Israeli naval campaign in Operation Yoav
Encyclopedia
The Israeli naval campaign in Operation Yoav refers to the operations of the Israeli naval service (later Israel Navy) during Operation Yoav
(October 15–22, 1948) 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.
Israel's four warships at the time, INS Wedgwood (K-18), INS Haganah (K-20), INS Ma'oz (K-24) and INS Noga (K-26), participated in the operation. The two main naval engagements were the October 19 battle in the waters of Majdal (today Ashkelon
), and the sinking of the Egyptian flagship the Emir Farouk on October 22, which also damaged an Egyptian minesweeper
. The latter operation helped shape the Israeli navy's future doctrine that envisioned the use of small weapon systems as opposed to conventional fleets
, a small naval contingent of the Palmach
, reinforced by Jewish veterans of the Royal Navy
and the Jewish Agency's maritime and fishing departments. At the start of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on May 15, its small makeshift fleet was no match for the Egyptian navy, which had complete sea superiority.
During the second truce of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, between July 18 and October 15, 1948, the naval service's strength increased significantly, totaling 16 vessels of a combined 7,000 tons. This included four warships (of which only INS Wedgwood and INS Haganah were fit for naval combat) called The Big Flotilla, three landing craft, three service ships and six patrol boats. New equipment was also installed on the ships in the Big Flotilla, including radios for tactical communication. The Egyptian fleet had three large and eight small minesweepers, four armed service ships, three corvettes, at least four patrol boats and at least 20 landing craft. This fleet's composition had not changed since the beginning of the war.
The second truce started with an Israeli enclave in the Negev
disconnected from the rest of the country. Military operations, including An-Far
, Death to the Invader
and GYS
, to create a corridor between the two areas, failed. The Israeli political and military leadership therefore planned a massive operation, the largest undertaken by the IDF to that point. The operation was named The Ten Plagues
(later renamed to Yoav), and involved the first major Israeli naval offensive campaign.
(considering ground actions in the operation, this would translate into complete encirclement). This would be achieved by preventing any Egyptian naval actions in the area, including naval supply, reinforcement or seaborne evacuation of forces. In addition, the naval service would draw major Egyptian forces to the theater, preventing them from fighting in other areas where ground and air attacks would take place.
The Israeli naval service operated under the assumption that a concentrated attack on the Egyptians would force them to use their entire military arsenal for defense, and they would therefore not have offensive capabilities. In light of that, only the six patrol boats (INS Portzim, INS Palmach, INS Dror, INS Sa'ar, INS Galia and INS Tirtza) were designated to guard the Israeli coast.
The Egyptian Navy along the shore mainly operated out of Gaza and Majdal, both of which had open ports, making it particularly convenient to stage covert operations against them. Such operations were not planned in advance, however. The Israeli strategy rested on searching for targets and devising a tactic to engage them once located. One joint operation with the Givati Brigade
was planned in advance—an attack on an Egyptian artillery battery in Isdud.
On October 18 at 04:00, the naval service shelled Gaza
and on October 21—Majdal
. Both operations were carried out in tandem with the Israeli Air Force
. A shelling of al-Arish was also planned for October 18, but the Israeli ships turned to Majdal to look for a reported Egyptian vessel, which they did not find.
against an Egyptian artillery battery in Isdud. The naval service could not mount such an operation independently as its nascent marine force had been almost entirely destroyed in land combat in Operation Death to the Invader
. Plans had to be changed as more infantry soldiers showed up than expected, and an actual landing craft was used instead of boats as planned. The landing craft's crew had no knowledge of the vessel's specifications and did not know how to properly operate it.
The vessel left Jaffa Port
at 20:45 on October 16, followed by the patrol boat INS Sa'ar which carried the landing troops. They reached the destination at midnight, two hours late. Shortly after the 31 infantrymen embarked on the landing craft, its engine died. In addition, this was the first time that many of the Givati soldiers journeyed by sea, and most of them became seasick. The commander therefore decided to return to Jaffa. At 00:45, INS Sa'ar began towing the landing craft back (two hours later, the engine was restored), and at 06:30 the force was back in port.
ran out of fuel and required supplies. Other reports came on October 19 at 06:30 that the Egyptians would try to evacuate their wounded through the sea. The naval service therefore prepared to tighten its blockade of the shore, with the help of the air force. At 10:00 on October 19, a specific air force report pointed to an Egyptian vessel unloading cargo in Gaza.
