The tests involved a remotely driven test ship firing at land-based targets and small remotely driven boats.

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"We were given targets of taking man-hours and training hours off the ship, " said Rich Lockwood, director of the Advanced Naval and C4I Program for Lockheed Martin NESS - Surface Systems.

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Weary of being targets for every pirate in the Caribbean, Spain decided from then on to ship its New World plunder the long way around, via Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America.

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