At Haifa Naval Base , in mid September 2014, missile boats and civilian yatchs welcome entry of Dolphin 2 class, INS Tannin or Rahav? Note how its blue hull and fin camoflage it against the Mediterranean Sea and sky.
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The Israeli Navy (including the Submarine Service/Flotilla and the largest, corvette sized, surface ships are mainly based at Haifa in northern Israel. Haifa is Israel’s third largest city and the country’s largest port.
Israel's TKMS built Dolphin Submarines
The most important part of the Israeli Navy is the submarine service of 5 Dolphin class submarines. They are most important in overall tonnage, intelligence acquisition value, conventional weapons capability and the submarines are the only part of the Israeli Navy with nuclear weapons. The Dolphins are developments of TKMS's Type 209 and 212As.
The German Government (maybe cross-subsidised by the US Government) has paid about one third of the cost of the Dolphins. This is a post Holocaust German donation to Israel.
The Dolphin 1 class (early history) consists of three submarines:
- INS Dolphin (delivered 1999)
- INS Livyathan (in English "Whale" delivered 1999)
- INS Tekumah ("Revival" delivered 2000)
AIP Dolphin 2 class: The Dolphin 2s have fuel cell air independent propulsion (AIP) probably to allow them to sit on the seafloor.
The principal "SSBK" mission is to provide a first or second strike using "Popeye Turbo" missiles against Tehran. This may involve sitting on the floor of the Arabian and/or Mediterranean Seas for 2 to 3 weeks. Interestingly the Dolphin 2s (and maybe Dolphin 1s) have Triton anti-helicopter missiles.
The Dolphin 2 class consists of two submarines delivered and one (INS Dakar) on order:
- INS Tannin (Crocodile, delivered in 2012)
- INS Rahav (in English "Splendour" or "Prostitute"? delivered in 2014)
In (map above) see Israel's Naval Bases from north to south:
- Haifa (the main and largest base) located in northern Israel. As well as the submarines Haifa hosts 3 corvettes (Israeli Navy's largest surface ships) and smaller boats - all in the Missile Boats Flotilla. The corvettes are 1,200 ton Sa'ar 5-class (commissioned in 1994-95),
The Naval Training Base is also at Haifa, containing submarine operations school, missile boat operations school and naval command school. The naval training base also functions as the Israeli Naval Academy. Israel is a small place so most things are packed in together and most people know one another way back!
- Tel Aviv (Navy HQ) and likely navy supported SigInt and military intelligence center. Tel Aviv is Israel’s second largest city (after Jerusalem).
- Ashdod (Patrol Boats Squadron 916) is 30 km south of Tel Aviv,
- Eliat (patrol boats and maybe submarine replenishment, in south) is on the Gulf of Aqaba - with access to the Red Sea and then Arabian Sea (the SSBK station against Iran).
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Haifa Naval Base is just on the land side of the breakwater to the left of "HAIFA PORT" as marked on the map. (Map courtesy Orange Smile maps)
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Israeli Signals Intelligence (SigInt)
Navies are more than vessels (subs and ships) and "spit and polish" shore establishments. Communications and intelligence are equally essential.
The “Israeli NSA” (with the typically bland cover name “Unit 8200”) is manned by Israeli Defence Force (IDF) service members (including Navy) as well as by civilians. The Israeli NSA staff are mainly programmers and university graduates in engineering, computer science and other technological professions.
The Israeli Navy SigInt feeder network to Israeli NSA would come from naval bases (especially from Matam technology park, Haifa?) and from submarines and ships tasked with electronic intelligence gathering missions. Non-military inputs would also come from Mossad and Israel's FBI like "Shin Bet/Shabak".
The Israeli NSA would be co-located with the IDF's command, communications and all source military intelligence functions. All of them within Tel Aviv's IDF HQ at HaKirya. As aficionados of SigInt know SigInt is all about targeted collection and computer processing all serving customer analysts.
The Israeli NSA's main target would be terrorism. Russian operations (including Tartus) over the border in Syria would be another major target. Close relations-sharing with other NSAs are likely.
The Israeli NSA would be co-located with the IDF's command, communications and all source military intelligence functions. All of them within Tel Aviv's IDF HQ at HaKirya. As aficionados of SigInt know SigInt is all about targeted collection and computer processing all serving customer analysts.
The Israeli NSA's main target would be terrorism. Russian operations (including Tartus) over the border in Syria would be another major target. Close relations-sharing with other NSAs are likely.
The Israeli Navy is one of the customers and larger vessel operations might be assisted by NSA work in real time.
An Israeli Dolphin (1 or 2?) submarine and a US vessel (a frigate?) at Haifa Naval Base, northern Israel. Great location, but shame about all the conflict and terrorism nearby. (Photos via Foxtrot Alpha)
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Israel's main naval base is at Haifa. (courtesy). One can theorise where the nuclear "Popeye Turbo" missiles are stored and fitted into Dolphin submarines.
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See previous Submarine Matters articles on the Dolphin Submarines: here (nuclear missiles), here (Israeli "218"), and here (some good out of water hull photos). Using "Dolphin" in search box reveals other Dolphin articles in Submarine Matters.
Pete