At 10:10, when they received the intercept order, INS Wedgwood, INS Haganah and INS Noga were on a routine patrol about 15 nautical miles off the shore of Gaza. They moved south and at 10:25 turned to move closer to land and to Gaza. At 11:00, an Egyptian ship was spotted in Majdal, and at 11:21, after coming closer, discovered that it was a corvette unloading cargo and troops. It is unclear whether the ship had been in Majdal from the start, or if it had moved there from Gaza since the air force report.
The Israeli attack began on 12:03. The Israeli commander, David Maimon, ordered the ships to cross the T
so that the starboard
side of his ships would be facing the bow
of the Egyptian vessel. At 12:25, INS Noga retreated, as it was armed only with 20 mm cannons which was considered insufficient for the battle.
and returned fire, but the crafts missed one another. The Wedgwood and Haganah closed in on the shore, and at 12:30 opened fire on the Egyptian ship from a range of about 5,000 yard
s. The Wedgwood stayed closer to the shore, with the Haganah further at sea. At 12:38, the Egyptian corvette fired back, but missed. The Israeli ships hit and damaged it, which caused the corvette to start moving south.
The Wedgwood had come dangerously close to the shore and ran the risk of running aground, and also blocked the Haganahs field of fire. Therefore, the Haganah initially stayed near Majdal while the Wedgwood moved south to chase the corvette. At 12:52, Egyptian combat aircraft appeared on the scene, but did not engage the Israeli vessels. Both the Haganah and the Wedgwood exchanged fire with Egyptian corvette but the Israeli cannons were of low quality and jammed frequently. They registered hits, but did not impair the corvette's ability to move or fire back. The corvette was also unable to do damage.
Egyptian Spitfires commenced bombing runs on the Haganah, but dropped the bombs from a high altitude, allowing the ship to avoid most of them. The ship shot down one of the planes, which exploded near the surface of the water, damaging the Haganah and injuring five of its crew members, one of whom died of his wounds half an hour later. Mordechai Limon
, the deputy commander of the Haganah and a future admiral, was among the wounded. By this time, the Haganahs bow cannon had broken. In light of these developments, David Maimon ordered a retreat to Jaffa. Maimon also requested air support at the time of the Egyptian aerial attack. The Israeli command answered that it had sent aircraft to assist, but these did not arrive during the battle. Moreover, the command incorrectly believed that two Egyptian ships had been in the vicinity—a transport ship, according to earlier air reconnaissance, and a corvette.
Despite Maimon's order, the Wedgwood continued chasing the Egyptian corvette while coming under fire from the aircraft. At 12:25, its bow
cannon was damaged, and it turned and fired from the stern
, then around again when the bow cannon was repaired. The Haganah turned to assist the Wedgwood, but at 13:40 the Egyptian coastal battery came online and started firing at the Haganah. The Haganah turned around again toward the open sea. The Wedgwood was also hit by the shore cannons, suffering minor damage. At this point the corvette had gone out of range and the Wedgwood began to retreat north, but Egyptian Spitfires attacked it, dropping three bombs, one of which wounded a crew member.
Both Israeli ships made it to Jaffa safely, but the port there could not undertake the repairs, so the ships sailed to Haifa
. In all, they fired over 200 shells during the battle, few of which resulted in direct hits on the Egyptian corvette. The ships returned to active duty one day after the battle. On October 21, the Wedgwood and Haganah conducted a skirmish with coastal batteries in Majdal. They began the attack at 06:40, in conjunction with an air force bombing raid, and retreated at 07:10.
, received a number of Italian motorboats that could be packed with explosives and rammed into larger ships. The assembly and preparation of all the boats was not completed until the final days of Operation Yoav. The assembly of the boats, the training, and indeed the essence of the sabotage unit were so secret that even Paul Shulman
, deputy commander of the naval service, was not in on it.
Boats of these type served the Italian army in World War II
and proved effective against British targets, especially in the Raid on Souda Bay. The method of operation was to load about 250 kilograms (551.2 lb) of explosives into the bow and ram into an enemy ship. The sole sailor, manning a detachable float, would eject about 100 m short of the target. Training on the first boats to arrive was done in the Sea of Galilee
, with the Italian sailor Fiorenzo Capprioti teaching the Israelis how to use them. More training was done later near Jaffa
.
