Details on how British frigate destroyed American frigate

The recently concluded sinking exercise (SINKEX) called Atlantic Thunder 22 allowed an American P-8 maritime patrol aircraft to execute a coordinated time-on-target using Harpoon anti-ship missiles from the Royal Navy’s HMS Westminster.

The target was decommissioned Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigate ex-USS Boone.

Coordinated time on target shots such as the one conducted by HMS Westminster require precise multinational cooperation via detailed planning, communications, and tactical data link employment from multiple nations and services.

The U.S. Navy say that successful coordinated shots are remarkably effective in overwhelming a potential combatant’s defences by delivering rapid amounts of ordnance on target simultaneously and from multiple trajectories and domains.

The U.S. Navy say that a “time-on-target strike” is when all munitions arrived on the target nearly at the same time. Using Naval Integrated Fires (NIFE), the target coordinates were transmitted to HMS Westminster for the warship to launch two Harpoons passively. That was the first time NIFE has been used to carry out an attack on a real target in a multinational environment.

“Various joint and multinational assets collaborated on the Hebrides Deep Sea Range off Scotland’s northwest coast in order to achieve the exercise’s main tactical objective, sinking the decommissioned USS Boone. Combat Air Crew Six (CAC-6) was selected to carry out the coordinated time on target strike portion of the exercise with the AGM-84D Harpoon, an anti-ship missile developed by Boeing.

Atlantic Thunder 2022 proved to be a rousing success for all participants, as it not only accomplished all of its primary objectives and sunk the decommissioned USS Boone, but according to the UK’s after-action report, the process ‘achieved several firsts for the U.K. and U.S. in terms of advanced warfighting techniques and delivering complex weapon effects against a realistic target.’

Ultimately, the ship formerly known as the USS Boone stood no chance against the ‘remarkable amount of combined firepower within a short period.’ First to hit the ex-Boone were two SM-6 missiles, courtesy of the USS Arleigh Burke. This was followed in short order by the coordinated Harpoon shot conducted by CAC-6 and HMS Westminster.

At precisely 1521Z, the AGM-84D Harpoon launched from the P-8A had a rendezvous with two surface launched AGM-84D Harpoons via the HMS Westminster into the hull of the ex-Boone. HMS Westminster’s portion of coordinated time on target strike included passive over-the-horizon-targeting generated by U.S. Naval Integrated Fires (NIFE), marking the first time this type of targeting has ever been accomplished against a real life target with multinational collaboration.“

The U.S. Navy also stressed that the decommissioned USS Boone was prepared and configured specifically to meet stringent Environmental Protection Agency standards.

“This was done to mitigate potential adverse effects and keep risk to the environment as low as practicable. In addition to the ex-Boone’s configuration, strict acoustic and visual monitoring from multiple sources on the range ensured that the risk posed by the exercise to marine mammals was extremely low.”