THE idea of firing a missile at a living, breathing warship is something which will probably cause a few instances of brown trousers.

Unless you have Seawolf.

The cry of ‘Birds away’ echoed around the operations room of HMS Chatham. On the forecastle the shutters of two launchers opened and plumes of fire raced across the deck as two missiles emerged with a whoosh and headed out to sea.

From the bridge wing, sailors watched the 6ft long missiles accelerate to three times the speed of sound , hugging the waves, before obliterating the incoming drone missile.

So accurate were the two Seawolfs that the second missile hurtled into the largest piece of debris, blowing it to smithereens before the debris tumbled into the ocean.

This was the final salvo firing for the first – or Block 1 – version of Seawolf, the standard anti-air defence system for Britain’s frigate fleet.

Chatham had intended to fire single shots at the targets using her fore and aft launchers. But the opportunity arose to fire a salvo – two Seawolfs at the same target.

“That was a rare opportunity and despite the extra preparations, there was no way we were going to let that pass,” said Lt Cdr Chris Smith, Chatham’s Weapon Engineer Officer.

Having dealt with a simulated missile run successfully, Chatham’s relatively junior crew, who were still undergoing training, prepared for the live test, first using her fore launcher, then from her aft missile battery.

“This was a great result,” said the ship’s CO Cdr Martin Connell. “With a junior crew we successfully completed two salvo firings at the first attempt.”

Seawolf proved itself in the Falklands 25 years ago and has been upgraded and updated since; the latest version of the missile, Block 2, is being introduced to all Type 22 and Type 23 frigates.