The saboteurs themselves prepared four boats to be used in future operations. After believing that they could operate independently, but being proven wrong in the training, the naval service decided to store the boats in the INS Ma'oz, due to its stern
's construction and because the Ma'oz had poor armament and could not be counted on in ship to ship combat. Contrary to the modus operandi for the Italian sabotage units on World War II, the Israelis sought to prevent its soldiers from being taken prisoner. Therefore a special rescue boat was allocated to retrieve the saboteurs, leaving three actual sabotage boats.
On October 22 at 16:10, two Egyptian ships were spotted off the Gaza coast—the flagship of the Egyptian Navy, the Emir Farouk, and a BYMS class minesweeper
. The operation against them was preceded by a difficulty of obtaining permission to act. Gershon Zak
, head of the naval service, and Paul Shulman
, his deputy and head of the main flotilla, supported the operation, while chief of operations Yigael Yadin
opposed, in light of an impending ceasefire and lack of prior experience with this method of warfare. The Israeli high command had issued an order to cease all attacks by 15:00 that day, and reiterated it at 17:30. Meanwhile, Paul Shulman, who was aboard one of the ships, repeatedly sent requests to Gershon Zak for the permission to attack. Zak appealed personally to David Ben-Gurion
, who was concerned for the operation's chances. He consented in the end, by which time Shulman had told his soldiers that the attack would not be taking place. They were rousted again after official permission was granted at 18:10.
s northwest of Gaza. The spot was calculated based on the ship's ability to intercept fleeing Egyptian vessels by sailing south, and the expected light projection during such an encounter (the moonlight would reveal the Egyptian forces while hiding the Israeli). Additionally, the ship was ordered to stay put in its location, so that despite its camouflage, the returning Israeli sailors would be able to find it. However, it turned out that the Maoz went further south than it was supposed to.
The Maoz released its five boats at 21:10, and by 22:00, the boats were in close proximity to the Egyptian vessels. Two of the boats, manned by Ya'akov Vardi and Zalman Abramov, were intended for the actual sabotage, one as a reserve, manned by the commander Yohai Bin-Nun, and one to collect the commandos after the operation, manned by Yitzhak Brockman and Ya'akov Reitov. The Israeli sailors used helmets with infrared
lights to ease the extraction process. The Egyptian ships, believing that a ceasefire was already in effect, had their lights on and were easy to spot. Despite this, according to a later Israeli estimate, they had been on full alert. Because the Egyptian ships were facing one another, Bin-Nun decided that Abramov and Vardi would attack the bow
s of the Emir Farouk and the minesweeper, respectively. This would make it more difficult for the Egyptians to fire at the boats should they have spotted them, because they could hit each other.
While the Israelis were preparing, the two ships started moving. the Emir Farouk went north and the minesweeper went south. This hastened the Israeli attack. Abramov's boat attacked first, causing the Egyptians to fire at random. Vardi's boat mistakenly turned to attack the Emir Farouk as well. Vardi failed to eject due to a technical difficulty, but managed to turn around and strike again. In the dark, Abramov believed that Vardi's was the extraction boat and caught on, but detached from it as well before it rammed into the Egyptian ship. Vardi's actions also confused Yitzhak Brockman on the rescue boat, who had been moving toward the Emir Farouk, and now believed that Vardi was turning around to collect Abramov. Brockman therefore started moving in Bin-Nun's direction.
The Emir Farouk sank in about five minutes. Yohai Bin-Nun, who was in the reserve boat, noticed the mistake made by Vardi, and himself rammed the minesweeper. He was spotted and fired at, and managed to eject from his boat only 40 m short of the target. The minesweeper suffered significant damage, but did not sink and was hauled back to Alexandria
. It was subsequently scrapped by the Egyptian Navy. Egyptian coastal artillery opened a barrage on the general area, but did not spot their targets. The extraction boat collected the commandos and remained in the area to assess the damage, estimating about 200–300 Egyptian survivors. At 22:25 it started moving toward where it believed the Maoz was. The commandos, despite spotting it from a very close range, found the Maoz closer than they had thought, and by 23:10 all the commandos were back on the ship.
