By Shlomo Sphiro, ISRAEL HAYOM
Israel’s recent deal to purchase four navy patrol boats from Germany is yet another chapter in the two countries’ nearly 60-year-long naval cooperation. German shipyards are among the most experienced and knowledgeable in manufacturing small navy ships — exactly what Israel’s navy requires — as opposed to American shipyards, which specialize in building massive warships and aircraft carriers, less suited for Israel’s needs to defend its natural gas fields.
In the nation’s early years, the navy was a comprised of immigrant ships modified to function as warships. They were not operationally capable of confronting the enemy Arab armies. Israel’s navy wanted to purchase new ships, but the U.S. had placed a weapons embargo on the Middle East and many Western nations did not want to sell ships to Israel. In 1956-1957, two patrol boats built at the Burmester shipyard in northern Germany were secretly transferred to Israel. The ships were named INS Yarden and INS Yarkon, to give the impression they were locally built.
These two small ships however, alongside two British surplus World War II destroyers, were not enough to face the threat posed by the Arab states, who were getting cutting edge warships from the Soviet Union. So in the 1960s, the Israeli Navy began developing plans for a new type of warship, the missile boat, which became a revolutionary idea in naval warfare.
Then-Israeli Navy chief Vice Adm. Shmuel Tankus understood that a small country like Israel cannot maintain a fleet of destroyers and battleships, and therefore decided to focus on developing smaller warships. Secret talks with Germany led to the manufacture of a new type of missile boat, carried out in the form of a three way agreement: The new boats would be designed and developed by German company Lürssen, but would be built in shipyards in Cherbourg, France.
Some of the ships got stuck in France as a result of then-French President Charles De Gaulle’s embargo on Israel. The ships were smuggled into Israel in a daring Mossad and Israel navy operation on Christmas eve, 1969. Mossad agents and navy personnel, disguised as civilian sailors, snuck into the Cherbourg navy yard late at night while the guards were drinking heavily in celebration of Christmas. They took the boats out to the open sea and made the arduous journey to Israel. For years, these missile boats served as the Israeli navy’s backbone, and played a part in many of Israel’s operational successes including during the 1973 Yom Kippur War and later confrontations.
Coming full circle 60 years later, the ships that Israel agreed to purchase from Germany this week are to be built at the same Burmester shipyard. But beyond supplying Israel with the ships it needs, the success of this deal will also serve serves Germany’s interests: Global demand for warships has declined significantly in the past decade. The economic recession, and the defense budget cuts adopted by many countries, have slowed down the demand for new navy ships. Instead of buying new boats, countries are opting to upgrade their existing fleets by adding new electronics and missile systems, some of which were developed in Israel. The German government wants to maintain its ability to develop and build these ships in north Germany, especially during a time when the shipyard’s order log is empty.
Funding a third of the purchase is a generous and much appreciated gift on behalf of the Germans, but it is also a roundabout way of subsidizing the shipyard and saving jobs that would be lost, like in the other industrial areas hit by the drop in value of the euro and decrease in demand.
This new deal represents yet another upgrade to Israel’s navy and will help it tackle future obstacles in the decades to come.
Prof. Shlomo Shpiro is the chairman of Bar-Ilan University’s Political Studies Department and a fellow at the Begin-Sadat For Strategic Studies.
@ ArnoldHarris:
Money Money money Makes the world go round and determines decision making in the end.
Navy Drops US Warship for Made-in-Israel Option
The Israeli navy has dropped plans to purchase U.S. warships and instead is considering starting a home-grown military shipbuilding industry.
I would require initially a major upgrade of facilities costing a lot of $$$$. Not that it can’t or shouldn’t be done but there are a lot of competeing clients for existing budgets….Politicians always take the easy way out…
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Economy Ministry – reciprocal purchasing deal signed with German Ship Manufacturer TKMS
GERMAN MANUFACTURER OF SUBMARINES AND SHIPS TO COMMITS TO NIS 700 MILLION RECIPROCAL PURCHASING AGREEMENT WITH ISRAELI INDUSTRY, TO REALIZE PAST AND TO EXAMINE ESTABLISHING A MANUFACTURING FACILITY IN ISRAEL
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=67268
Israel and Germany signed an agreement this week for the purchase of four corvettes for the Israeli Navy * German Delegation to Israel – including naval officers, senior Defense Ministry officials and representatives of
ship manufacturer TKMS – ThyssenKrupp – arrived in Israel for signing ceremony * As part of deal, TKMS made commitment with Division for Foreign Investment and Industrial Cooperation at The Israeli Ministry of Economy for
reciprocal purchasing, including direct investment in Israeli industry of NIS 700 million
Alos of Interest????: The Mossad takes over Polish shipyards
@ yamit82:
I know nothing about Israeli shipbuilding capabilities, and I am certain you know much. So what about “Israeli ships”? I presume facilities around Haifa have grown, possibly substantially, since I was last there 41 years ago. What about it?
Israeli armaments and other specialized military hardware on the German-built ships sounds promising.
Hopefully the capabilities of these new vessels are not limited to protecting sea-based hydrocarbons drilling and extraction platforms.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
ArnoldHarris Said:
I agree but here is the deal outlines that on the surface don’t look bad for Israel.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and his German counterpart Ursula von der Leyen signed a contract under which Israel will purchase four Sa’ar-class corvettes from Germany to protect its offshore gas rigs. All weapons systems for the ships will be Israeli-made…After more than five years of negotiations, Israel announced the purchase of four Sa’ar-class corvettes from Germany to protect its offshore natural-gas drilling rigs.
The total cost of the vessels is estimated at about NIS 1.8 billion (nearly $480 million). The German government will finance a third of the deal, which was announced a day before Israel and Germany will mark 50 years of diplomatic relations.
Germany has also pledged to reciprocate with a purchase of Israeli ships totaling NIS 700 million, according to the Defense Ministry.
According to an announcement released by the Israeli Ministery of Defense announcement, “the IMoD insisted that all the weapons systems for these ships will be Israeli-made, in a manner which will guarantee the flow of new orders in significant quantities for the Israeli defense industry,” According to the Hebrew-language news site Ynet, fitting the vessels with Israeli-made weapons systems is a process that will take about a year.
In a press conference in Tel Aviv, the German defense minister said “Israel is our biggest friend in the Middle East. We have 70 projects with you and there is not a country in the world we have such expansive security relations with like we do with Israel, both bilaterally and in cooperation between the militaries.”
http://www.israel-shipyards.com/naval-003.asp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhtE2NF1_Cw
Some of Germany’s WW2 S-booten, with appropriate 21st century armaments, communications, etc, would have proven useful for a long time. I read somewhere that the Kriegsmarine sneaked in one or more of those S-booten close to shore where Eisenhower’s forces in England were holding pre-D-Day practice landings, and made mincemeat out of the landing force.
Also useful were the Elco boats of the US Navy, such as Bulkeley’s MTB Squadron 3, which carried General Douglas MacArthur and his staff out of Japanese-besieged Bataan and Corregidor in the Philippine Islands, so they could reach a remote airport in the southern Philippines where B-17 bombers ferried them south to Australia.
On the other hand, specialized small warships actually made in Israel would be the best outcome of all.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI