The Battle of Rumani Coast ( he, קרב רומני) was a naval engagement that took place on the night of July 11, 1967 between Israeli and Egyptian naval forces, near the vicinity of Rumani. Two Egyptian motor torpedo boats were sunk in the action for no Israeli losses.The Israel Navy Throughout Israel's Wars
, ''Jewish Virtual Library''

Background

Following Israel's victory in 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 states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...

, Israel's coastline was significantly enlarged and now included the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is ...

coast. 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 ...

now sought to enforce Israeli sovereignty over this large area and began regular patrols of the Sinai coastline up to the approaches of Port Said.Israeli MTB Action off Port Said, July 1967
Aryeh Wetherhorn

Battle

On July 9 , an ex-British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

Z-class

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 ...

commanded by Yitzhak Shushan, proceeded due west toward the Sinai coast. INS ''Eilat'' subsequently rendezvoused with ex-French motor torpedo boats ''Aya'' and ''Daya''. The flotilla patrolled northwest of the Sinai coast, under orders to stop vessels crossing the demarkation line toward the Sinai coast. On July 11 at approximately 21:45, the signals intelligence intercept operator in ''Eilat'' reported two Egyptian missile boats were about to sortie. The Israeli torpedo boats picked up a target on radar shortly thereafter. The Egyptians were about 15 miles from the MTBs and 12 miles from ''Eilat'', moving east at . The Israelis marked a course to intercept. ''Eilat'' closed from the north, ''Aya'' and ''Daya'' from the east. The Egyptian vessels, later identified as P 6-class torpedo boats, discovered the Israeli MTBs approaching at full speed and commenced fire. The Israelis returned fire with

Bofors AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years. History Located in ...

and Oerlikons. The initial run scored no hits but the Egyptian MTBs dispersed. The separation enabled ''Eilat'' to close one and the two MTBs the other. Twenty minutes later, both P 6s were ablaze. The fire caused their torpedoes to explode. There were no Israeli losses and no known Egyptian survivors.

References

Gallery

File:Mapromani67.jpg, Map of naval battle fought on July 11, 1967 off Sinai coast, written in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. File:INSEilat.jpg, INS ''Eilat'', ex-Royal Navy Z-class destroyer. File:TBP183.jpg, Soviet-built Egyptian MTB, similar to the ones used by the Egyptians at Rumani. File:Tsqd914.jpg, Israeli MTBs. The boat in the background (left), is the command boat T-204 INS ''Daya''. The boat in the foreground is T-203 INS ''Aya''. Both boats took part in the battle. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rumani Coast,Battle of Rumani Coast 1967 in the Israeli Military Governorate 1967 in Egypt Rumani Coast July 1967 events in Africa Naval battles of the War of Attrition July 1967 events in Asia