Name Sa'ar 3 In commission 1969-1991 | ||
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Preceded by Sa'ar 2-class missile boat Succeeded by Sa'ar 4-class missile boat | ||
Sa'ar 3 class ("Cherbourg") is a class of missile boats built in Cherbourg, France at the Amiot Shipyard based on Israeli Navy modification of the German Navy's Jaguar class fast attack craft. They are also known as the stars of Cherbourg.
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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 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, the shipyard which built the Jaguar-class, to modify the wooden Jaguar-class design by switching to steel construction, adding 2.4 meters to the length, and revising the internal compartmentalization. Due to Arab League pressure on the German government, this plan was not continued and a new builder was sought. The Israeli Navy discovered that the Cherbourg-based Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie owned by Félix Amiot 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" (Hebrew: שלכת).
Operational history
Sa'ar 3 boats' first battle engagements were made during the October 1973 Yom Kippur War. During this war, the first surface to surface missile naval engagements took place. The first was at the Battle of Latakia where the Israeli Navy defeated Syrian boats and coastal targets using their guns and missiles. This was followed shortly thereafter by Israeli defeat of Egyptian forces at the Battle of Baltim.