Israeli destroyer sunk on 21 October 1967
HMS
Zealous
moored at
Gourock
, March 1945
|
History
|
United Kingdom
|
Name
| HMS
Zealous
|
Ordered
| 12 February 1942
|
Builder
| Cammell Laird
|
Laid down
| 5 May 1943
|
Launched
| 28 February 1944
|
Commissioned
| 9 October 1944
|
Out of service
| Sold to
Israel
, 15 July 1955
|
Israel
|
Name
| INS
Eilat
|
Acquired
| 15 July 1955
|
Commissioned
| July 1956
|
Fate
| Sunk by
Egypt
on 21 October 1967
|
General characteristics
|
Class and type
| Z-class
destroyer
|
Displacement
| 1,710 tons
|
Length
| 362.7 ft (110.6 m)
|
Beam
| 35.7 ft (10.9 m)
|
Propulsion
|
- Geared turbines
- two shafts
- 40,000
hp
(30,000 kW)
|
Speed
| 37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph)
|
Complement
| 186
|
Armament
| |
HMS
Zealous
was a
Z-class
destroyer
of the
Royal Navy
built in 1944 by
Cammell Laird
. She served during the
Second World War
, participating in operations in the
North Sea
and off the Norwegian coast, before taking part in some of the
Arctic convoys
. She spent a further ten years in Royal Navy service after the end of the war before being sold to the
Israeli Navy
, which operated her as
INS
Eilat
. She saw action during the
Suez Crisis
in 1956 attacking Egyptian ships, and was still active by the outbreak of the
Six-Day War
in 1967. She was sunk several months after the conflict by missiles launched from several small Egyptian
missile boats
; this made her the first vessel to be sunk by a missile boat in wartime. It was an important milestone in
naval surface warfare
, which aroused considerable interest around the world in the development of small manoeuvrable missile boats.
Design and construction
[
edit
]
The Z-class were
War Emergency Programme destroyers
, intended for general duties, including use as
anti-submarine
escort, and were to be suitable for mass-production. They were based on the hull and machinery of the pre-war
J-class
destroyers, but with a lighter armament (effectively whatever armament was available) in order to speed production.
[1]
[2]
The Z-class of eight ships formed the 10th Emergency Flotilla, one of five flotillas of War Emergency destroyers ordered under the 1941 War Construction Programme (the U, V, W, Z and Ca-classes (40 destroyers)).
[3]
The Z-class were 362 feet 9 inches (110.57 m)
long overall
, 348 feet 0 inches (106.07 m)
at the waterline
and 339 feet 6 inches (103.48 m)
between perpendiculars
, with a
beam
of 35 feet 8 inches (10.87 m) and a
draught
of 10 feet 0 inches (3.05 m) mean and 14 feet 3 inches (4.34 m) full load.
[4]
[5]
Displacement
was 1,710
long tons
(1,740
t
) standard and 2,530 long tons (2,570 t) full load.
[5]
Two
Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boilers
supplied steam at 300 pounds per square inch (2,100 kPa) and 630 °F (332 °C) to two sets of
Parsons
single-reduction geared
steam turbines
, which drove two propeller shafts. The machinery was rated at 40,000
shaft horsepower
(30,000
kW
) giving a maximum speed of 36
knots
(41 mph; 67 km/h) and 32 knots (37 mph; 59 km/h) at full load. 615 tons of oil were carried, giving a range of 4,675
nautical miles
(5,380 mi; 8,658 km) at 20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h).
[5]
The ship had a main gun armament of four
4.5-inch (120 mm) QF Mk. IV
guns, capable of elevating to an angle of 55 degrees, giving a degree of
anti-aircraft
capability, with the Z-class being the first class of destroyers to use the new gun.
[6]
[7]
[8]
The close-in anti-aircraft armament was one Hazemayer stabilised twin mount for the
Bofors 40 mm gun
, and six
Oerlikon 20 mm cannons
(two twin and two single mounts),
[5]
[9]
which was later modified by replacing the Oerlikon cannon with four single
2-pounder (40 mm) "pom-pom" autocannon
.
[4]
Two quadruple mount for
21-inch (533 mm) torpedoes
was fitted, while the ship had an
depth charge
outfit of four depth charge mortars and two racks, with a total of 70 charges carried.
[5]
She had a crew of 179 officers and other ranks.
