The Boats of Cherbourg The Navy That Stole Its Own Boats and Revolutionized Naval Warfare eBook Abraham Rabinovich
Download As PDF : The Boats of Cherbourg The Navy That Stole Its Own Boats and Revolutionized Naval Warfare eBook Abraham Rabinovich 
On Christmas eve1969, five small boats slipped out of Cherbourg harbor after midnight into the teeth of a Force Nine gale that sent large freighters scurrying for cover. The boats, ordered by Israel from a local shipyard, had been embargoed for more than a year by French President Charles de Gaulle. In a brazen caper, the Israelis were now running off with them. As the boats raced for home and Paris fumed, the world media chortled at Israel’s hutspa. But the story was far bigger than they knew.
Eight years before, the commander of the Israeli navy had assembled senior officers for a brainstorming session. The navy faced downgrading to a coast guard unless it could reconstitute itself as a fighting force on a starvation budget. What to do? A desperate proposal emerged from the two-day meeting.
Israel’s fledgling military industries had developed a crude missile which was rejected by both the army and air force. The navy would now try adapting it. If placed on small patrol boats, the missiles, with their large warheads, could give these cheap vessels the punch of a heavy cruiser.
Over the next decade, engineers working virtually round-the-clock developed the first missile boats in the West. Of a dozen boat platforms ordered in Cherbourg seven sailed before the embargo. The five that escaped completed the flotilla. But the Soviets had meanwhile also developed missile boats which they distributed to their Arab allies. Their powerful and accurate missiles had twice the range of Israel’s. To secure Israel’s sea lanes, the navy devised electronic countermeasures that would hopefully divert the enemy missiles.
On the first night of the Yom Kippur War, an Israeli squadron engaged three Syrian missile boats in the first ever missile-to-missile battle at sea. The Syrian boats fired first but all three were sunk. Two nights later, three Egyptian missile boats were sunk. The electronic umbrella had worked and no Israeli boat was hit. A new naval age had dawned.
About the Author
Abraham Rabinovich was born in New York City and worked as a reporter for Newsday and other newspapers. He arrived in Israel on the eve of the Six Day War and joined The Jerusalem Post.
The Boats of Cherbourg The Navy That Stole Its Own Boats and Revolutionized Naval Warfare eBook Abraham Rabinovich
I very much enjoyed reading this book. The first ship in history to be sunk by a guided missile launched from another naval vessel was the Israeli destroyer Eilat. This was an unprovoked attack from a Soviet-built missile boat while the Israeli ship was in international waters. The Israeli navy realized that three objectives had to be met. First, rather than larger destroyers, small, fast missile boats more appropriate to Israel's needs would have to be built. Second, electronic countermeasures would need to be developed to protect Israeli vessels from Soviet-built Egyptian and Syrian missile boats. Third, Israel would have to design its own guided missiles to eliminate the threat posed by the Arab missile boats. This book tells the true story of how Israel accomplished all three goals, just in time to defend itself during the 1973 Yom Kippur war.The missile boats were built under contract in Cherbourg, but France imposed a one-sided embargo of supplying military hardware to Israel during the time the last of the boats were being built. Israel completed the order by spiriting these boats out of France. Israel's Gabriel guided missile was ten years ahead of the Harpoon missile developed by the United States. The effectiveness of the defensive electronic countermeasures was theorectical, and could not be tested until used for the first time in battle. Mr. Rabinovich does an excellent job of relating this true story, and keeps the reader interested through the entire book. I also recommend Mr. Rabinovich's book on the Yom Kippur war.
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The Boats of Cherbourg The Navy That Stole Its Own Boats and Revolutionized Naval Warfare eBook Abraham Rabinovich Reviews
Not a student of naval warfare, but throughly enjoyed this book. The trail from Cherbourg to modern Israel is mapped out and the course is given. It's not about the gadgets, it's all about the people, and they are well described and presented with their humanity at full force.
Terrific book about an exciting undertaking which reminds us of bygone days in which Israelis were the good guys and almost all the world's nations were on their side. This is a highly enjoyable read. Many books of this ilk pretend to know what is in the mind of the actor, e.g. "At this juncture, Fred considered the alternatives." Rabinovich succeeds in weaving the inside story, in real time, with the broader political and historical perspective.
A great read for anyone, but greater still for anyone with a special interest in the subject.
Aside from the cloak and dagger element of the Israeli operation to take possession of the boats that had been purchased, the book describes in detail the reasons behind the purchase and the dire necessity to receive them.
