Rubber Banana Boat News

A ship-deployed surface target (SDST) was launched from USS Tortuga (LSD 46) during a gunnery exercise with the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) June 23, in the Gulf of Thailand. The live-fire target practice was the first major event during day one of exercise Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training’s (CARAT) Thailand at-sea phase. CFAO is embarked aboard Tortuga during CARAT to provide targets for gunnery exercises. CFAO also launched a target drone from the Tortuga June 24 for an RTN tracking run. CARAT is an annual series of bilateral maritime training exercises between the United States and six Southeast Asia nations designed to build relationships and enhance the operational readiness of the participating forces. Thailand is the second phase of the summer-long exercise series.