The American Navy is learning to sink enemy ships from a long distance. Yesterday, on August 25, the press service of the US Navy published a video with spectacular shots of the Large Scale Exercise (LSE) 21, during which the decommissioned frigate USS Ingraham of the Oliver Hazard Perry type was sunk.
As part of the exercises, the ship was hit from the ground, from the air and from under water. So, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and F-35C fighters were raised from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and ground airfields. The first ones used a "smart" bomb of the Joint Standoff Weapon type and a Harpoon missile, and the "stealth" ones used an unnamed "laser — guided weapon".
Sinking of the frigate USS Ingraham
In addition, the P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft fired a Harpoon missile at the frigate, while the USS Chicago submarine (SSN 721) fired another Harpoon and a MK 48 Advanced Capability torpedo. Marines from the latest NMESIS installations were hitting the ship from the shore. The result of such a large-scale shelling was a "fracture of the spine" of the ship and its further flooding.