For his exploits, Yohai Bin-Nun received the Hero of Israel
citation, and the commando crew was invited to lunch by David Ben-Gurion. Bin-Nun remained with the Israel Navy after its founding and went on to hold various command positions until becoming chief of the navy in 1960. The operation strengthened his belief that it was possible and preferable to defeat superior numbers and weaponry with cheap but unconventional warfare. During his naval career, he worked to develop doctrines and technologies in accordance with these beliefs.
Operation Yoav
Operation Yoav was an Israeli military operation carried out from 15–22 October 1948 in the Negev Desert, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Its goal was to drive a wedge between the Egyptian forces along the coast and the Beersheba–Hebron–Jerusalem road and ultimately to conquer the whole Negev...
(October 15–22, 1948) 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.
Israel's four warships at the time, INS Wedgwood (K-18), INS Haganah (K-20), INS Ma'oz (K-24) and INS Noga (K-26), participated in the operation. The two main naval engagements were the October 19 battle in the waters of Majdal (today Ashkelon
Ashkelon
Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...
), and the sinking of the Egyptian flagship the Emir Farouk on October 22, which also damaged an Egyptian minesweeper
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
. The latter operation helped shape the Israeli navy's future doctrine that envisioned the use of small weapon systems as opposed to conventional fleets
Background
The Israeli naval service was founded in March 1948 out of the PalyamPalyam
Palyam was the sea force of the Palmach.-History:Palyam was set up in April 1945 as the Palmach's tenth company which originated from the Palmach's Naval Platoon. The Company's first commander was Abraham Zakai...
, a small naval contingent of the Palmach
Palmach
The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...
, reinforced by Jewish veterans of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and the Jewish Agency's maritime and fishing departments. At the start of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on May 15, its small makeshift fleet was no match for the Egyptian navy, which had complete sea superiority.
During the second truce of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, between July 18 and October 15, 1948, the naval service's strength increased significantly, totaling 16 vessels of a combined 7,000 tons. This included four warships (of which only INS Wedgwood and INS Haganah were fit for naval combat) called The Big Flotilla, three landing craft, three service ships and six patrol boats. New equipment was also installed on the ships in the Big Flotilla, including radios for tactical communication. The Egyptian fleet had three large and eight small minesweepers, four armed service ships, three corvettes, at least four patrol boats and at least 20 landing craft. This fleet's composition had not changed since the beginning of the war.
The second truce started with an Israeli enclave in the Negev
Negev
The Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The Arabs, including the native Bedouin population of the region, refer to the desert as al-Naqab. The origin of the word Neghebh is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...
disconnected from the rest of the country. Military operations, including An-Far
Operation An-Far
Operation An-Far was a military operation launched by Israel's Givati Brigade on the night of July 8–9 during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Its objectives were to gain control of approaches in southern Judea and block the advance of the Egyptian army...
, Death to the Invader
Operation Death to the Invader
Operation Death to the Invader , also Death to the Invaders, was an Israeli military operation during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was carried out on July 16–18, 1948 in the northwestern Negev desert. The operation's objective was to link Jewish villages in the Negev desert with the rest of...
and GYS
Operation GYS
Operation GYS, or Operation Gayis , short for Golani, Yiftach, Sergei —the three participating brigades—was an Israeli military and logistical operation conducted during the second truce of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Its objective was to create a corridor to the Israeli enclave in the northern...
, to create a corridor between the two areas, failed. The Israeli political and military leadership therefore planned a massive operation, the largest undertaken by the IDF to that point. The operation was named The Ten Plagues
Plagues of Egypt
The Plagues of Egypt , also called the Ten Plagues or the Biblical Plagues, were ten calamities that, according to the biblical Book of Exodus, Israel's God, Yahweh, inflicted upon Egypt to persuade Pharaoh to release the ill-treated Israelites from slavery. Pharaoh capitulated after the tenth...
(later renamed to Yoav), and involved the first major Israeli naval offensive campaign.
Prelude
In Operation Yoav, the naval service was not supposed to, and could not, act independently. Rather, all of its actions were coordinated with ground forces and conducted in accordance with the latter's requirements. Its actions, almost entirely confined to the Gaza–Majdal corridor, were meant to create a naval blockade of the Egyptian expeditionary force in PalestinePalestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
(considering ground actions in the operation, this would translate into complete encirclement). This would be achieved by preventing any Egyptian naval actions in the area, including naval supply, reinforcement or seaborne evacuation of forces. In addition, the naval service would draw major Egyptian forces to the theater, preventing them from fighting in other areas where ground and air attacks would take place.
