[SampleMan]

Very unlikely to be a "ballistic" missile if it is meant to be aimed at a ship unless it is one in port. Ballistic means that it just follows the path of gravity rather than being able to guided to its target. You won't have a chance to get a direct hit on a ship at sea unless it is traveling at a constant speed and direction for the entire time it takes to target, launch and fly the missile without some type of terminal guidance.

Ballistic is no longer used in a limited sense, and ICBMs have always had mid course guidance systems. In this case, the reentry guided warhead is delivered to a "basket", which covers all possible positions of the ship (30 kts just doesn't take you far in 10 minutes). The reentry vehicle then guides the warhead into the ship using either radar, IR, or a combination of both.

[Travis McGee]

Sounds reasonable to me. That sucks.

[KarlInOhio]

Ballistic is no longer used in a limited sense, and ICBMs have always had mid course guidance systems.

Thanks. I didn't know how much terminal guidance "ballistic" missiles had now. I suspected that ICBMs' warheads did have some type of guidance to be able to get into the hundred yard errors when shot from half way around the world, but really haven't looked into the details recently.