The Battle of Latakia ( ar, معركة اللاذقية; he, קרב לטקיה) was a small but revolutionary naval action of the
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egy ...
, fought on 7 October 1973 between
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. It was the first naval battle in history to see combat between
surface-to-surface missile
A surface-to-surface missile (SSM) or ground-to-ground missile (GGM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea and strike targets on land or at sea. They may be fired from hand-held or vehicle mounted devices, from fixed ins ...
-equipped
missile boat
A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They a ...
s and the use of
electronic deception.
Background
At the outset of hostilities, the
Israeli Navy
The Israeli Navy ( he, חיל הים הישראלי, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'' (English: The Israeli Sea Corps); ar, البحرية الإسرائيلية) is the naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in ...
set out to destroy the naval capabilities of the Syrians, who were equipped with
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
Komar-class and
Osa-class missile boats. The Syrian missile boats were equipped with Soviet manufactured
P-15 Termit
The P-15 ''Termit'' (russian: П-15 "Термит"; en, termite) is an anti-ship missile developed by the Soviet Union's MKB Raduga, Raduga design bureau in the 1950s. Its GRAU designation was 4K40, its NATO reporting name was ''Styx'' or SS-N ...
(
NATO reporting name
NATO reporting names are code names for military equipment from Russia, China, and historically, the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union and other nations of the Warsaw Pact). They provide unambiguous and easily understood English words in a uniform manne ...
: SS-N-2 ''Styx'')
anti-ship missile
An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good ...
s with twice the range of the Israeli
Gabriel
In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር ...
anti-ship missiles.
Battle
At the beginning of the 73 war, the Israeli Navy carried out a raid against the Syrian port of Latakia. For this, the Israelis sent five missile boats and two landing ships with four helicopters. The helicopters had ESM, Chaff and Mechanical/Electronic echo enhancement equipment. The aim of the strike force was to carry out missile and gun attacks on the Syrian port. The helicopters were to be used for surface surveillance, EW, gun spotting, and as decoys.
The four Israeli Navy
Sa'ar 3-class and one
Sa'ar 4-class missile boats headed towards the Syrian
port of Latakia
The Port of Latakia ( ar, ميناء اللاذقية, french: link=no, Port de Lattaquié) is a seaport located on the Mediterranean sea in the city of Latakia. Established on 12 February 1950, it has since served as Syria's main seaport.
Its i ...
in two parallel columns. In the western column were the missile boats ''Miznak'' (Blast), ''Ga'ash'' (Storm), and ''Hanit'' (Spear); the eastern column was composed of the missile boats ''Mivtach'' (Reliance) and ''Reshef'' (Spark).
The Israeli Missile boats were detected by a patrolling Syrian torpedo boat and this detection was reported to the base. But before any reinforcements could be sent, at 22:28 hours the Israelis encountered the Syrian K-123
torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...
which was attacked using Gabriel SSMs and sunk by 76 mm gunfire from ''Mivtach'' and ''Hanit''. As they headed toward the shore, the Israeli ships engaged a 560-ton Syrian
T43-class minesweeper
The T43 were a class of open-ocean minesweepers built for the Soviet Navy from 1948 to 1957. It was exported to client states; the People's Republic of China and Poland produced additional ships. Some hulls were converted to other uses by various ...
and also sank it, this time using four Gabriel anti-ship missiles. At 23:30 the Israelis made contact with two Syrian
Komar-class and one
Osa-class missile boat
The Project 205 Moskit (''mosquito'') more commonly known by their NATO reporting name Osa, are a class of missile boats developed for the Soviet Navy in the late 1950s. Until 1962 this was classified as a large torpedo boat.
The Osa class is ...
s. The Israeli force turned East South Eastwards, and the helicopters climbed high so as to start painting on the shore radar at Lakatia. In the meantime 3 patrolling Syrian missile boats, from off Bans, were vectored north-westwards to attack the Israeli formation of 7 radar contacts (3 of chaff and 4 helicopters) at about 2330, the Syrians launched 8-12 Styx missiles at the Israeli formation, which subsequently disappeared from the Syrian radar. The Syrian missile boats fired their Styx missiles at long range, but as the missiles approached, the Israelis employed
electronic countermeasures
An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...
and launched
chaff
Chaff (; ) is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of cereal grains or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material (such as scaly parts of flowers or finely chopped straw). Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it. In agri ...
rockets to successfully decoy the missiles. When the Israeli ships closed the range, they fired five Gabriel missiles, sinking one Komar and the Osa immediately and damaging the second Komar. The surviving Syrian Komar tried to escape, but it ran aground in shallow water and was destroyed by 76mm cannon fire at 00:26 hours.
During this naval clash, other Syrian missile boats launched missiles from within the port limits of Latakia (actually launched while the missile boats were moored between merchant ships in port). However, these missiles malfunctioned or lost guidance, and two foreign (one Greek and one Japanese) merchant vessels anchored along the
pier
image:Brighton Pier, Brighton, East Sussex, England-2Oct2011 (1).jpg, Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.
A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of ...
s were hit. Both vessels were struck in the engine rooms.
The
Syrian Navy
The Syrian Navy, officially the Syrian Arab Navy ( ar, الْبَحْرِيَّةُ الْعَرَبِيَّةُ السُّورِيَّةُ, al-Baḥrīyah al-ʿArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is the navy branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. The main role ...
remained bottled up in its
home ports for the rest of the war.
While the Battle of Latakia was the first naval battle in history between missile boats, it was not the first incident in which a missile boat sank another ship using missiles. That had happened when two
Egyptian Navy
The Egyptian Navy ( ar, القوات البحرية المصرية, El-Quwwāt el-Bahareya el-Miṣriyya, Egyptian Navy Forces), also known as the Egyptian Naval Force, is the maritime branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces. It is the largest navy ...
Komar-class missile boats sank the British-built Israeli
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
''Eilat'' on 21 October 1967, shortly after the
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...
, using four
P-15 Termit
The P-15 ''Termit'' (russian: П-15 "Термит"; en, termite) is an anti-ship missile developed by the Soviet Union's MKB Raduga, Raduga design bureau in the 1950s. Its GRAU designation was 4K40, its NATO reporting name was ''Styx'' or SS-N ...
surface-to-surface missiles.
[.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Latakia 1973
Naval battles of the Yom Kippur War