The Israeli naval service operated under the assumption that a concentrated attack on the Egyptians would force them to use their entire military arsenal for defense, and they would therefore not have offensive capabilities. In light of that, only the six patrol boats (INS Portzim, INS Palmach, INS Dror, INS Sa'ar, INS Galia and INS Tirtza) were designated to guard the Israeli coast.
The Egyptian Navy along the shore mainly operated out of Gaza and Majdal, both of which had open ports, making it particularly convenient to stage covert operations against them. Such operations were not planned in advance, however. The Israeli strategy rested on searching for targets and devising a tactic to engage them once located. One joint operation with the Givati Brigade
Givati Brigade
The Givati Brigade is an infantry brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, and serves as its amphibious force. Givati soldiers are designated by purple berets...
was planned in advance—an attack on an Egyptian artillery battery in Isdud.
Operations on October 15–18
In the first days of Operation Yoav, the naval service did not meet with success. Their mission was to patrol the Gaza–Majdal area and engage any Egyptian ships whose location they could find, either through intelligence reports or visual identification. On October 16, 1948, the air force spotted an Egyptian vessel to the south of Gaza. The patrol boat INS Palmach took a sapper team to the location, but after reaching it at 02:15 on October 17, the crew failed to locate the ship. Another report on October 17 of two ships docking in Gaza similarly did not end in an engagement.On October 18 at 04:00, the naval service shelled Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
and on October 21—Majdal
Ashkelon
Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...
. Both operations were carried out in tandem with the Israeli Air Force
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
. A shelling of al-Arish was also planned for October 18, but the Israeli ships turned to Majdal to look for a reported Egyptian vessel, which they did not find.
Operation Battery
Operation Battery was the name given to the amphibious assault planned by the naval service and Givati BrigadeGivati Brigade
The Givati Brigade is an infantry brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, and serves as its amphibious force. Givati soldiers are designated by purple berets...
against an Egyptian artillery battery in Isdud. The naval service could not mount such an operation independently as its nascent marine force had been almost entirely destroyed in land combat in Operation Death to the Invader
Operation Death to the Invader
Operation Death to the Invader , also Death to the Invaders, was an Israeli military operation during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was carried out on July 16–18, 1948 in the northwestern Negev desert. The operation's objective was to link Jewish villages in the Negev desert with the rest of...
. Plans had to be changed as more infantry soldiers showed up than expected, and an actual landing craft was used instead of boats as planned. The landing craft's crew had no knowledge of the vessel's specifications and did not know how to properly operate it.
The vessel left Jaffa Port
Jaffa Port
Jaffa Port is an ancient port located in the Old City of Jaffa, Israel.Jaffa and its port have a history spanning over three millennia. The port itself is mentioned in various ancient works, including the Bible and Josephus. Still functional as a small fishing port, the port is currently a...
at 20:45 on October 16, followed by the patrol boat INS Sa'ar which carried the landing troops. They reached the destination at midnight, two hours late. Shortly after the 31 infantrymen embarked on the landing craft, its engine died. In addition, this was the first time that many of the Givati soldiers journeyed by sea, and most of them became seasick. The commander therefore decided to return to Jaffa. At 00:45, INS Sa'ar began towing the landing craft back (two hours later, the engine was restored), and at 06:30 the force was back in port.
Discovery and prelude
On October 18 at 22:45, intelligence reported that the Egyptian forces in Iraq al-ManshiyyaIraq al-Manshiyya
Iraq al-Manshiyya is a former Palestinian town located 32 km northeast of Gaza City. Its total land area consisted of 13,838 dunams. According to the British Mandate, the town had a population of 2,010 Arabs and 210 Jews in 1945...
ran out of fuel and required supplies. Other reports came on October 19 at 06:30 that the Egyptians would try to evacuate their wounded through the sea. The naval service therefore prepared to tighten its blockade of the shore, with the help of the air force. At 10:00 on October 19, a specific air force report pointed to an Egyptian vessel unloading cargo in Gaza.