The French had put an embargo on the boats but refrained from publishing it for fear of strikes. The Israelis set up a convoluted way to reacquire the boats in a "not illegal" way.
The aim of these boats was to be the vector for the Gabriel sea-to-sea missile the Israel had developed following the sinking of one of its ships by a Soviet missile. The Gabriel was, at the time, the most advanced of its type in the world. No other country had anything near to it.
The proof was established during the 1973 Yom Kippur war when the Israeli navy managed to defeat both the Egyptian and the Syrian navy without sustaining a single loss.
A fascinating read altogether.
Abraham Rabinovich writes so well that I kept fearing the day I would finally finish reading his masterpiece of international intrigue. The story, for Israel, is not unlike the American "skunk works" ultra-secretive design of the "Stealth Fighter" & "Stealth Bomber" - in that, in near total secrecy Israel revolutionized naval warfare. However, the United States is expected to create technological breakthroughs with the amount of resources availbe to her. In the 1960's Israel's flagship was a destroyer named "Eliat." Like everything in the Israeli navy - the "Eliat" was a 'hand-me-down' from the French Navy. Israel could not afford to add another destroyer to its tiny navy and this created a dilemma. What the Israeli Navy needed was a 'force multiplier' - several fast multi-purpose ships that packed a serious punch. In fact, Israel needed enough boats to simultaneously mount an attack/defense against Syria and Egypt. A young Israeli engineer named Even-Tov became convinced that he could design a devastating sea-to-sea missile that used an altimeter and radar. Even-Tov convinced the Defense Minister - Yitzhak Rabin that he could deliver a sea-to-sea missile, code-named 'Gabriel', within a year. This promise of a "serious punch" was the catalyst for the most intensive weapons system design project the Israel people (let alone the Israeli Navy) had ever undertaken. Israel's future Navy would be centered entirely on a small fleet of "missile boats." Up until this time, only the Soviets had created missile boats. It was only a matter of time before the Soviets shared a few missile boats with Egypt. In fact, Egypt used a "Styx-class" missile boat to sink the "Eliat." The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) sent naval officers to Europe to look for this do-it-all boat on which to place 'Gabriel' along with the hopes of the future navy. They decided, in principal, on a German ship design called 'Jaguar.' The Israeli officer's report would explain that many of the European boats he reviewed were nice but the Jaguar was a "boat made for war." IDF engineers spent over 18 months redesigning the wooden boat to be a couple meters longer and steal-hulled. This book reveals the Israeli geniuses that revolutionized naval combat. If it were only as simple as having the right idea, the right people, in the right place, at the right time - a French embargo was instituted within months of the delivery of the last five boats. I won't reveal any more of the story. This is a wonderful book. I also strongly recommend "Six Days of War" by Michael B. Oren.
This book is really three stories in one volume the development by Israel of the Gabriel missile, and electronic countermeasures against missile attack; the winkling of 7 missile boats out of Cherbourg under the Gallic noses of the French; and the performance of those boats in particular and the Israeli navy in general during the Yom Kippur War. As exciting as any novel, and as well done as anything by Ian Toll or James Hornfischer.
I very much enjoyed reading this book. The first ship in history to be sunk by a guided missile launched from another naval vessel was the Israeli destroyer Eilat. This was an unprovoked attack from a Soviet-built missile boat while the Israeli ship was in international waters. The Israeli navy realized that three objectives had to be met. First, rather than larger destroyers, small, fast missile boats more appropriate to Israel's needs would have to be built. Second, electronic countermeasures would need to be developed to protect Israeli vessels from Soviet-built Egyptian and Syrian missile boats. Third, Israel would have to design its own guided missiles to eliminate the threat posed by the Arab missile boats. This book tells the true story of how Israel accomplished all three goals, just in time to defend itself during the 1973 Yom Kippur war.
The missile boats were built under contract in Cherbourg, but France imposed a one-sided embargo of supplying military hardware to Israel during the time the last of the boats were being built. Israel completed the order by spiriting these boats out of France. Israel's Gabriel guided missile was ten years ahead of the Harpoon missile developed by the United States. The effectiveness of the defensive electronic countermeasures was theorectical, and could not be tested until used for the first time in battle. Mr. Rabinovich does an excellent job of relating this true story, and keeps the reader interested through the entire book. I also recommend Mr. Rabinovich's book on the Yom Kippur war.
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