They entered service in the late 1960s[2] and remained the main ASCMs deployed by the People's Liberation Army Navy through the 1980s.

[2] In November 1960, the first successful missile test was conducted after the withdrawal of Soviet advisors in September, due to the Sino-Soviet split.

[7] In October 1987, Kuwait's Sea Island offshore oil terminal was hit by an Iranian Silkworm, which was observed to have originated from the Faw peninsula.

The attack prompted Kuwait to deploy a Hawk missile battery on Failaka Island to protect the terminal.

[11] Royal Air Force officers subsequently recovered an HY-2 missile at Umm Qasr in southern Iraq.

[13] On 12 October 2016, during the Blockade of Yemen, two Silkworm missiles were fired from the Houthi-controlled port of Al Hudaydah at the destroyer USS Mason operating in the Bab el-Mandeb strait.