At 10:10, when they received the intercept order, INS Wedgwood, INS Haganah and INS Noga were on a routine patrol about 15 nautical miles off the shore of Gaza. They moved south and at 10:25 turned to move closer to land and to Gaza. At 11:00, an Egyptian ship was spotted in Majdal, and at 11:21, after coming closer, discovered that it was a corvette unloading cargo and troops. It is unclear whether the ship had been in Majdal from the start, or if it had moved there from Gaza since the air force report.
The Israeli attack began on 12:03. The Israeli commander, David Maimon, ordered the ships to cross the T
Crossing the T
Crossing the T or Capping the T is a classic naval warfare tactic attempted from the late 19th to mid 20th century, in which a line of warships crossed in front of a line of enemy ships, allowing the crossing line to bring all their guns to bear while receiving fire from only the forward guns of...
so that the starboard
Port and starboard
Port and starboard are nautical terms which refer to the left and right sides, respectively, of a ship or aircraft as perceived by a person on board facing the bow . At night, the port side of a vessel is indicated with a red navigation light and the starboard side with a green one.The starboard...
side of his ships would be facing the bow
Bow (ship)
The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...
of the Egyptian vessel. At 12:25, INS Noga retreated, as it was armed only with 20 mm cannons which was considered insufficient for the battle.
Battle
At 12:29, it was attacked by an Egyptian SpitfireSupermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
and returned fire, but the crafts missed one another. The Wedgwood and Haganah closed in on the shore, and at 12:30 opened fire on the Egyptian ship from a range of about 5,000 yard
Yard
A yard is a unit of length in several different systems including English units, Imperial units and United States customary units. It is equal to 3 feet or 36 inches...
s. The Wedgwood stayed closer to the shore, with the Haganah further at sea. At 12:38, the Egyptian corvette fired back, but missed. The Israeli ships hit and damaged it, which caused the corvette to start moving south.
The Wedgwood had come dangerously close to the shore and ran the risk of running aground, and also blocked the Haganahs field of fire. Therefore, the Haganah initially stayed near Majdal while the Wedgwood moved south to chase the corvette. At 12:52, Egyptian combat aircraft appeared on the scene, but did not engage the Israeli vessels. Both the Haganah and the Wedgwood exchanged fire with Egyptian corvette but the Israeli cannons were of low quality and jammed frequently. They registered hits, but did not impair the corvette's ability to move or fire back. The corvette was also unable to do damage.
Egyptian Spitfires commenced bombing runs on the Haganah, but dropped the bombs from a high altitude, allowing the ship to avoid most of them. The ship shot down one of the planes, which exploded near the surface of the water, damaging the Haganah and injuring five of its crew members, one of whom died of his wounds half an hour later. Mordechai Limon
Mordechai Limon
Mordechai Limon was the fourth commander of the Israeli navy, serving from December 14, 1950 until July 1, 1954.Limon was born in Baranovichi and made aliyah to Palestine in 1932...
, the deputy commander of the Haganah and a future admiral, was among the wounded. By this time, the Haganahs bow cannon had broken. In light of these developments, David Maimon ordered a retreat to Jaffa. Maimon also requested air support at the time of the Egyptian aerial attack. The Israeli command answered that it had sent aircraft to assist, but these did not arrive during the battle. Moreover, the command incorrectly believed that two Egyptian ships had been in the vicinity—a transport ship, according to earlier air reconnaissance, and a corvette.
Despite Maimon's order, the Wedgwood continued chasing the Egyptian corvette while coming under fire from the aircraft. At 12:25, its bow
Bow (ship)
The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...
cannon was damaged, and it turned and fired from the stern
Stern
The stern is the rear or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite of the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Originally, the term only referred to the aft port section...
, then around again when the bow cannon was repaired. The Haganah turned to assist the Wedgwood, but at 13:40 the Egyptian coastal battery came online and started firing at the Haganah. The Haganah turned around again toward the open sea. The Wedgwood was also hit by the shore cannons, suffering minor damage. At this point the corvette had gone out of range and the Wedgwood began to retreat north, but Egyptian Spitfires attacked it, dropping three bombs, one of which wounded a crew member.
