The Sa'ar 2 class ("Shalechet") is a

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

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 ...

s built in

Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

at the

Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie (CMN) is a French shipyard located at Cherbourg. It employs approximately four hundred employees covering the various specialities required for the construction of luxury yachts and warships. Since its foun ...

shipyard based on

Israeli Navy The Israeli Navy (, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'', ; ) is the Israel Defense Forces#Arms, naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in the Mediterranean Sea theater as well as the Gulf of Eilat and the Red Sea th ...

modification of the

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is part of the unified (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Marine'' (German Navy) became the official ...

's . Three of the ships class were converted from s in 1974.

Design and development

The Israeli naval command had reached the conclusion by the early 1960s that their old Second World War-era destroyers, frigates and corvettes were obsolete and new ships and vessels were needed. Yitzhak Shoshan, later to command the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

INS ''Eilat'' at the time of her sinking, surveyed the available torpedo boat designs and recommended the German ''Jaguar'' class. The Israeli Navy asked

Lürssen Lürssen (or Lürssen Werft) is a German shipyard with headquarters in Bremen-Vegesack and shipbuilding facilities in Lemwerder, Berne and Bremen-Fähr-Lobbendorf. Lürssen designs and constructs yachts, naval ships and special vessels. Tradin ...

, the shipyard which built the ''Jaguar'' class, to modify the wooden design by switching to steel construction, adding to the length, and revising the internal compartmentalization. Due to

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

pressure on the German government, this plan was not continued and a new builder was sought. The Israeli Navy discovered that the Cherbourg-based

shipyard owned by

Félix Amiot Félix Amiot (October 17, 1894 – December 21, 1974) was a French industrialist and aircraft constructor based in Colombes, France. Some of the aircraft models he designed served in the French Air Force during the Second World War. His second in ...

had experience building patrol boats in cooperation with Lürssen and would build the boats, based upon the German designs and plans. The engines were imported from Germany. The project received the codename "Falling Leaves" ().Rabinovich, p. 56 An initial group of six boats was ordered in 1965, with an armament of

Bofors 40 mm gun Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to models of 40 mm calibre automatic anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: * Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/43 - developed in the 1930s with market entry in 1934, wid ...

s and torpedo tubes and provision for fitting

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

. This group was designated the Sa'ar 1 class. When refitted with

Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM or ASM) 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. ...

s, they became the Sa'ar 2 class. A second group of six boats, the Sa'ar 3 class, was ordered in 1968, with an

OTO Melara 76 mm The OTO Melara 76 mm gun, marketed as the OTO 76/62 Gun Mount, is a naval autocannon built and designed by the Italian Defense contractor, defence company OTO Melara. It is based on the OTO Melara 76/62C and evolved toward 76/62 SR and 76/ ...

gun instead of the Bofors guns of the Sa'ar 1 class and with anti-submarine provisions omitted.Gardiner and Chumbley, pp. 192–193.

Description

The boats were long, slender vessels. They measured in length, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

of .

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

is standard and full load. The boats were powered by four MTU 16V 538

diesel engines The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the die ...

giving a total power of and driving four propeller shafts. This gave a maximum speed of . Range was at or at . The vessels in the class come in two versions of armament. One version is equipped with five to eight Gabriel II

surface-to-surface missile A surface-to-surface missile (SSM) 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 installations, or from a ship. They ar ...

s (SSM), one Bofors L/70 40 mm gun, two caliber M1919A4 Browning machine guns and four 7.62 mm FN MAG 58

general-purpose machine gun A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered fo ...

s. The other version is equipped with four

RGM-84 Harpoon The Harpoon is an all-weather, Over-the-horizon radar, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). The Standoff Land Attack Missile , AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) ...

SSMs and two Gabriel II SSMs.

Boats in the class

References

Citations

Sources