NAVAL BASE SAN DIEGO — As two small boats barreled toward the USS Rushmore, a voice boomed from the ship’s speaker: “You are approaching a U.S. Navy ship. Turn away, or we will be forced to use defensive measures.”

The boats did not turn away. And when they began firing machine guns at the Rushmore and the USS Lake Champlain, the sailors aboard shot back. Soon both small boats were billowing smoke — and returning to their original places to run the simulated attack again.

The training exercise is part of an annual anti-terrorism event called Citadel Protect, designed to test the capability of Navy bases to respond to terrorist threats. Sailors aboard the Rushmore and Lake Champlain worked with base police, fire and other law enforcement officials over five days to practice scenarios, including attacks by an underwater swimmer, small boats and an active shooter.

The integration between the sailors on the ships and the forces on the shore is the key to the exercise, said Cmdr. Dennis Keck, executive officer of Naval Base San Diego.

“We have to be ready to work together to defend the base,” he said.

Thursday’s demonstration was focused on the technology the sailors can use for that defense; a handful gathered at the edge of the Rushmore’s deck to fight back with a machine gun for the first scenario, then used non-lethal weapons to deter the small boats for the secondexercise. All the while, a surveillance blimp hovered overhead, beaming aerial images back to a command post on base.

As sailors on the Lake Champlain manned an M240 machine gun, the small group on the Rushmore began by broadcasting a loud beeping noise toward the boats, then hit them with a laser and spotlight, said Chief Petty Officer Christopher Morge, of the Naval Surface Warfare Center.

Typically, Morge said, anyone who did not have hostile intent would turn around after the tones and the light. If that doesn’t happen, the sailors would use a machine gun to stop the attack.

And although lasers, spotlights and loudspeakers are out in the fleet, Morge said the common controller demonstrated Thursday — allowing just one person to control all those measures at once — is new technology.

Lt. j.g. Keith Romoser, the Rushmore’s force protection officer, said the weeklong exercise was a good way to practice working directly with base forces. The small boat attack was one of many scenarios, he said, but it fits into the Navy’s broader look at how to ensure ships are prepared for terror threats and can defend themselves afloat and in port.

Since the suicide bomber attack on the USS Cole in October 2000, the Navy has improved training and force protection measures so sailors are prepared in the event of attacks. Citadel Protect is specifically designed to train and test the ability of bases and ship to work together to respond to terror threats on the waterfront.

hlad.jennifer@stripes.com Twitter: @jhlad

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