Both Israeli ships made it to Jaffa safely, but the port there could not undertake the repairs, so the ships sailed to Haifa
Port of Haifa
The Port of Haifa is the largest of Israel's three major international seaports, which include the Port of Ashdod, and the Port of Eilat. It has a natural deep water harbor which operates all year long, and serves both passenger and merchant ships. It is one of the largest ports in the eastern...
. In all, they fired over 200 shells during the battle, few of which resulted in direct hits on the Egyptian corvette. The ships returned to active duty one day after the battle. On October 21, the Wedgwood and Haganah conducted a skirmish with coastal batteries in Majdal. They began the attack at 06:40, in conjunction with an air force bombing raid, and retreated at 07:10.
Prelude
In August 1948, the naval service's sabotage unit (officially, the Rescue Boat Unit), commanded by Yohai Bin-Nun and later transformed through merger into Shayetet 13Shayetet 13
Shayetet 13 is the elite naval commando unit of the Israeli Navy. The unit is considered one of the primary Special Forces units of the Israel Defense Forces . S'13 specializes in sea-to-land incursions, counter-terrorism, sabotage, maritime intelligence gathering, maritime hostage rescue, and...
, received a number of Italian motorboats that could be packed with explosives and rammed into larger ships. The assembly and preparation of all the boats was not completed until the final days of Operation Yoav. The assembly of the boats, the training, and indeed the essence of the sabotage unit were so secret that even Paul Shulman
Paul Shulman
Paul Nahman Shulman , also known by his Hebrew name, Shaul Ben-Tzvi, was the second commander of the Israeli Navy.-Biography:Born in 1922 in Connecticut and raised in New York, Shulman graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. During World War II he fought in the Pacific front...
, deputy commander of the naval service, was not in on it.
Boats of these type served the Italian army in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and proved effective against British targets, especially in the Raid on Souda Bay. The method of operation was to load about 250 kilograms (551.2 lb) of explosives into the bow and ram into an enemy ship. The sole sailor, manning a detachable float, would eject about 100 m short of the target. Training on the first boats to arrive was done in the Sea of Galilee
Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee, also Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias , is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately in circumference, about long, and wide. The lake has a total area of , and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m...
, with the Italian sailor Fiorenzo Capprioti teaching the Israelis how to use them. More training was done later near Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
.
The saboteurs themselves prepared four boats to be used in future operations. After believing that they could operate independently, but being proven wrong in the training, the naval service decided to store the boats in the INS Ma'oz, due to its stern
Stern
The stern is the rear or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite of the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Originally, the term only referred to the aft port section...
's construction and because the Ma'oz had poor armament and could not be counted on in ship to ship combat. Contrary to the modus operandi for the Italian sabotage units on World War II, the Israelis sought to prevent its soldiers from being taken prisoner. Therefore a special rescue boat was allocated to retrieve the saboteurs, leaving three actual sabotage boats.
On October 22 at 16:10, two Egyptian ships were spotted off the Gaza coast—the flagship of the Egyptian Navy, the Emir Farouk, and a BYMS class minesweeper
BYMS class minesweeper
The BYMS class was a class of wooden motor minesweepers, part of the US Navy YMS Yard class minesweepers. 150 ships destined for UK were launched from 1941 to 1943....
. The operation against them was preceded by a difficulty of obtaining permission to act. Gershon Zak
Gershon Zak
Gershon Zak was the head of the Sea service which became the Israeli Navy, at that time there was no commander till Paul Shulman came and both Paul Shulman and Zak were in charge, Shulman as commander and Zak as Administrative from MOD.-Biography:...
, head of the naval service, and Paul Shulman
Paul Shulman
Paul Nahman Shulman , also known by his Hebrew name, Shaul Ben-Tzvi, was the second commander of the Israeli Navy.-Biography:Born in 1922 in Connecticut and raised in New York, Shulman graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. During World War II he fought in the Pacific front...
, his deputy and head of the main flotilla, supported the operation, while chief of operations Yigael Yadin
Yigael Yadin
Yigael Yadin on 21 March 1917, died 28 June 1984) was an Israeli archeologist, politician, and the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.-Early life and military career:...
opposed, in light of an impending ceasefire and lack of prior experience with this method of warfare. The Israeli high command had issued an order to cease all attacks by 15:00 that day, and reiterated it at 17:30. Meanwhile, Paul Shulman, who was aboard one of the ships, repeatedly sent requests to Gershon Zak for the permission to attack. Zak appealed personally to David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
, who was concerned for the operation's chances. He consented in the end, by which time Shulman had told his soldiers that the attack would not be taking place. They were rousted again after official permission was granted at 18:10.
