Kriegsmarine, 1928–1944
- Ship of the line Hessen , German Navy, 1937, then Soviet Union, 1946
- Ship of the line Schleswig-Holstein , Soviet Union, 1946
- Heavy cruiser Lützow , Soviet Union, 1947
- Destroyer Destroyer 1 , German Navy, 1979
- Amphibious assault ship USS Belleau Wood , US Navy, 2006
- Saar submarine tender , French Navy, February 26, 1976
- Heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen , Kriegsmarine, July 1, 1946
See also
- Ship Sinking Exercises (SINKEX), sinking exercises
literature
- Jürgen Gebauer, Egon Krenz: Marine Encyclopedia . 2nd revised edition. Brandenburgisches Verlags-Haus, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-89488-078-3 .
