History
Establishment
On October 1, 1966, the first command structure of the fleet was established: Squadron 311. In the order of establishment, its mission was defined: [4]
- Fighting with missiles and cannons .
- Anti- submarine warfare
Cherbourg Project
The Cherbourg Project (or Boats of Cherbourg) was an Israeli military operation that took place on 24 December 1969 and involved the escape of five remaining armed Sa'ar 3 class boats from the French port of Cherbourg (Cherbourg-Octeville since 2000, Cherbourg-en-Cotentin since 2016). The boats had been paid for by the Israeli government but had not been delivered due to the French arms embargo in 1969. The whole operation was planned by the Israeli Navy, and was codenamed Operation Noa, after the daughter of Captain Binyamin "Bini" Telem. [5]
The boats taken from Cherbourg were still unarmed platforms on their arrival in Israel. They were brought into the navy and armed with Gabriel missiles and ECM and EW systems produced by MABAT and RAFAEL. [6] Their commissioning into the Israeli Navy was overseen by Commodore Yehoshua Lahav Schneidemesser, a Haganah member who had volunteered with the Royal Navy during the Second World War, and who was at the time the division head of Equipment and Platforms.
The flotilla's working up was overseen by Captain Hadar Kimhi, who was later promoted to commodore commanding the Naval base of Haifa. New concepts of sea missile warfare were developed by the navy and new ECM/EW techniques were developed with the leadership of Captain Herut Zemach [7] who was awarded the Israel Defense Prize for his efforts, creating a new generation of missile boats. Later, new Israeli Sa'ar boats were developed and built in Haifa Shipyards under the leadership of Haim Schachal, the chief engineer of the Israel Shipyards. [8]
Two of the boats were launched a few months before the Yom Kippur War, INS Reshef (Flash) and INS Keshet (Bow), Sa'ar 4 class missile boats. For his leadership, Schachal was awarded the Israel Defense Prize.
Seizure of militant vessels
The fleet's ships assisted in security missions . In the course of 1970s decade, ships of the Flotilla captured four militant boats en route to Israel. The first capture of a boat happened on July 27, 1970. A "Hatz" Saar 3 model captured a boat with three militants on their way to the Gaza Strip, west of Rosh Carmel. [9]
Operation Hood 20
Palestinian Liberation Organisation militants in Lebanon launched maritime rifs into Israel. On the night of January 14/15, 1971, paratroopers and the 13th Fleet were deployed for the first time by sea in Operation Hood 20, under the command of Haim Nadal - commander of the invading force, and Hadar Kimchi - commander of the naval force. The targets were found in Sarafand and Bas-Sheikh, south of Sidon on the coast of Lebanon. Six ships of the fleet, one "Hanit" under the command of Ephraim Ashed, four ships under the command of Shabtai. Levi - Achi "Hatz" under the command of Avraham ben Shoshan, Achi "Mishgav" under the command of Gadi ben Ze'ev, Achi "Mazanak" under the command of Avraham Ashur and Achi Haifa (Saar 2) under the command of Eli Rahab carried the force of the paratroopers. After a security guard under the command of Rafi Apel, she carried the 13th Fleet force, which was under the command of Hanina Amishav . The raiding forces were led from the steels to the coast in rubber boats. Two naval sabotage bases and a land training base were attacked and destroyed. [10]
Operation Litani
INS Yaffo (Saar 4), under the command of Lt. Col. Hanina Amishev, took an active part during the 1978 South Lebanon conflict. In general, the ship fired about 1000 76 mm shells.