[5]
Zealous
was ordered on 10 February 1942, and was
laid down
at
Cammell Laird
's
Birkenhead
shipyard on 5 May 1942. She was
launched
on 28 February 1944 and completed on 9 October 1944, being assigned the
pennant number
R39.
[10]
Royal Navy service
[
edit
]
Second World War
[
edit
]
After commissioning and working up at
Scapa Flow
,
Zealous
joined the
2nd Destroyer Flotilla
of the
Home Fleet
.
[11]
On 20 November 1944,
[11]
as part of an offensive against German shipping (and in particular ships carrying Iron ore) passing through Norwegian coastal waters,
[12]
Zealous
, together with the destroyers
Onslaught
,
Scorpion
and
Scourge
and the cruiser
Diadem
, escorted the
escort carriers
Premier
and
Pursuer
as the carriers' aircraft laid
mines
off
Haugesund
.
[13]
On 7?14 December 1944,
Zealous
took part in Operation Urbane, another anti-shipping operation off the coast of Norway involving the carriers
Implacable
,
Premier
and
Trumpeter
during
Arctic convoy
RA 62
. The carriers' aircraft laid mines and sank two merchant ships. Part of the force, including
Zealous
, was spotted by German reconnaissance aircraft on 14 December. In response, the Germans launched a 30-aircraft strong torpedo-bomber strike, but it failed to find the British force.
[14]
On 6 February 1945,
Zealous
joined the close escort of Arctic Convoy
JW 64
. The Germans deployed 8
U-boats
near
Bear Island
with a further 4 U-boats off the
Kola Inlet
, and carried out two large air attacks on the convoy, but only one escort, the corvette
Denbigh Castle
was lost, torpedoed by the German submarine
U-992
, with no merchant ships hit.
[15]
[16]
Zealous
, along with the destroyers
HMS
Zambesi
,
HMS
Zest
, and
HMCS
Sioux
were detached from the convoy on 14 February in order to rescue the population of
Sørøya
island,
Norway
,
[15]
60 miles (97 km) behind enemy lines. The four destroyers rescued 525 Norwegians, who had been hiding from German patrols in caves on the snow-covered mountains for three months. The Norwegians were safely evacuated via the return
RA 64
to the British port of
Gourock
.
[17]
[18]
On 16 February,
Zealous
took part in an operation by British and Soviet ships to drive away U-boats that were waiting outside the Kola Inlet. The convoy sailed on 17 February, with
Zealous
again part of the close escort. Two escorts (the sloop
Lark
and the corvette
Bluebell
) and two merchant ships (
Thomas Scott
and
Henry Bacon
) were lost, with one U-boat (
U-425
) also sunk.
[19]
[20]
On 5 April 1945
Zealous
was involved in an attack on a convoy entering the
Jøssingfjord
on the coast of Norway. One merchant ship was sunk and two were damaged.
[21]
On 18 April 1945,
Zealous
joined the escort of Arctic Convoy
JW 66
, which arrived at the Kola Inlet on 25 April.
[22]
[23]
On 29 April
Zealous
set out as part of the escort of the return convoy RA 66, leaving the convoy on 5 May.
[24]
[25]
The war in Europe ended on
VE Day
on 8 May 1945, and on 9 May,
Zealous
was part of a force of two cruisers (
Birmingham
and
Dido
) and four destroyers (
Zealous
,
Zephyr
,
Zest
and
Zodiac
), that helped to liberate
Copenhagen
, with the force taking the surrender of the German naval forces based there.
Zealous
and
Zodiac
then moved on to occupation duties at
Kiel
.
[26]
Post-war service
[
edit
]
Zealous
was refitted at
Devonport
from July 1945,
[11]
From October 1945 until August 1946
Zealous
served in the
2nd Destroyer Flotilla
as part of the Home Fleet.
[27]
She carried out more occupation duties in north German ports in November?December 1945.
[11]
From 1947 until 1950 she was held in reserve at Devonport. Between 1950 and 1951 she underwent a refit at Cardiff.
[27]
During 1953 she was refitted by
Harland and Wolff
at
Liverpool
.
[11]
Between 1953 and 1954 she was held in reserve at Penarth.
