List of Aliyah Bet refugee ships

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

After the end of the Second World War , the Mossad le Alija Bet, together with the Palyam, organized the immigration of Jewish Holocaust survivors and displaced persons to Palestine . For this purpose, ships were bought or chartered by various Jewish organizations and converted to transport as many refugees as possible. For the crossing to Palestine, the ships were given a code name, which later partly became the official ship name.

Most of the ships in this so-called Clandestine Fleet could not break through the British naval blockade set up at the end of November 1945 and were confiscated. Up until the Exodus affair , the immigrants fought vehemently against the arrest by the British, killing ten immigrants and one palmachnik . Fearing that more ships like the Exodus could be sent back to Europe, the Mossad le Alija Bet forbade further active resistance. Individual ships stranded on the coast of Palestine and had to be abandoned. Only two ships were lost during the crossing, with eight immigrants drowning. Another ship had to be abandoned due to irreparable engine damage before it could take immigrants in Algeria. This means that the wave of immigration after the end of the Second World War had a significantly lower rate of unhappiness than before and during the war.

The sharp rise in immigrant numbers in 1946 caused major problems for the British Mandate Government as the Atlit internment camp was overcrowded and the conditions became inhuman. The problem was exacerbated by the arrest of thousands of Palestinian Jews in connection with the British Operation Agatha on June 29, 1946. These problems led to the government's declaration on the deportation of illegal immigrants to Cyprus on August 13, 1946 and the related Operation Igloo , the deportation to Specially established internment camps in Cyprus .

A total of 70,428 immigrants were brought to the coast of Palestine with the refugee ships, but only 2108 were able to break through the blockade and get into the country. There were also 1,014 immigrants who were legally able to enter the country after the La Spezia affair , as well as 1,136 immigrants who arrived shortly after the establishment of the state of Israel and thus after the British blockade was lifted. The others were picked up by the British and deported to internment camps in Atlit, Cyprus, or even in Germany as part of Operation Oasis .

Some of the seized ships were anchored off Haifa by the British , and this cluster was called the Shadow Fleet . After the British withdrew in 1948, the ships were taken over by the Israeli Navy .

List of immigrant ships

The list includes all trips made by the Clandestine Fleet after the end of World War II. Individual ships could complete several trips.