Battle of Rabbit Island
The Battle of Rabbit Island was the destruction of a militant base on an island north of Tripoli (Lebanon) . On June 27–28, 1984, a force that included the INS Reshef (under the command of Major Ami Segev), the submarine INS Rahav, (under the command of Haim Kafir), and a pair of swallows (under the command of the Sheitat 13 Commander Yadidia Yaari ) attacked the naval commando base of militants on the island of Al-Nahal and destroyed militant base and vessels. [15]
Operation Derech Netz
Operation Derech Netz was carried out by four assault ships of the Flotilla under the command of Col. Shimon Meir, carrying a force of submarine fighters from the 13th flotilla under the command of Yedidia Yaari to attack militant ships in the port of Annaba in Algeria. [16]
Destruction of Ateviros
On April 20, 1985, a Panamanian-flagged ship Ateviros carrying militants and speedboats from Algeria was discovered heading for an assault on Kirya in Tel Aviv. After the ship refused to stop and an RPG missile was fired from it,It was sunk. INS Muledat (commanded by Dani Halevi) and INS Mevat (commanded by Capt. Yaron Zahar) also participated in the operation. [17]
Seizure of Castlerdy
The seizure of the Castlerdy' yacht on August 25, 1985 . A small ship with an Australian flag and an American crew that tried to transport a platoon of trained militants from Cyprus to Lebanon. Their mission was to carry out an attack in Kiryat Shmona. A naval force under the command of Lt. Col. Alex Eyal, which included INS Gaula and Unit 881, the 31st squadron and the "Sheaf" naval patrol aircraft, ambushed it on its way. The ship was stopped and the terrorists were transferred for questioning. After an official confiscation process, she was used as a vessel to locate sea mines under the name "Octopus". [18]
Operation Mekset Shifur
Operation Mekset Shifur was the capture of the terrorist ship Angel, the farthest capture from the shores of the country was on the night of August 4, 1988 in the Adriatic Sea . When it became known that the yacht "Angel" carrying a group of Fatah officers was sailing from Yugoslavia to Libya, it was intercepted about 25 miles south of the Gulf of Trento in Italy by four Sa'ar ships - Achi "Jaffa" (Sa'ar 4), Ach "Keshet" (Saar 4.5 Noshav), one "Moldat" (Saar 4), and one "Gaula" (Saar 4.5 Hochit), under the command of the battalion commander Col. Yossi Levy . Four officers from the Fatah naval force were arrested and the yacht was towed to Haifa. [19]
Operation Dust Road
Operation Dust Road In the early 1990s, ships of the navy engaged in patrols to prevent the infiltration of fast armed boats. In the security patrols, the fleet spent over 3000 hours at sea. The activity of the ships and patrol planes over the sea became known to the militants and deterred them from approaching. The attempted attack was carried out on 27–30 May 1990: six armed boats launched at a great distance ran out of fuel before reaching the shore and the attack was averted.
2006 Lebanon War
The Flotilla participated in the Second Lebanon War and fired a total of 2,500 shells. [21] INS Hanit which was patrolling in Lebanese waters ten nautical miles off the coast of Beirut. It was damaged on 14 July 2006 on the waterline, under the aft superstructure [22] [23] by a missile (likely a Chinese-designed C-802 [24] ) fired by Hezbollah that reportedly set the flight deck on fire and crippled the propulsion systems inside the hull. [25] However, INS Hanit stayed afloat, withdrew and made the rest of the journey back to Ashdod port for repairs under its own power. [26] Four crew members were killed during the attack: Staff Sergeant Tal Amgar, Corporal Shai Atas, Sergeant Yaniv Hershkovitz, and First Sergeant Dov Steinshuss. [27]
Operation Cast Lead
During the Gaza War (2008–2009) the Israeli Navy attacked Hamas' rocket launchers and outposts, command and control centers, a Hamas patrol boat, and the office of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, using the Typhoon Weapon System and Surface to surface missiles. [28] [29] The navy coordinated with other Israeli forces and used powerful shipboard sensors to acquire and shell targets on land. [30] [31] Records of the attacks published by the navy indicate that for the first time vessels were equipped with Spike ER electro-optically guided anti-armor missiles. Videos of an attack showed precision hits from a Typhoon stabilizing gun despite a rolling sea. Versions of the Spike were also used by ground units [32] and possibly by helicopters or unmanned aerial vehicles. [33] Shayetet 13 naval commandos were also deployed to attack targets on land, [34] and reportedly attacked an Iranian ship loaded with arms for Hamas, which was docking in Sudan. [35] On 28 December, Naval vessels shelled the Port of Gaza. [36]
On 29 December, the Free Gaza Movement relief boat Dignity carrying volunteer doctors with 3.5 tons of medical supplies, human rights activists (Among them Caoimhe Butterly and former US Representative Cynthia McKinney), and a CNN reporter was involved in an altercation with Israeli patrol boats. The captain of the Free Gaza vessel said that their vessel had been rammed intentionally and that there had been no warning before it had been rammed. [37] An Israeli spokesman disputed this, and said the collision was caused by the Dignity attempting to outmaneuver the patrol boats after disobeying Israeli orders to turn back. [38]
On 4 January the Israeli Navy extended its blockade of the Gaza Strip to 20 nautical miles. [39]
Throughout the war, the Israeli Navy employed Sa'ar 4.5 class missile boats of the Flotilla in addition to Super Dvora Mk III class patrol boats .
