Sink Ex is navy speak for Sink Exercise. Some times it is called a Hulk Ex, since the ship to be sunk is known as a hulk.

The sad fact of the world we live in today is warships get old and must be decommissioned. Ships are large machines that require large amounts of cash and manpower to keep them in top condition. So, when the a ship has come to the end of her life she is put into the reserve fleet and awaits her final end.

This end can come one of four ways. First, she can be used for a museum. Next she can be sold to one of our allies around the world. Then come the final two, choices. She can either serve her country one more time or be sent to a breakers yard and meet the torch.

Serving her country one more time normally means she will be towed out to sea and sunk during live fire exercises. This can help the Navy in many ways. First it will give the Navy a chance to prove its weapons work like they are meant to work. Secondly it can test ship design improvements to make ships harder to sink.

The USS America was chosen for a sink ex because the Navy wanted to see how to improve the design of its carriers. She was the largest ship actually sunk by this method. The USS Oriskany was sunk to make an artificial reef and was the largest ship sunk for this reason. Both ships had to undergo lengthy periods of preparation for their final fate.

It may seem like a harsh way to dispose of an old warship, but in the end that is what they are built for, to fight or die trying.