[27]
Service as
Eilat
[
edit
]
In 1955 the UK sold
Zealous
to
Israel
, which commissioned her into the
Israeli Navy
as INS
Eilat
(after the
Israeli
southern coastal city of
Eilat
, replacing the earlier
INS
Eilat
) in July 1956. On the morning of 31 October, in the midst of the
Suez Crisis
, the Egyptian destroyer
Ibrahim el Awal
(an ex-British
Hunt class destroyer
) shelled
Haifa
harbour. A counter-attack by the French destroyer
Kersaint
and by the Israeli
Yaffo
and
Eilat
forced the Egyptian destroyer to steam back towards
Port Said
. It was then also attacked by a pair of
IDF/AF
Ouragans
and a Dakota. The crew of the badly damaged vessel finally capitulated, and the Israelis towed the ship to Haifa; it later became the
Haifa
in the Israeli Navy.
[28]
On a patrol during the night of 11?12 July 1967,
Eilat
and two Israeli torpedo-boats encountered two Egyptian torpedo-boats off the
Rumani coast
. They immediately engaged the vessels and sank both.
[29]
Sinking
[
edit
]
In an early event in the
War of Attrition
,
Eilat
was sunk on 21 October 1967 in Mediterranean international waters off
Port Said
in the
Sinai
, hit by three Soviet-made
Styx missiles
launched by
Egyptian
missile boats.
[30]
An Egyptian
Komar-class
missile boat
positioned within the harbour at Port Said fired two missiles at the Israeli destroyer.
Eilat
'
s radar did not reveal any suspicious activity or movements because the Egyptians launched the missiles from within the port.
[31]
Eilat'
s captain ordered evasive action when the missiles were detected, but the first missile hit the ship just above the waterline at 5:32 p.m. Two minutes later the second missile struck, causing additional casualties. While
Eilat
began to list heavily, the crew tended to the wounded and engaged in rescue and repair operations while waiting for additional ships of the Israeli Navy to come to their rescue. Approximately one hour later another Egyptian Komar-class missile boat from Port Said harbour fired two more Styx missiles at
Eilat
. The third missile hit
Eilat
amidships, causing more damage and further fires, while the fourth went astray and crashed in the water nearby.
Eilat
sank about two minutes later. Out of a crew of 199, 47 were killed or missing and 90?100 were wounded.
[32]
[11]
Aftermath of the sinking
[
edit
]
The sinking just months after its defeat in the
Six-Day War
caused brief jubilation in the Arab World and crowds gathered to cheer the two missile boats upon their return to
Port Said
.
[33]
In Israel, angry crowds surrounded Chief of Staff
Yitzhak Rabin
and newspaper editorials demanded vengeance.
[
citation needed
]
Sixty-seven hours after the attack Israel retaliated by shelling
Port Suez
with heavy mortars. Two of the site's three oil refineries were destroyed with the smallest one left standing. The refineries produced all of Egypt's cooking and heating gas, and 80% of its oil. Other areas of the city were hit. Israel ignored or pleaded "technical difficulties" to UN requests for a ceasefire. The
Soviet Union
sent seven warships on a "courtesy call" to Egyptian ports to dissuade Israel from further attacks.
[33]
The sinking of
Eilat
by
surface-to-surface missiles
inaugurated a new era in the development of naval weapons and the formulation of
naval strategy
throughout the world.
[
citation needed
]
Though not highly publicized at the time, the sinking had a considerable impact on the Israeli Navy. Israel started to develop plans for
German-influenced ship designs
better suited to missile combat, principally small and efficient boats armed with missiles, able to patrol Israeli shores and undertake offshore operations at high speed, while at the same time able to evade enemy tracking and missiles.
[34]
The resulting focus on new, more agile, missile-armed boats (see
Sa'ar 2-class missile boat
) would reap major benefits for the Israeli navy six years later during the
Yom Kippur War
.
[35]
A set of torpedo tubes removed from
Eilat
before her sinking are preserved at the
Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum
, Haifa, and a Monument to the Fallen of INS
Eilat
was established just outside the Museum, the work of sculptor
Igael Tumarkin
.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
Friedman 2008
, pp. 53?55, 86?87
- ^
Whitley 2000
, pp. 124?127
- ^
Friedman 2008
, pp. 90?91, 328
- ^
a
b
Whitley 2000
, p. 135
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Lenton 1970
, p. 37
- ^
Gardiner & Chesneau 1980
, p. 43
- ^
Friedman 2008
, pp. 92?93
- ^
Marriott 1989
, p. 52
- ^
Raven & Roberts 1978
, p. 48
- ^
Friedman 2008
, p. 328
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
English 2008
, p. 110
- ^
Roskill 1961
, pp. 162?167
- ^
Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992
, p. 315
- ^
Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992
, p. 319
- ^
a
b
Ruegg & Hague 1993
, p. 73
- ^
Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992
, p. 333
- ^
Langran, Mike.