Operation Four Species
Francop Affair , On November 4, 2009, the ship MV Francop was radioed by an Israeli Navy missile boat of the Flotilla, which ordered it to halt and prepare for inspection. Shayetet 13 naval commandos then boarded the ship without resistance. The navy said that the crew was not aware of the purported smuggling and cooperated with the commandos. [40] The commandos broke open the shipping containers and discovered crates of weapons and munitions hidden between sacks of polyethylene stacked along the openings and sides. [41]
Operation Pillars of Defence
The Flotilla participated in the 2012 Gaza War , carrying out bombardments of the Gaza strip.
Operation Protective Edge
During the 2014 Gaza War , the Flotilla off-shore fleet fired 3,494 naval shells, into the Gaza Strip. [44]
Israel-Hamas war
During the Israel Hamas war during the 7 October attacks, the Navy stopped militants who tried to enter Israel by sea during the Zikim attack. The Sa'ar 6 ships of the Flotilla INS Oz and INS Magen, carried out, for the first time, as part of the fighting, sea surface attacks towards the Gaza Strip. [45] As part of these attacks, they destroyed a facility for the production of weapons, an outpost and an observation post of Hamas. [46]
Red Sea Crisis
INS Hanit and INS Magen were deployed in the red sea during the Red Sea crisis following Houthi movement's attacks on Israel. On 9 April, the IDF used a seaborne missile from the INS Magen to shoot down a UAV for the first time. The UAV, which came from the Red Sea, breached Israeli airspace and crossed into the area of the Gulf of Aqaba, setting off sirens in Eilat. [47] [48]
The Battle of Latakia was a small but revolutionary naval action of the Yom Kippur War, fought on 7 October 1973 between Israel and Syria. It was the first naval battle in history to see combat between surface-to-surface missile-equipped missile boats and the use of electronic deception.
The Israeli Navy is the naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in the Mediterranean Sea theater as well as the Gulf of Eilat and the Red Sea theater. The current commander in chief of the Israeli Navy is Aluf David Saar Salama. The Israeli Navy is believed to be responsible for maintaining Israel's offshore nuclear second strike capability.
The Sa'ar 4 or Reshef class were a series of fast attack craft built based on Israeli Navy designs grounded in accumulated experience derived in the operation of "Cherbourg" classes. Thirteen were built at the Israel Shipyards, ten for the Israeli Navy and three for the South African Navy. Another six were built for the South African Navy in South Africa with Israeli assistance.
Sa'ar 5 is a class of Israeli Navy corvettes. They were Israeli designed using lessons learned from the Sa'ar 4.5-class missile boats. Three Sa'ar 5 ships were built by Huntington Ingalls Industries for the Israeli Navy, based on Israeli designs.
A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They are similar in concept to the torpedo boats of World War II; in fact, the first missile boats were modified torpedo boats with the torpedo tubes replaced by missile tubes.
INSHanit(503) is a Sa'ar 5-class corvette of the Israeli Navy's 3rd Flotilla, built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in 1994. During the 2006 Lebanon War INS Hanit served as the flagship of the Israeli navy. On 14 July 2006, it was damaged after being struck by a Hezbollah C-701 anti-ship missile.
