There are training aids and there are training aids

[NutLoose]

But the Iranians take that to a whole new level

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/800x400/1595845184_c66eae228bdc79d13eb05c10354b96cd52a24a68.jpeg

Iran has moved a mock-up U.S. aircraft carrier to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, satellite images show, suggesting it will use the look-alike vessel for target practice in war games in a Gulf shipping channel vital to world oil exports.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/iran-moves-mock-up-us-carrier-to-mouth-of-gulf-satellite-images/ar-BB17etES

Their previous one including films

https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/iran-blows-up-gigantic-u-s-carrier-mock-up-during-nava-1688057598

https://theaviationist.com/2014/04/02/iran-fake-aircraft-carrier/

[Green Flash]

I wonder if China will drop a DF-21 on it? :E

[ORAC]

https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/586655-iran-20.html#post10807338

[Archimedes]

I wonder if China will drop a DF-21 on it? :E

For entertainment value, perhaps the USN should sink it with a couple of AGM-158s before the Iranians have their SINKEX...

[Ascend Charlie]

For some reality, put a couple of Phalanx on the deck and see how many of the lads are willing to enter a 2-way shooting gallery.

[treadigraph]

For some reason I am reminded of a - no doubt apocryphal - story I once heard about the Germans building a decoy airfield somewhere in the Low Countries during WWII. They erected wooden hangars, wooden workshops, a wooden tower, wooden aeroplanes, etc. No sooner was it completed than those dastardly Britishers sent their own wooden aeroplane (a Mozzie for the uneducated) over on a raid and dropped a wooden bomb...

I'd like it to be true.

[Jhieminga]

It may have been a true story: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lip-bomb/

[Chugalug2]

Treadigraph, the ultimate dummy ruse was featured in the BBC's Goon Show. A full sized cardboard replica of the British Isles was to be constructed and floated off of Southern England prior to German invasion. Once their troops were safely onboard it was to be towed into mid Atlantic and sunk. It was only one of many high tech solutions featured, such as the Great African trans-Continental Aeroplane Canal which allowed for the ditching of aircraft in distress. It was hard to outdo reality though, given real wartime projects for mid-Atlantic aircraft carriers constructed not of wood but of ice.

[teeteringhead]

mid-Atlantic aircraft carriers constructed not of wood but of ice. To be fair, wasn't it sawdust AND ice??

HMS Habbakuk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Habakkuk)

[etudiant]

Treadigraph, the ultimate dummy ruse was featured in the BBC's Goon Show. A full sized cardboard replica of the British Isles was to be constructed and floated off of Southern England prior to German invasion. Once their troops were safely onboard it was to be towed into mid Atlantic and sunk. It was only one of many high tech solutions featured, such as the Great African trans-Continental Aeroplane Canal which allowed for the ditching of aircraft in distress. It was hard to outdo reality though, given real wartime projects for mid-Atlantic aircraft carriers constructed not of wood but of ice.

Think that the last was actually a brilliant idea, a lump hull of sawdust and ice, with lots of space for aircraft and gear.
It died because it took too long to get into service, but the basic idea would be still useful today, a 200,000+ ton hull that could shrug off torpedoes and bombs, self repairing and extensible at need.

[Green Flash]

Pykrete is the stuff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pykrete#:~:text=Pykrete%20is%20a%20frozen%20ice,6%20to%201%2 0by%20weight). and an update on the Iranian sinkex https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/35150/iran-fires-missiles-at-its-fake-carrier-says-its-satellite-has-been-watching-from-above

[ORAC]

Misleading headline as it appears everything missed.......

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a33446736/iran-fake-us-carrier-great-prophet/

Iran Blows Up Fake U.S. Aircraft Carrier. Again.

[John Rogers]

So what do you think the airfields, SAM sites, etc at Nellis and Spadeadam were/are based on? Makes perfect sense if that's who you expect to fight.

[TEEEJ]

The saga of Iran’s fake aircraft carrier, intended as a propaganda coup, is turning into an own goal. The Iranian armed forces, particularly the IRGC-N (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy) delight in attacking the mock U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. It makes their war games more dramatic. And it may be intended to symbolize that they could, if called upon, sink an American carrier. The carrier itself, actually an elaborate target barge, is not intended to sink, however. It is meant to be reusable and has been symbolically ‘destroyed’ twice already. But now it really has sunk. And in very much the wrong place.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hisutton/2020/08/03/iran-accidentally-sinks-fake-aircraft-carrier-in-wrong-place/#1af43e75fe75

[MPN11]

Oh, I really shouldn’t laugh, but .... 😂 🤣 🤪 😎

[Martin the Martian]

So what do you think the airfields, SAM sites, etc at Nellis and Spadeadam were/are based on? Makes perfect sense if that's who you expect to fight.

Yes, but Nellis and Spadeadam are designed to offer the most realistic training possible without actually being shot at by real missiles, with appropriate anti-aircraft radars and aggressor aircraft etc. The Iranians seem to think they could land commandos onto a US carrier without any attempt by its crew to defend it.

[MPN11]

.... The Iranians seem to think they could land commandos onto a US carrier without any attempt by its crew to defend it.
Direct assault on USS [insert name here] in International Waters (maybe disputed by Iran) would lead to some interesting, and presumably RoE based, responses from the Command.

Full-on Military counter-action is surely not something the Iranians would want to provoke? Like most bullies, they would surely prefer to flex their muscles, and enhance domestic political prestige, by ganging up on the defenceless oil tankers.

[Video Mixdown]

The Iranian commanders must know that if they were foolish enough to launch such attacks on an actual US carrier, their forces would have an exciting but short life, probably along with the bases they came from and the headquarters they sit in.

[TEEEJ]

Imagery showing the target carrier on it's side.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/679x269/eeaphwjwaaaajic_34ce08204293c36a2ce471a56f9db55adedf678d.jpg
From
https://twitter.com/AuroraIntel/status/1289904738314547201

[meleagertoo]

Fnaaar!
The bloody thing sank! The ineptitude! The shame, the disgrace!
Alhamdulillah!

[tdracer]

Oh, I really shouldn’t laugh, but .... 😂 🤣 🤪 😎
Oh yes, you should definitely laugh. Everyone else (outside of Iran) is 🤣

The US may not have to worry about knocking off any more Iranian Generals/Admirals - the leadership in Tehran may start taking them out it this keeps up...