Why Did the Royal Navy Sink a Former US Warship?
A warship that served for three decades now rests on the seabed off Scotland’s west coast. The decommissioned frigate USS Klakring was deliberately sunk during Exercise Atlantic Thunder 2026, a joint training event involving British and American forces. According to the BBC, the ship was hit by a missile from USS Paul Ignatius and a torpedo from USS Massachusetts before going down in the North Atlantic, roughly 170 miles from the Outer Hebrides.
For the Royal Navy, this exercise marked a first: the live firing of a weapon from a Wildcat helicopter at a realistic, full-size warship target.
Sinking an old warship is not a casual act of target practice. Ex-navy vessels chosen for sinking exercises are specially prepared. The ship goes through a rigorous cleaning process to remove contaminants and old equipment. The US Navy said the preparations were carried out in strict compliance with environmental regulations, and that this was meant to keep the environmental impact of the exercise minimal.
Why use a real ship? Training can only simulate so much. Towed barges and radar reflectors do not behave like a warship. A decommissioned vessel gives weapons crews a target with a real hull, real size, and real structural mass. The US Navy has long treated specially prepared ex-navy vessels as a practical way to run large-scale exercises and to train at the level required by active forces.
This was not the first deliberate sinking of its kind. The BBC noted that the US Navy has previously sunk other vessels for training, including an aircraft carrier in 2006. Some of those sinkings also create artificial reefs for marine life after the exercise ends.
The operation off Scotland accomplished several things at once. It gave the Royal Navy and the US Navy a chance to practice coordinated missile and torpedo attacks in open water. It let crews observe what modern weapons do to a full-size warship. And it tested the procedures for running a live-fire sinking, from cleaning the target to managing the environmental side of the event.
The choice of a former US warship also matters. Because the target had the dimensions and structure of a real frigate, the crews involved gained experience closer to an actual engagement than any practice range could offer. A completed exercise of this kind is a reminder that such sinkings are as much about process and safety as they are about firepower.