Zeev Almog, was the Commander In Chief (C.I.C.) of the Israeli Navy from 1979 to 1985. He was also General Manager of Israel Shipyards from 1986 to 1995.
The Sa'ar 3 class ("Cherbourg") is a series of missile boats built in Cherbourg, France at the Amiot Shipyard based on an Israeli Navy modification of the German Navy's Jaguar-class fast attack craft. They are also known as the stars of Cherbourg.
HMS Zealous was a Z-class destroyer of the Royal Navy built in 1944 by Cammell Laird. She served during the Second World War, participating in operations in the North Sea and off the Norwegian coast, before taking part in some of the Arctic convoys. She spent a further ten years in Royal Navy service after the end of the war before being sold to the Israeli Navy, which operated her as INS Eilat. She saw action during the Suez Crisis in 1956 attacking Egyptian ships, and was still active by the outbreak of the Six-Day War in 1967. She was sunk several months after the conflict by missiles launched from several small Egyptian missile boats; this made her the first vessel to be sunk by a missile boat in wartime. It was an important milestone in naval surface warfare, which aroused considerable interest around the world in the development of small manoeuvrable missile boats.
Shayetet 13 is a unit of the Israeli Navy and one of the primary reconnaissance units of the Israel Defense Forces. Shayetet 13 specializes in sea-to-land incursions, counter-terrorism, sabotage, maritime intelligence gathering, maritime hostage rescue, and boarding. The unit is trained for sea, air and land actions. The unit has taken part in almost all of Israel's major wars, as well as other actions.
The 193 Squadron of the Israeli Air Force (IAF), also known as the Maritime Helicopters Squadron and operates on behalf of the Israeli Navy.
The Cherbourg Project was an Israeli military operation that took place on 24 December 1969 and involved the escape of five remaining armed Sa'ar 3 class boats from the French port of Cherbourg. The boats had been paid for by the Israeli government but had not been delivered due to the French arms embargo in 1969. The whole operation was planned by the Israeli Navy, and was codenamed Operation Noa, after the daughter of Captain Binyamin "Bini" Telem.
The Israeli naval campaign in Operation Yoav refers to the operations of the Israeli naval service during Operation Yoav in the final stage of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The main objective of the naval service was to disrupt the supply lines from Egypt to Palestine, completing the Egyptian expeditionary force's encirclement, and force Egypt to allocate large forces to fight against targets at sea instead of on the ground, where Operation Yoav was conducted.
Operation Full Disclosure was a military operation carried out by the Israel Defense Forces on March 5, 2014, in the Red Sea. After days of surveillance far out to sea, Israeli Navy Shayetet 13 commandos seized the Iranian-owned and Panamanian-registered merchant vessel Klos C that had set sail from Iran, heading for Port Sudan via Iraq. On board, the commandos found long-range missiles suspected to be destined for the Gaza Strip concealed in containers full of Iranian bags marked as Portland cement. An unnamed senior Egyptian security official reportedly confirmed that the arms shipment was headed for militants in either Gaza or Sinai. A UN panel of experts concluded that the weapons came from Iran and were being sent to Sudan, accusing Iran of violating the arms embargo. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1929 authorizes states to seize items, including arms, that Iran is forbidden from exporting.
The Second Battle of Latakia was a small naval battle of the Yom Kippur War fought on 11 October 1973 between Israel and Syria. The Israeli Navy force consisted of Sa'ar 2-class, Sa'ar 3-class, and Sa'ar 4-class missile boats armed with Gabriel anti-ship missiles while the Syrian Navy force consisted of Soviet-made Komar- and Osa-class missile boats armed with Soviet-manufactured P-15 Termit anti-ship missiles.
The INSSufa is a Sa'ar 4.5-class missile boat of the Israeli Navy's Shayetet 3 Flotilla, built by Israel Shipyards Ltd. and commissioned in May 2003.
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Israel 
Israeli Navy 
