Sa'ar-1 class

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Sa'ar class
Miznak1970.jpg
Overview
Type Speedboat
units 12
Shipyard

Chantiers des Constructions Mechaniques de Normandie

period of service

1968-1974

Technical specifications
displacement

(Use) 240 t

length

45 meters

width

7 meters

Draft

2.3 meters

crew

45 (?)

drive

4 propellers
4 diesel engines

speed

> 40  kn (≈74 km / h)

Armament

optional:

The Sa'ar-1 class ( Hebrew : סער, German: storm) was a speedboat class of the Israeli navy that was only armed with guns. It originally consisted of twelve boats launched in France in 1967 and 1968. By retrofitting with torpedo tubes and missiles , the classes Sa'ar 2 and Sa'ar 3 were created . The class originally called just Sa'ar was then referred to as Sa'ar 1 . In 1974 the last boat was upgraded to the Sa'ar 2 class .

history

In view of the threat posed by Egyptian and Syrian missile speedboats of Soviet production, plans for the procurement of such boats began in Israel as early as the early 1960s . Since there were no anti-ship missiles in the West at that time , Israel began the development of its own, which eventually led to the Gabriel anti-ship missile . The boats of the German Jaguar class were found to be a suitable platform and based on this the boats of the Sa'ar class were developed for the Israeli Navy. The Israeli Navy saw the boats as the main weapon of their surface forces, which is why they had to be fully equipped with communications and reconnaissance electronics as well as means for electronic warfare. The space required for this was created by extending the fuselage by 2.4 m (two frames).

Originally, the boats were supposed to be delivered to the Federal Republic of Germany as an equipment aid. Due to political problems in the aftermath of the Six Day War , the design was finally realized in 1967/68 under license from the French shipyard "Chantiers des Constructions Mechaniques de Normandie" in Cherbourg . Some of the equipment, such as the MTU diesel engines , was still sourced from Germany. The boats were also still fully financed by the Federal Republic of Germany. After the delivery of the first five boats, there were also political problems with France, as France saw its relations with the Arab world, which had been developing again after the Algerian war , strained by such an arms export. That is why four boats were transferred to Israel without permission from the French government and the last three boats were even stolen in a secret commando company. From the design of the Sa'ar boats , the La Combattante classes , which were very successful in export, were developed in France , which were ultimately also purchased as the Tiger class by the German Navy .

The boats reached Israel unarmed and were initially only armed with 40 mm cannons and machine guns. In this configuration, they were later retrospectively classified as Sa'ar 1. Since the armament progressed only slowly, some boats were no longer put into service without missiles. The available statements about the retrofitting steps and the equipment status of the individual classes are partly contradicting. This may be due to the fact that the armament of the boats has always remained inconsistent. At the beginning of the 1970s, all boats of the Sa'ar-1 class were armed with Gabriel rockets (5-8) and some with 76 mm Oto-Melara guns on the forecastle and four torpedo tubes for the Sa'ar 2 class converted. The rear guns fell away. This was completed by 1974. At the beginning of the 1980s, half of the boats were further converted to the Sa'ar 3 class . The Gabriel missiles were partially replaced by Harpoon marine target missiles , the total number of missiles increased and the torpedo tubes removed. In addition, the anti-submarine facilities were removed.

When the Yom Kippur War broke out , two boats had not yet been retrofitted. These were often used as guide boats when several boats were deployed, as there was more space in the CIC (plot room ) due to the lack of control devices for the missiles that were not yet installed on these boats .

The last boats of the former Sa'ar-1 class were decommissioned in 1995.

technology

The boats were 45 m long, 7 m wide and had a draft of 2.3 m, the latter being dependent on the load just like the displacement of 240 t. That is why the information available here also fluctuates. On test drives, but without armament, the boats reached speeds of well over 40 kn. It was driven on four shafts by four MD / 871 diesel engines, as 16-cylinder in-line engines with turbo-charging from MTU. They produced an output of 3600 hp each. In contrast to the German predecessors, the boats were built with metal hulls.

In addition to radio, radar and sonar , the boats received an unusually large amount of means for electronic warfare and decoys for the time of their commissioning . The armament consisted of two 40 mm cannons in single mounts, one each on the fore and aft deck, as well as two 12.7 mm machine guns in double mounts or a third 40 mm gun behind the bridge structure. The fire control of the guns was carried out by means of an artillery column, through which the guns could be centrally directed and fired. Furthermore depth charges were carried and it was possible to install rails for laying mines on deck.

List of boats

Boat converted to Sa'ar-2 class
  • In the state Sa'ar two retrofitted
    • INS Mivtach (311)
    • INS Miznak (312)
    • INS Misgav (313)
    • INS Eilat (321)
    • INS Haifa (322)
    • INS Akko (323)
  • In the state Sa'ar 3 retrofitted
    • INS Sa'ar (331)
    • INS Sufa (332)
    • INS Ga'ash (333)
    • INS Herev (341)
    • INS Hanit (342)
    • INS Hate (343)

References

literature

  • Abraham Rabinovich: The Boats of Cherbourg. 1st edition, New York 1988, ISBN 0-8050-0680-X .
  • Peter Steinmüller: Silent Night, Stormy Night , in: VDI nachrichten 51/52 2019, p. 26

Web links