Flotilla 13 by Ze ev Almog

Author:Ze ev Almog [Almog, Rear Admiral Ze’ev]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612513959
Publisher: Naval Institute Press

THREE

Operation Escort

The Sinking of Torpedo Boats in the Gulf of Suez

In early August 1969, the General Staff decided to launch Operation Raviv (rain), an armored assault along the west coast of the Gulf of Suez. The force would be transported to the Egyptian coast on Navy landing crafts.

Before this decision came to fruition, there were plans to conduct another armored assault, Operation Balash (detective) immediately following the Green Island raid. Two days before the latter, on the night of July 17–18, a team of defensive divers from Unit 707 of the Navy conducted an advance survey (Operation Balash Katan, small detective) of a landing beach that was slated for the Armored Corps’ offensive. However, the beach was found to be unfit for the mission at hand, and a new location was needed.

On account of the Green Island raid, the Egyptians reinforced the northern Gulf of Suez with two P-183 torpedo boats, which were transferred from Hurgada in the northern Red Sea. The boats subsequently patrolled the stretch of water between Ras Adabiyah and the fuel terminal at Ras Sadat on a regular basis and occasionally continued southward to Marsa T’lmat. The Egyptian torpedoes constituted a formidable obstacle to the IDF’s ability to launch Operation Raviv. In fact, the armored assault would not be possible unless the torpedo boats were sunk and a replacement landing beach was found. These conditions thus formed the backdrop for Operation Escort, in which the S-13 was charged with conducting a clandestine patrol for the purpose of locating a suitable beach. The results of this mission would determine the fate of the armored raid.

The Egyptian torpedo boats did not maintain a set patrolling or berthing routine. We estimated that they would drop anchor during the night somewhere within a 2.5-mile-wide swath of sea between Ras Sadat’s fuel terminal and the Evangelos, a sunken Greek ship. Yet, given the uncertainties involved, it was not going to be easy finding the torpedo boats at their anchorage sites.

The General Staff also considered assigning the task to the Air Force, but the option was ruled out due to the difficulties of locating and identifying the targets with absolute certainty from the air, at night. What’s more, an aerial fusillade was likely to be a noisy undertaking that would set off alarm bells throughout the region. This sort of attack was liable to disrupt the landing and ground assault phase of the operation and ruin the chances of catching the enemy off guard. On the other hand, a daylight aerial strike was precluded on the assumption that the torpedo boats would be located in areas that were protected by missile or antiaircraft batteries during the day.

In consequence, the S-13’s divers and their seaworthy pigs were deemed to be the right team for the job. The surreptitious operation was designed to allow the armored force to land on the heels of the sinking. With this in mind, it was decided to reconnoiter a site that was located to the west of Ras Sudr for the purpose of determining whether it was suitable for the mission at hand.

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