schooner of 750 tons used as a training ship by the Betar Naval Academy. sold to Israel in 1955 The origins of the Israeli Navy lay in the founding of the
Betar Naval Academy, a Jewish naval training school established in
Civitavecchia, Italy, in 1934 by the
Revisionist Zionist movement under the direction of
Ze'ev Jabotinsky, The Academy trained cadets from all over Europe, Palestine and South Africa and produced some of the future commanders of the Israeli Navy. In September 1937, the training ship
Sarah I visited Haifa and Tel Aviv as part of a Mediterranean tour. at the Naval Museum,
Haifa In 1938, encouraged by the
Jewish Agency, Shlomo Bardin founded the Marine High School in Bosmat, the
Technion's Junior Technical College. 1943 witnessed the founding of the
Palyam, the naval branch of the
Palmach, whose training was undertaken at the maritime school. The Jewish merchant marine was also raised, operating SS
Tel-Aviv and cargo ships such as
Atid. In 1942, eleven hundred
Haganah volunteers joined the
Royal Navy, mostly in technical roles (12 of them were officers by the nomination agreement of the Jewish Agency with the Royal Navy). A few reached sea service and combat service. Two of them served with the
Fleet Air Arm (FAA), one of whom was
Edmond Wilhelm Brillant and the other
Zvi Avidror. With the end of the Second World War and the start of the
Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine, Palyam members took part in clandestine immigration activities, bringing Europe's Jews to Palestine, as well as commando actions against Royal Navy deportation ships. Royal Navy volunteers, meanwhile, rejoined the Haganah. During the last months of British Mandate in Palestine, the former Royal Navy volunteers started work on the captured clandestine immigration ships (known as the Fleet of Shadows) in Haifa harbor, salvaged a few and pressed them into service. These were to become the Navy's first ships and saw service in the
1948 Arab–Israeli War. At the outset of the 1948 war and with the founding of the IDF, the Israeli Navy consisted of four former
Aliyah Bet ships impounded in
Haifa harbor. These ships were refurbished by a newly formed naval repair facility with the assistance of two private shipbuilding and repair companies. In October 1948, a
submarine chaser was purchased from the United States. With the founding of the IDF in early 1948, the Israeli Navy was therefore formed from a core of the following personnel: • Royal Navy volunteers with the technical skills and discipline acquired from the Royal Navy, though with no active sea service and experience on Royal Navy ships. • Palyam members who had led the clandestine and immigration effort, but had no sea background in navigation or leading a ship into a battle. The
captains of clandestine and immigration ships were Italian, while Palyam personnel were commanding the ship under instructions from the Haganah. Ike Aharonowitch, captain of and a Jew, was the exception rather than the rule. • Merchant Marine captains and chief engineers, possessing navigation skills but lacking combat skills. • Jewish volunteers from the
United States Navy and Royal Navy, such as Commander
Paul Shulman of the U.S. Navy, and Commanders Solomon and Allen Burk of the Royal Navy. These, however, were often discriminated against and their experience wasted by a navy command that was based on the Palmach and its various branches. This resulted in odd situations where unskilled officers from the Palyam were in command of far more experienced naval officers. During the war, the warships served on coastal patrol duties and bombarded Arab targets on land, including Egyptian coastal installations in and around the
Gaza area all the way to
Port Said. The Israeli Navy also engaged the
Egyptian Navy at sea during
Operation Yoav, and the Egyptian Navy's
flagship,
Emir Farouk, was sunk in an operation by Israeli naval commandos. Palyam personnel often resisted efforts to instill order, discipline and rank in the newly formed service. Mess rooms were initially shared by both officers and enlisted men. Ships possessed a captain with nautical skills, but also a commanding officer regarded as political. This would cause a great deal of debate between veterans of the Palyam, Royal Navy volunteers from the Haganah and U.S. Navy Machal volunteers about what form the Navy should take. Commander Allen Burk is reputed to have said, out of despair, "You cannot make naval officers from cowboys". who was Jewish, advised Prime Minister
David Ben-Gurion to purchase corvettes,
frigates,
destroyers, torpedo boats, and patrol boats to build up the Israeli Navy power. To that end, he urged Ben-Gurion to consult with professional navy advisers. This resulted in instructions to contact U.S. Navy advisors, mainly Commander Paul Shulman from the U.S. Navy. The Israeli Navy suffered from a lack of professional command during its early days. Until 1967 the Naval Headquarters were located at Stella Maris, on the slopes of
Mount Carmel, Haifa. After the
Six-Day War it was relocated to the
Kirya in
Tel Aviv, next to IDF Headquarters.
Yom Kippur War In the most significant engagement in its history, during the
Yom Kippur War five Israeli Navy missile boats sank five Syrian ships without losses during the
Battle of Latakia. As a result, the
Syrian Navy remained in port for the remainder of the conflict. It was the first naval battle in history between surface-to-surface missile-equipped missile boats. Another significant engagement was the
Battle of Baltim, during which six Israeli Navy missile boats engaged four
Egyptian Navy missile boats sinking three, again, without losses.
USS Liberty incident 2006 Lebanon War The surprise attack on the Israeli navy's flagship
INS Hanit by an onshore Hezbollah battery was a turning point for naval doctrine and operations. Four seamen died when the
YJ-83 missile hit the corvette because the vessel's missile defense systems had not been turned on at that time.
Syrian Civil War In late 2024, after the fall of the government of
Bashar al-Assad in the
Syrian Civil War, the Israeli Navy attacked
Syrian Arab Navy ships berthed at the
Port of Latakia, sinking six
OSA II-class missile boats. ==Bases==