<p class="ingestion featured-caption">HMAS Sydney fires the first Naval Strike Missile during a live-fire sinking exercise off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii.Australian Defence Force photo by Royal Australian Navy Imagery Specialist Leading Seaman Daniel Goodman</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Two US Navy ex-warships were sunk during live-fire training near the Hawaiian Islands last month.</li><li>Sinking exercises are intended to test and refine combat tactics and skills against surface ships.</li></ul><p>The US and its allies used two decommissioned US Navy warships as <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uss-america-sinking-us-navy-aircraft-carrier-fleet-durability-2024-6">target practice</a> last month, sinking the ships out in the Pacific in a demonstration of their ability to eliminate <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-showed-can-sink-820-ft-ship-china-not-impressed-2024-7">adversary surface vessels</a>.</p><p><a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/b-2-bomber-sank-warship-pacific-new-anti-ship-bombs-2024-7">Ex-USS Tarawa</a>, a first-in-class amphibious assault ship, and ex-USS Dubuque, an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, acted as simulated enemy warships during the sinking exercises, or "<a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brazil-warship-sink-abandon-us-navy-gun-down-sinkex-2023-2">SINKEXs</a>" for short.</p><p>The live-fire training was part of <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sub-hunter-plane-dropped-torpedoes-on-us-nuclear-submarine-drill-2024-7">Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC)</a>, the world's largest multinational naval warfare exercise held biennially in and around the Hawaiian Islands.</p><p>More than 25,000 military personnel from 29 nations participated in RIMPAC this year, which ran from late June to early August. Three submarines, 40 surface ships, 14 national land forces, and more than 150 aircraft were deployed to test and refine naval tactics and skills in a simulated combat environment.</p><p>Armed forces from the US, Australia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and South Korea took part in the SINKEXs last month, pummeling the decommissioned warships with an array of weaponry launched from land, air, and sea.</p>