SINKEX

Ship Sinking Exercises, short SINKEX denote weapons tests and exercises sinking the United States Navy and its military allies in decommissioned warships and at the same time associated waste on the seabed.

Background

One option for the disposal of disused and decommissioned warships is the use as a target ship. There are for the U.S. Navy certain locations where ships are sunk in maneuvers. These four regions are mostly off the coasts of California, Puerto Rico, the east coast of the United States and north of Hawaii. The marine areas, where take place this trap doors, a minimum water depth of 1828 meters and a distance from the nearest shore of at least 92 km must have.

Additional practice locations are chosen mainly for practical reasons. Thus, the USS La Moure County (LST-1194) was sunk off the coast of Chile, as she had suffered a serious injury in an accident and had caused repaired or transported back to the home port to high costs.

Criticism

Before a ship is sunk, has since 1996 anything that could harm the environment, be removed from him, nevertheless in addition to lead, asbestos or mercury and at least 660 tons of Polychlorinated been proven since 1999 biphenyls ( PCBs) sunk the ships. Fish in the waters where the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany was sunk in 2006, contained in the 2008 quantities of PCBs that were above the limits. The authorities have then that in the waters of Florida or adjacent federal waters without ships, the PCB may be sunk include. Ship recycling companies accuse the government to destroy the program jobs and they complain revenue losses in the millions. According to official pronouncements Navy to have been sunk 1990-2011 within the framework of SINKEX 99 ships. During the same period only 64 ships were scrapped in ship recycling companies and recycled.

Weapons tests and sinkings in other countries

Similar weapons testing and exercises are carried out by other States for about 100 years. Among the first German ships that were used as target ships were the battleships SMS Baden, which was sunk after a failed self-absorption by the Royal Navy in 1921 as a target ship, and the SMS Hessen, which was used from 1934 by the German Navy as a target ship.