Operation
At 18:40, INS Ma'oz detached from the rest of the flotilla and and sailed to a spot 7 nautical mileNautical mile
The nautical mile is a unit of length that is about one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian, but is approximately one minute of arc of longitude only at the equator...
s northwest of Gaza. The spot was calculated based on the ship's ability to intercept fleeing Egyptian vessels by sailing south, and the expected light projection during such an encounter (the moonlight would reveal the Egyptian forces while hiding the Israeli). Additionally, the ship was ordered to stay put in its location, so that despite its camouflage, the returning Israeli sailors would be able to find it. However, it turned out that the Maoz went further south than it was supposed to.
The Maoz released its five boats at 21:10, and by 22:00, the boats were in close proximity to the Egyptian vessels. Two of the boats, manned by Ya'akov Vardi and Zalman Abramov, were intended for the actual sabotage, one as a reserve, manned by the commander Yohai Bin-Nun, and one to collect the commandos after the operation, manned by Yitzhak Brockman and Ya'akov Reitov. The Israeli sailors used helmets with infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
lights to ease the extraction process. The Egyptian ships, believing that a ceasefire was already in effect, had their lights on and were easy to spot. Despite this, according to a later Israeli estimate, they had been on full alert. Because the Egyptian ships were facing one another, Bin-Nun decided that Abramov and Vardi would attack the bow
Bow (ship)
The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...
s of the Emir Farouk and the minesweeper, respectively. This would make it more difficult for the Egyptians to fire at the boats should they have spotted them, because they could hit each other.
While the Israelis were preparing, the two ships started moving. the Emir Farouk went north and the minesweeper went south. This hastened the Israeli attack. Abramov's boat attacked first, causing the Egyptians to fire at random. Vardi's boat mistakenly turned to attack the Emir Farouk as well. Vardi failed to eject due to a technical difficulty, but managed to turn around and strike again. In the dark, Abramov believed that Vardi's was the extraction boat and caught on, but detached from it as well before it rammed into the Egyptian ship. Vardi's actions also confused Yitzhak Brockman on the rescue boat, who had been moving toward the Emir Farouk, and now believed that Vardi was turning around to collect Abramov. Brockman therefore started moving in Bin-Nun's direction.
The Emir Farouk sank in about five minutes. Yohai Bin-Nun, who was in the reserve boat, noticed the mistake made by Vardi, and himself rammed the minesweeper. He was spotted and fired at, and managed to eject from his boat only 40 m short of the target. The minesweeper suffered significant damage, but did not sink and was hauled back to Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
. It was subsequently scrapped by the Egyptian Navy. Egyptian coastal artillery opened a barrage on the general area, but did not spot their targets. The extraction boat collected the commandos and remained in the area to assess the damage, estimating about 200–300 Egyptian survivors. At 22:25 it started moving toward where it believed the Maoz was. The commandos, despite spotting it from a very close range, found the Maoz closer than they had thought, and by 23:10 all the commandos were back on the ship.
Aftermath
The operation achieved the element of surprise, as the Egyptians were unaware that Israel was employing explosive boats. On the Israeli side, the action was top secret and unknown to the media. INS Ma'oz stayed at sea for three days to cover its tracks. The operation strengthened the notion that the Israeli navy could not be solely a conventional one, and had instead to incorporate naval commandos and other small weapon systems as an integral part of its doctrine.For his exploits, Yohai Bin-Nun received the Hero of Israel
Hero of Israel
Hero of Israel is an Israeli military decoration that was awarded during the War of Independence.When the IDF was first established in May 1948, a system of decorations had not yet been instituted, but many soldiers who had distinguished themselves in battle were recommended by their officers for...
citation, and the commando crew was invited to lunch by David Ben-Gurion. Bin-Nun remained with the Israel Navy after its founding and went on to hold various command positions until becoming chief of the navy in 1960. The operation strengthened his belief that it was possible and preferable to defeat superior numbers and weaponry with cheap but unconventional warfare. During his naval career, he worked to develop doctrines and technologies in accordance with these beliefs.