Military and naval training on Kahoolawe continued following World War II. During the Korean War, warplanes from aircraft carriers played a critical role in attacking enemyairfields, convoys, and troop staging areas. Mock-ups of airfields, military camps, and vehicles were constructed on Kahoolawe, and while pilots were preparing for war atBarbers Point Naval Air Station on Oahu, they practiced spotting and hitting the mock-ups at Kahoolawe. Similar training took place throughout the Cold War and during theWar in Vietnam, with mock-ups of aircraft, radar installations, gun mounts, and surface-to-air missile sites being placed across this island for pilots and bombardiers to use in their training.
In early 1965, the U.S. Navy conducted Operation Sailor Hat to determine the blast resistance of ships. Three tests off the coast of Kahoolawe subjected the island and a target ship to massive explosions, with 500 tons of conventional TNT detonated on the island near the target ship USS Atlanta (CL-104). This warship was damaged, but she was not sunk. The blasts created a crater on the island known as "Sailor Man's Cap" and they might have cracked the island's caprock, causing some groundwater to be lost into the ocean.[11
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