The military usage of uncrewed ships in the form of a
Fire ship dates back to ancient times. USVs were used militarily as early as the 1920s as
remote controlled target craft, following the development of the
'DCB's in World War One. By World War II they were also being used for minesweeper purposes. Military applications for USVs include powered
seaborne targets and minehunting, as well as surveillance and reconnaissance, strike operations, and
area denial or
sea denial. Various other applications are also being explored. Some commercial USVs may utilize
COLREGs-compliant navigation. In 2016
DARPA launched an
anti-submarine USV prototype called
Sea Hunter. Turkish firm
Aselsan produced ALBATROS-T and ALBATROS-K moving target boats for the
Turkish Naval Forces to use in shooting drills. Turkey's first indigenously developed armed USV (AUSV) is the
ULAQ, developed by
Ares Shipyard,
Meteksan Defence Systems and
Roketsan. ULAQ is armed with 4
Roketsan Cirit and 2
UMTAS. It completed its first firing test successfully on 27 May 2021. The ULAQ can be deployed from combat ships. It can be controlled remotely from mobile vehicles, headquarters, command centers and floating platforms. It will serve in missions such as reconnaissance, surveillance and intelligence, surface warfare, asymmetric warfare, armed escort, force protection, and strategic facility security. Ares Shipyard's CEO says that very different versions of ULAQ equipped with different weapons are under development. Its primary user will be Turkish Naval Forces. In addition, military applications for medium uncrewed surface vessels (MUSVs) include fleet intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and electronic warfare. In August 2020,
L3Harris Technologies was awarded a contract to build an MUSV prototype, with options for up to nine vessels. L3Harris subcontracted
Swiftships, a Louisiana-based shipbuilder, to build the vessels, with displacement of about 500 tons. The prototype is targeted for completion by end of 2022. It is the first uncrewed naval platform programme in this class of ships, which will likely play a major role in supporting the
Distributed Maritime Operations strategy of the U.S. Navy. Earlier, Swiftships partnered with
University of Louisiana in 2014 to build the Anaconda (AN-1) and later the Anaconda (AN-2) class of small USVs. On 13 April 2022, the US sent unspecified "uncrewed coastal defense vessels" to
Ukraine amid the
Russo-Ukrainian waras part of a new security package. In 2023, the U.S. Navy began fielding the Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARC), a 16-foot unmanned surface vessel developed by Maritime Applied Physics Corporation. Designed for scalable production and modular payload integration, GARC supports missions such as reconnaissance, surveillance, interdiction, and force protection. The Navy aims to ramp up production to 32 units per month, with over $160 million obligated for the program. GARCs are operated by Unmanned Surface Vessel Squadrons 3 and 7 (USVRON-3 and USVRON-7), and have been deployed in multiple operational theaters. A theory was put forward by the BBC that an uncrewed surface vehicle was used in the
2022 Crimean Bridge explosion. After explosions at this bridge in July 2023, Russia's Anti-Terrorist Committee claimed that Ukraine used uncrewed surface vehicles to attack the bridge. In December 2023, Russia unveiled its first kamikaze USV called "Oduvanchik". It is reported that the sea drone can carry up to 600 kg of explosives, has a range of 200 km and speed of 80 km/h. At a ceremony held on 9 January 2024,
TCB Marlin entered service in the Turkish Naval Forces as the first armed USV, with the
hull number TCB-1101 and name
Marlin SİDA. In 2024, Sagar Defence Engineering Pvt Ltd demonstrated 850 nautical mile autonomous transit of, Matangi Autonomous Surface Vessel to the Indian Navy. The autonomous transit began from Mumbai and ended at Toothukudi. This demonstration was part of Indian Navy's Swavalamban 2024 self reliance in technology contest to enable the development of autonomous vessels for various military applications. These boats are equipped with 12.7 mm SRCG gun and is capable of day and night patrolling with speed above 50 knots. 12 such autonomous boats are to be acquired by the Indian Navy and will also be used to patrol Pangong Tso lake.
Possible first use in combat During the
Yemeni civil war on 30 January 2017 an
Al Madinah-class frigate was attacked by
Houthi forces. The frigate was hit at the stern, resulting in an explosion and a fire. The crew was able to extinguish the fire, but two crew members were killed, and three others were injured. Houthi forces claimed to have targeted the ship with a missile, but Saudi forces claim that the ship was hit by three "suicide boats".
