missile Ships have been equipped to fire projectiles for centuries, particularly the use of
trebuchet and, ultimately,
cannon developed by the
Song dynasty, the latter epitomising naval weaponry in the
Age of Sail. However, the use of guided weapons did not emerge until the
Second World War, when
guided bombs, a form of
precision-guided munition, started being developed by both the
Allies and
Axis. The first to be used operationally was a German weapon, the
Fritz X. Initial attacks were unsuccessful, but on 9 September 1943, Fritz X damaged the Italian
battleship Italia and sank the battleship , the first successful strike by a guided missile against a
capital ship. At the same time, the
Henschel Hs 293 entered service, equipped with a
rocket engine. First used in combat in 1943, these were the first guided missiles to sink a warship. After the war, development of anti-ship missiles continued, particularly in the Soviet Union and Sweden, who saw mounting missiles on ships as a way to increase the strike capacity of small vessels. It was a Soviet missile, the
P-15 Termit, that made this public and sunk a ship in combat on 21 October 1967, launched from a vessel of the
Egyptian Navy. This demonstration led to a proliferation of other missiles being developed, including the
Exocet. The Exocet was used extensively during the
Iran–Iraq War, particularly during the
Tanker War, where it was the primary missile used by
Iraqi Air Force. In addition to nations, anti-ship missiles are also used by non-state actors who target merchant vessels, using missiles in a form of
piracy. To counter anti-ship missiles, warships have used
surface-to-air missiles, advanced
electronic countermeasures and
close-in weapons systems. ==List==