The Israeli naval command had reached the conclusion by the early 1960s that their old Second World War-era destroyers, frigates and corvettes were obsolete and new ships and vessels were needed.
Yitzhak Shoshan, later to command the
destroyer INS Eilat at the time of her sinking, surveyed the available torpedo boat designs and recommended the German
Jaguar class. The Israeli Navy asked
Lürssen, the shipyard which built the
Jaguar class, to modify the wooden design by switching to steel construction, adding to the length, and revising the internal compartmentalization. Due to
Arab League pressure on the German government, this plan was not continued and a new builder was sought. The Israeli Navy discovered that the Cherbourg-based
Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie shipyard owned by
Félix Amiot had experience building patrol boats in cooperation with Lürssen and would build the boats, based upon the German designs and plans. The engines were imported from Germany. The project received the codename "Falling Leaves" (). An initial group of six boats was ordered in 1965, with an armament of
Bofors 40 mm guns and torpedo tubes and provision for fitting
sonar. This group was designated the Sa'ar 1 class. When refitted with
Gabriel anti-ship missiles, they became the Sa'ar 2 class. A second group of six boats, the
Sa'ar 3 class, was ordered in 1968, with an
OTO Melara 76 mm gun instead of the Bofors guns of the Sa'ar 1 class and with anti-submarine provisions omitted. == Description ==