Further use in combat footage of
MAGURA V5 USVs striking Russian patrol ship
Sergey Kotov on 5 March 2024 On 29 October 2022, during the
Russo-Ukrainian war, Ukrainian armed forces made
a multi-USV attack on Russian naval vessels at the
Sevastopol Naval Base. According to the
Russian Defense Ministry, seven USVs were involved in the attack with support of eight
UAVs. Naval News reported that little damage had occurred to either of the two warships that were hit by the small USVs, a Russian frigate and a minesweeper. However, the military effect of the attack on the
protected harbor of Sevastopol exceeded the direct damage because it led to the Russian Navy going into a protective mode, "essentially locking them in port. ... New defenses were quickly added, new procedures imposed and there was much less activity. Russia's most powerful warships in the war [were by mid-November] mostly tied up in port." The US Naval Institute reported that, by December 2022, the "Russian Navy now knows it is vulnerable in its main naval base, causing it to retreat further into its shell, increasing defenses and reducing activity outside." A second USV attack occurred in mid-November in
Novorossiysk, also in the
Black Sea but much further from Russian occupied territory than Sevastopol. By January 2023, SpaceX restricted the licensing of its
Starlink satellite-internet communication technology to commercial use, excluding direct military use on weapon systems. The limitation restricted one use of the USV design used by Ukraine in late 2022. At the same time, Russia increased its capabilities in small explosive USVs which had been used to ram a Ukrainian bridge on 10 February 2023. By February, the new Russian capability with USVs, and the communication restrictions on the previous Ukrainian USVs, could affect the balance in the naval war. In the view of Naval News, "The Black Sea appears to be becoming more Russian friendly again." The potential for wider use of USVs to impact the outcome of the conflict is not settled, however, as both physical constraints on existing technology and emerging counter-USV capabilities may render these vessels vulnerable. On 4 August 2023, the
Olenegorsky Gornyak, a
Ropucha-class landing ship was seriously damaged in the Black Sea Novorossiysk naval base after it was struck by a Ukrainian Maritime Drone carrying 450 kilograms of TNT. It was pictured listing heavily to one side while being towed back to port. Some 100 service personnel were on board at the time. On 13 September 2023, an improved Kilo-class
Russian submarine Rostov-na-Donu was "likely damaged beyond repair" by a combined missile and maritime drone attack, marking the first use of USVs against submarines, albeit the Russian submarine being in dry dock. On 1 February 2024, the
Tarantul-III class missile corvette
Ivanovets was sunk in the
Donuzlav Bay after being attacked by Ukrainian USVs. On 14 February 2024, the
Tsezar Kunikov, a
Ropucha-class landing ship was sunk off
Alupka by
Ukrainian HUR MO Group 13 forces using
MAGURA V5 USV. On 2 May 2025, a Russian
Su-30SM was shot down by an
R-73 missile fired from a Ukrainian
Magura V5 USV by
Group 13 according to a
HUR statement On 28 August 2025, the Ukrainian reconnaissance ship
Simferopol was sunk in the delta of the
Danube River by a Russian naval drone. On 15 December 2025, another Improved Kilo-class submarine, the
Russian submarine Kolpino, was hit by a Ukrainian
Sea Baby USV while moored inside the submarine pen of the
Novorossiysk Naval Base. Uncrewed drone vessels were deployed by the US in the
2026 Iran war.
Countermeasures used in combat The naval war in the
Black Sea during the
Russo-Ukrainian war has seen a number of countermeasures tried against the threat of Ukrainian uncrewed drones. Due to the drone attack on the Sevastopol Naval Base in October 2022, Russian forces had deployed several early countermeasures. They have trained dolphins to protect the Naval Base, while using various booms or nets to stop further attacks. A main early change by mid-2023 was the use of
dazzle camouflage, which according to
Reuters is "designed to disguise a ship's heading and speed at sea — aims to confuse modern operators of suicide drones and satellites and prevent them from easily identifying important ships", while gunfire from helicopters can be used to destroy Ukrainian drones during an attack. By December 2023, the Russian effort to counter Ukrainian USVs in the Black Sea had expanded to include: • formal dedicated anti-drone helicopter aviation units have been formed in Crimea to engage attacking USVs with unguided rockets and machine guns, using
Mi-8 Hip and
Ka-27 Helix helicopters. More occasionally,
Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker fighter jets have been used. • electromagnetic noise countermeasures have been tried to jam communications of offensive USV drones. • escort ships have been used for high-value targets. Russia has recently begun to escort high-value weapon transport ships and tankers; escorts are typically
frigates or
patrol ships. The "convoys have been targeted by USVs on several occasions, with the escorts facing the brunt of the attacks."
Strategic studies An emerging field of research examines whether the proliferation of uncrewed surface vessels can impact crisis dynamics or intra-war escalation. An exploratory report on the subject from the Center for Naval Analyses suggests seven potential concerns for military competition, including accidental, deliberate, and inadvertent escalation. While recent scholarship has examined the impact of uncrewed aerial systems on crisis management, the empirical record for uncrewed surface and subsurface systems is thinner, since these technologies have not yet been widely employed. According to an article published by
Reuters, these drones are manufactured at a cost of $250,000 each. They use two impact detonator taken from Russian bombs. With a length of 5.5 metres, they have a camera to allow a human to operate them, and use a water jet for propulsion with a maximum speed of 80 kilometres per hour and an endurance of 60 hours. Given their relative low cost, compared to missiles or bombs, they can be deployed in a mass attack. Their low profile also makes them harder to hit. ==Cargo==