Ship name Code name Number of
immigrants		 Departure country Arrival in
Israel		 fate
Sirius Dalin 37 Italy Aug 28, 1945 Successful crossing; first immigrant ship after the end of WWII
Nettuno Natan 79 Italy 4th Sep 1945 Successful crossing
Gabriela Gavriela 40 Greece Sep 9 1945 Successful crossing
Alberta Pietro 168 Italy 19 Sep 1945 Successful crossing
Nettuno Natan 73 Italy Oct. 1, 1945 Successful crossing
Alberta Pietro 174 Italy Oct. 22, 1945 Successful crossing
Demetrius Berl Katznelson 211 Greece Nov 22, 1945 First ship seized by the British
Andarta Hannah Senesh 252 Italy December 25, 1945 First successful blockade breaker; Leaked and sunk on landing, one fatality
Rondine Enzo Sereni 908 Italy Jan. 17, 1946 Upset
Noris Wingate 238 Italy March 26, 1946 Upset
Asia Tel Chai 736 France March 27, 1946 Upset
Smyrna Max Nordau 1666 Romania May 13, 1946 Upset
Fenice Eliahu Golomb 339 Italy May 13, 1946 Free passage after the La Spezia affair
Fede Dov Hoz 675 Italy May 13, 1946 Free passage after the La Spezia affair
Aghios Andreas Haviva Reik 462 Greece June 8, 1946 Upset
Beuharnois Josiah Wedgwood 1257 Italy June 27, 1946 Upset
Akbel Biria 999 France July 1, 1946 Upset
Balboa Hagana 2678 Yugoslavia July 29, 1946 Upset
Arlena Ha'chayal Ha'ivri 510 Belgium July 31, 1946 Upset
Sagolem Yagur 759 France Aug 11, 1946 Troubled, first ship in Operation Igloo
Arites Salas Henrietta Szold 536 Greece Aug 12, 1946 Upset
Avanti Katriel Jaffe 604 Italy Aug 13, 1946 Upset
San Sissimo Kaf Gimel Yordai Ha'sira 790 Italy Aug 15, 1946 Upset
Ile de la Rose Amiram Shochat 183 Italy Aug 16, 1946 Successful blockade breaker, aground on landing
Fede Arba Cheruyot 1024 Italy Sep 2 1946 Upset
Adriana Ariella Palmach 611 Italy 22 Sep 1946 Enraged, a fatality
Fenice Bracha Fuld 806 Italy Oct 22, 1946 Upset
San Dimitrio Latrun 1275 France Nov 1, 1946 Upset
Agia Anastasia Abba Berdichev 400 Yugoslavia Nov 9, 1946 sunk during the crossing
Luchita Knesset Israel 3845 Yugoslavia Nov 26, 1946 Enraged, a fatality
Athena Rafah 785 Yugoslavia December 7, 1946 sunk during the crossing, eight fatalities
Merica La'Negev 647 France Feb 9, 1947 Enraged, a fatality
San Miguel Ha'mapil Ha'almoni 796 France Feb 16, 1947 Upset
Ulua Chaim Arlosoroff 1348 Sweden / Italy Feb. 27, 1947 Angry, set on the ground
Avril Ben Hecht 600 France March 8, 1947 Upset
Susana Shabtai Luzinski 823 Italy March 12, 1947 Successful blockade breaker, ran aground on landing. Discovered during disembarkation
San Filippe Moledet 1568 Italy March 29, 1947 In distress at sea, upset
Guardian Theodor Herzl 2641 France Apr 13, 1947 Angry, three fatalities
Gian Paolo She'ar Yashuv 768 Italy Apr 23, 1947 Upset
Trade Winds Hatikva 1414 Italy May 17, 1947 Upset
Agha Orietta Mered Hagetaot 1457 Italy May 24, 1947 Upset
Earl of Zetland Yehuda Halevi 399 France / Algeria May 31, 1947 Upset
President Warfield Exodus 4530 France July 18, 1947 Angry, three fatalities
Bruna The 14 Fallen of Gesher Aziv 685 Italy July 28, 1947 Upset
Luciana Shivat Zion 411 France / Algeria July 28, 1947 Upset
Farida Af-Al-Pi-Chen 434 Italy 27 Sep 1947 Enraged, a fatality
Paducah Geula 1388 Bulgaria Oct 2, 1947 Upset
Northland Jewish State 2664 Bulgaria Oct 2, 1947 Upset
Yildrim Habarak 0 Algeria Oct 18, 1947 Abandoned after engine failure before Jews could be taken on board
Albertina Aliya 182 France Nov 15, 1947 Successful blockade breaker, aground on landing
Rafael Luccia Kadima 794 Italy Nov 16, 1947 Upset
Maria Anick Ha'portzim 167 France Dec. 4, 1947 Successful blockade breaker
Maria Christina Lo Tafchidunu 853 Italy Dec 22, 1947 Upset
Maria Giovanni Kaf-Tet Be'November 680 France Dec 28, 1947 Upset
Archimidis United Nations 537 Italy Jan. 1, 1948 Last successful blockade breaker
Pan York Comemiut 7620 Bulgaria Jan. 1, 1948 Upset
Pan Crescent Atz toll 7620 Bulgaria Jan. 1, 1948 Upset
Sylvia Starita The 35 Heroes of Gush Etzion 274 Italy Jan. 31, 1948 Upset
Ambrosiana Yerushalayim Ha'netzura 670 Italy Feb 12, 1948 Upset
Sette Fratelli Le'kommemiyut 699 France Feb 20, 1948 Upset
Rondine Bonim Ve'lochamim 1002 Yugoslavia Feb. 28, 1948 Upset
Esmeralda Yechiam 769 Italy March 28, 1948 Upset
Rina Vivare Tirat Tzvi 798 Italy Apr 12, 1948 Upset
San Michele Mishmar Ha'emek 782 France Apr 24, 1948 Upset
Tadorne Nachschon 550 France Apr 26, 1948 Last arrested immigrant ship
Tulia Christina La'nitzachon 189 Italy May 17, 1948 Unhindered arrival after the establishment of Israel
Orchidea The State of Israel 243 Italy May 17, 1948 Unhindered arrival after the establishment of Israel
Fabio Krav Emek Ayalon 706 France May 29, 1948 Unhindered arrival after the establishment of Israel

Escort ships

As escort ships immigrant ships were called, which does not itself lead to the coast of Palestine. Instead, the passengers transferred to another immigrant ship at a secret meeting point at sea. With this method, a larger number of immigrants could be brought to the coast of Palestine without having to endure the tight confinement of the ships for the full time of the crossing, and at the same time the number of ships that were confiscated by the British for the Aliyah Bet could get lost.

  • Albertina
  • Rafi

Deportation ships

Deportation ships were passenger or cargo ships converted into prison ships, with which the captured immigrants were brought out of the country.

Web links