Originally Posted by
tdracer
I recall reading an article (probably AW&ST) maybe 40 years ago about a test of a then new US Navy anti-ship weapon (Harpoon?). Anyway, the target was a decommissioned US warship - but fully prepared with all the watertight doors shut, etc.
The missile
didn't have any warhead, but the kinetic energy of the missile impact along with the residual fuel caused such a massive explosion that the target ship broke-up and sank.
Reportedly the Navy was rather unhappy that the target ship sank as they had planned to use it for something else...
I'll need to do a bit of digging, but for some reason I think that was a Tomahawk TASM (ASCM) test. (Early version, before the land attack versions were rolled out). Let me see what I can figure out.