"Winter's Rages"
.
BBC History: WW2 Peoples' War
. Retrieved
2 March
2020
.
- ^
Ytreberg, Rune (11 April 2011).
"Norske tenaringssoldater kjempet mot tyskerne"
[Norwegian teenage soldiers fought against the Germans] (in Norwegian). nrk.no
. Retrieved
2 March
2020
.
- ^
Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992
, p. 334
- ^
Ruegg & Hague 1993
, pp. 73?74
- ^
"British Destroyers Attack Convoy"
. jproc.ca. 5 April 1945
. Retrieved
20 April
2015
.
- ^
Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992
, p. 348
- ^
Ruegg & Hague 1993
, p. 77
- ^
Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992
, p. 350
- ^
Ruegg & Hague 1993
, pp. 77?78
- ^
Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992
, p. 353
- ^
a
b
c
Critchley 1982
, p. 82
- ^
Suez Crisis
Archived
21 December 2005 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Israeli Navy: The Navy Throughout Israel's Wars"
. Jewish Virtual Library. Archived from
the original
on 5 June 2016
. Retrieved
20 May
2015
.
- ^
Rabinovich 1988
, p. 5
- ^
Bruce & Cogar 1998
[
page needed
]
- ^
Rabinovich 1988
, p. 11
- ^
a
b
"Middle East: A Bitter Exchange"
.
Time
. 3 November 1967. Archived from
the original
on 5 November 2012
. Retrieved
20 May
2015
.
(subscription required)
- ^
Rabinovich, Adam.
"Israel Military Intelligence: The Boats of Cherbourg"
. Jewish Virtual Library
. Retrieved
20 May
2015
.
- ^
Grant 2011
, p. 342
References
[
edit
]
- Bruce, Anthony; Cogar, William (1998).
Encyclopedia of Naval History
. Routledge.
ISBN
0-81602-697-1
.
- Colledge, J. J.
; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969].
Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy
(Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing.
ISBN
978-1-86176-281-8
.
- Critchley, Mike (1982).
British Warships Since 1945: Part 3: Destroyers
. Liskeard, UK: Maritime Books.
ISBN
0-9506323-9-2
.
- English, John (2008).
Obdurate to Daring: British Fleet Destroyers 1941?45
. Windsor, UK: World Ship Society.
ISBN
978-0-9560769-0-8
.
- Friedman, Norman
(2008).
British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After
. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing.
ISBN
978-1-84832-015-4
.
- Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger, eds. (1980).
Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922?1946
. London: Conway Maritime Press.
ISBN
0-85177-146-7
.
- Grant, R G (2011).
Battle at Sea: 3,000 Years of Naval Warfare
. Penguin.
- Marriott, Leo (1989).
Royal Navy Destroyers Since 1945
. Ian Allan Ltd.
ISBN
0-7110-1817-0
.
- Lenton, H. T. (1970).
Navies of the Second World War: British Fleet & Escort Destroyers Volume Two
. London: Macdonald & Co.
ISBN
0-356-03122-5
.
- Rabinovich, Abraham (1988).
The Boats of Cherbourg
. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co.
ISBN
0-8050-0680-X
.
- Raven, Alan; Roberts, John (1978).
War Built Destroyers O to Z Classes
. London: Bivouac Books.
ISBN
0-85680-010-4
.
- Rohwer, Jurgen; Hummelchen, Gerhard (1992).
Chronology of the War at Sea 1939?1945
. London: Greenhill Books.
ISBN
1-85367-117-7
.
- Roskill, S. W.
(1961).
The War at Sea 1939?1945: Volume III The Offensive Part II, 1st June 1944 ?14th August 1945
. History of the Second World War: United Kingdom Military Series. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
- Ruegg, Bob; Hague, Arnold (1993).
Convoys to Russia 1941?1945
. Kendal, UK: World Ship Society.
ISBN
0-905617-66-5
.
- Whitley, M. J. (1988).
Destroyers of World War 2
. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN
0-87021-326-1
.
- Whitley, M. J. (2000).
Destroyers of World War 2: An International Encyclopedia
. London: Cassell & Co.
ISBN
1-85409-521-8
.
External links
[
edit
]
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1967
|
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Shipwrecks
| |
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Other incidents
| |
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|
31°20′00″N
32°34′05″E
/
31.3333331°N 32.5680561°E
/
31.3333331; 32.5680561