Styx missile launchers on Hiddensee.

ANTISHIP MISSILES: The Styx missile is the only ship-launched cruise missile to have sunk large warships in combat. Three Egyptian Styx missiles sank the Israeli destroyer Eilat in 1967, an event that compelled the US to develop such a weapon of its own, the Harpoon missile, in 1974.

Perhaps the most famous type of anti-ship missile is the Exocet cruise missile, developed by the French. Launched by aircraft, this now ubiquitous weapon gained attention worldwide during the Falklands War between Great Britain and Argentina when the destroyer HMS Sheffield burned and then sank after she was struck by an Exocet. In 1987, the USS Stark was severely damaged by two Exocets fired from an Iraqi Mirage, one of the many events that precipitated the first Gulf War.