Shmuel Tankus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shmuel Tankus giving a speech (June 21, 1955)

Shmuel Tankus ( Hebrew שמואל טנקוס; * November 4, 1914 in Jaffa ; † March 4, 2012 ) was an Israeli Rear Admiral ( Aluf ) who was the 5th Commander in Chief of the Israeli Navy ( חיל הים הישראלי ) between 1954 and 1960 .

Life

Tankus came from a family who immigrated from the Caucasus to the later area of ​​the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine and graduated from the traditional Hebrew Herzlia-Gymnasium in Tel Aviv . As a teenager he helped embark Jewish immigrants and build the port of Tel Aviv.

In 1941 he joined the Palmach , the military branch of the Hagana underground movement , and after it was founded in 1943 became a member of its Palyam naval group . During the Second World War he was a naval advisor to the Hagana and trained members of this organization for naval operations in the enemy hinterland.

After the war he became a lecturer at the Naval School in Tel Aviv and, after the establishment of the State of Israel and the Israeli Navy in 1948, head of the training command. During this time he also wrote the first specialist book on nautical science in Hebrew . In 1950 he was appointed chief of naval operations .

On June 30, 1954, he succeeded Mordechai Limon as commander of the Israeli Navy and held this position until he was replaced by Johai Ben-Nun in 1960. During his tenure, the events and combat activities during the Suez Crisis made a significant difference Progress within the naval forces through the renewal of the ships and the first planning for the development of the anti-ship missile Gabriel . In 1960 he was appointed the first commander of the Naval Officer Academy ( בית הספר לקציני ים עכו ) in Akkon .

In 2004 he was awarded the Jigal Allon Prize ( פרס יגאל אלון ).

Web links