Today, October 21, marks the fifty-seventh anniversary of the destruction of the Israeli destroyer “Eilat” in 1967 by the Egyptian Navy, as the Egyptian Navy wrote a glorious page in the history of its military heroism.
The "Eilat" operation is The first qualitative operation carried out by the armed forces after the 1967 war, and it had an impact in many aspects. It restored the bonds of trust between the people and the army, and confirmed the ability of the armed forces to do the impossible in order to raise the country’s standing and protect its soil, as well as restoring confidence in the existing armed capabilities within the army. The Egyptian.
Israel purchased the destroyer “Eilat” from England to participate in the tripartite war of aggression against Egypt in 1956, as well as It participated in the setback of 1967, which led to the arrogance of the Israeli army due to its strength and high equipment, and it quickly penetrated “Eilat”” Egyptian territorial waters in Port Said in an attempt to demonstrate its maritime sovereignty, taking into account the inability of the Egyptian forces to prevent it.
But the Egyptian forces did not stand idly by, so the Supreme Command issued orders to deal with the Israeli destroyer, and immediately the commander of the naval base in Port Said prepared two naval forces to carry out the first mission, which was led by Captain Ahmed Shaker and his assistant, First Lieutenant Hassan Hosni, were on boat 504. The second boat, 501, was commanded by Captain Lotfy Jaballah with the assistance of First Lieutenant Mamdouh Manea. They were equipped with Comer naval missiles, and indeed the Egyptian forces directly hit the Israeli destroyer, and it began to lean on its side. He pursued it with the second missile, which completed its sinking at a distance of 11 nautical miles northeast of Port Said, carrying its crew, which consisted of about a hundred individuals, in addition to a batch of students from the Israeli Naval College that was on board on a training trip.
This is the first time in the history of the naval forces that a naval destroyer has been destroyed by missiles fired by a naval boat. Military experts around the world have commented on this battle that this attack is considered the first. Of its kind in using surface missiles in this way, a new doctrine emerged in warfare and naval weapons. On the other hand, Israel asked the international monitoring forces for Israeli aircraft to carry out a rescue operation for the individuals who fell into the water when the destroyer sank.
So they responded. Egypt requested the international oversight forces not to interfere in the rescue operation that took place in light of the flares dropped by the planes, and Egypt did not seize this opportunity to eliminate the individuals who were being rescued as evidence of the Egyptian army’s respect for international norms.
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This battle was recorded as one of the most famous naval battles in history, and after the success of the mission, a presidential decree was issued to grant all officers and soldiers who participated in the operation medals and medals, and the destroyer Eilat was sunk on October 21, 1967 AD. A holiday for the Egyptian naval forces, and the military circles praised the rare courage of the Egyptian boat commanders.
