US destroys missile frigate, showing off how its forces could sink enemy ships in a war

The US armed forces destroyed and sank a warship this weekend amid a massive military exercise, demonstrating how the joint force could destroy enemy ships in a high-end fight.

The ex-USS Ingraham, a US Navy guided-missile frigate that was decommissioned in 2015 after over 25 years of service, was blown apart during a sinking exercise (SINKEX) in the Hawaiian Islands Operating Area on Sunday, Pacific Fleet said on Tuesday.

The Ingraham was the last Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate the US ever built and the fourth ship to bear the name. Its predecessor, an Allen M. Summer-class destroyer, was sold to Greece and sunk as a target during a military exercise in 2001.

“Lethal combat power was effectively applied to a variety of maritime threats over the last two weeks in a simulated environment as part of the US Navy’s Large-Scale Exercise and expertly demonstrated Sunday with live ordnance,” Vice-Admiral Steve Koehler, the 3rd fleet commander, said of the latest sinking exercise.

He said that “the precise and coordinated strikes from the Navy and our joint teammates resulted in the rapid destruction and sinking of the target ship,” adding that the strikes “exemplify our ability to decisively apply force in the maritime battlespace”.

SINKEXs are not uncommon for the US military, which sees them as valuable training should the US need to engage an adversary with a naval force, such as the Chinese military and its growing fleet, which is already the largest in the world.