The Dabur class is a class of

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and th ...

s built at the Sewart Seacraft (now

Swiftships Swiftships is a shipbuilding and marine engineering company headquartered in South Louisiana, USA. Company operates globally and specialized in the construction of small to medium sized vessels made of steel, aluminum or fiberglass. Swiftships i ...

) shipyard in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

for the Israeli Navy. These naval vessels are also built by IAI-Ramta.

Design

The Dabur class has a displacement of 35 tons (45 tons loaded) The ships have a length of , a beam of and a draft of .Saunders, p.356 The ships are crewed by a complement of six to eight officers and ratings. The hull is made of aluminum. The first Dabur-class vessels were laid down in 1970, with 12 hulls built by Swiftships in Morgan City Louisiana and 22 more built by IAI-Ramta for a total of 34. The class is designed to be light and is able to be carried overland. They have good rough weather capability, however they were not considered fast enough to cope with current threat capabilities and were phased out in the Israeli Navy for newer ships.

Propulsion

The class is powered by two diesel General Motors type 12V71TN creating driving two shafts. This gives the ships a maximum speed of and a patrol speed of . The effective range at maximum speed is and at patrol speed, .

Armament

The boats are armed with two Oerlikon 20 mm cannons, two 12.7 mm machine guns. Two

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed abo ...

s are provided for the Mark 46 torpedo and there is space for two racks of

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive hydraulic shock. Most depth charges use ...

s. Carl Gustav recoilless rifles are carried aboard the ships for anti-terrorist purposes.

Exports

In 1976, five of the class were given to the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

Lebanese Forces Militia in Lebanon, but they were later returned in 1990. In 1978 Israel sold four of the class to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

and four to

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to ...

. In 1984 they sold two to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. In 1991 four more were sold to Fiji and six to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

. Chile bought four more in 1995, and Nicaragua purchased three more in 1996.

Service history

Dabur-class boats first battle engagements were made in the October 1973

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 Eg ...

. During the war, two Dabur boats attacked an Egyptian commando force in its own port at Marse Talamat and destroyed speed boats and rubber dinghies just as they were preparing for attacks on Israeli targets in 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 a ...

Operators

* (4 units) * (3 units) * (4 units) **RFNS 301 Vai (1991) **RFNS 302 Ogo (1991) **RFNS 303 Saku (1991) **RFNS 304 Saqa (1991) * (2 units) * * (8 to 10 units)

Former operators

* (decommissioned) *

Lebanese Forces The Lebanese Forces ( ar, القوات اللبنانية '')'' is a Lebanese Christian-based political party and former militia during the Lebanese Civil War. It currently holds 19 of the 128 seats in Lebanon's parliament and is therefore th ...

: 5 units, returned to Israel after October 1990.

Notes

References

Secondary sources

* Alain Menargues, ''Les Secrets de la guerre du Liban: Du coup d'état de Béchir Gémayel aux massacres des camps palestiniens'', Albin Michel, Paris 2004. (in French) * Claire Hoy and Victor Ostrovsky, ''By Way of Deception: The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer'', St. Martin’s Press, New York 1990.

External links

{{Israel Aerospace Industries Naval ships of Israel Patrol boat classes