The 1969 Israeli intelligence mission to steal five French missile boats

Israeli intelligence carried out a daring operation to outwit French security forces and bring back five missile boats held by the country.

Two of the five ships detained by France at Cherbourg port. Photo: Cimsec.

In the early 1960s, Israel decided to purchase 12 unarmed Sa'ar 3-class patrol boats from France with the intention of converting them into missile boats to help modernize its navy and ensure national security. However, after receiving 7 boats, Israel was placed under a comprehensive arms embargo by France due to the Beirut airport raid during the campaign against the Palestine Liberation Organization. The remaining 5 Sa'ar 3-class boats were retained by France and not transferred to Israel.

The acquisition of Soviet missile boats by rivals Egypt and Syria, while Israel's outdated fleet suffered losses in the War of Attrition (1967-1970), led the country's leadership to launch Operation Noa to steal the remaining five Sa'ar 3 boats from the French, according to the Jewish Library.

The father of Operation Noa was Rear Admiral Mordechai "Mokka" Limon, a former Israeli naval commander and Israeli military attaché in Paris. He had many connections to the French and European governments through the Rothschild family.

Using Limon’s connections, Israel set up a shell company called Starboat, registered in Panama but disguised as a Norwegian oil drilling company. The company’s employees were all Mossad agents, Israel’s national intelligence agency. Starboat was headed by Benyamin Vered, one of the Mossad’s highest-ranking commanders.

Starboat negotiated with the French side, expressing its desire to buy back five Sa'ar 3 warships to convert them into oil survey vessels, claiming that their technical specifications met their requirements. To gain the French side's trust, Limon and Starboat representatives pretended to argue fiercely during the negotiations.

The two sides agreed on the terms that the five vessels would be delivered to Starboat's port and manned by Israeli navy sailors. The purchase contract between the Israeli government and Starboat was approved with the approval of French Defense Minister Michel Debré.

The next step in the operation was to establish a daily routine to deceive the French in Cherbourg, where five Sa'ar 3s were anchored. Israeli sailors regularly manned these ships on short trips towards the Atlantic.

The crew was secretly reinforced by 80 Israeli officers, who disguised themselves as civilians and split into two groups, posing as tourists at different points across Europe before arriving in Cherbourg. The two groups were required to constantly change accommodations, never staying in the same hotel for more than one night, and to carry Israeli passports to avoid being charged with false documents if caught. On December 23, the 80 Israeli officers arrived in Cherbourg and dispersed around the city.

The route from France to Israel of the Sa'ar 3 group of ships. Graphic: Wikipedia.

Mossad director Meir Amit assessed the operation as extremely risky. "If just one French policeman became suspicious about the presence of so many Jews in Cherbourg during Christmas, the operation would have been completely ruined," Mr. Amit recalled.

Before leaving, the ships needed large amounts of diesel and food for the eight-day journey. The crews had to slowly stockpile fuel and supplies in small quantities to avoid arousing suspicion. By December 24, all five ships had enough fuel and food for the journey to Israel.

The sudden start of the warship's engines at night would alert the French authorities. Therefore, Colonel Hadar Kimhi, the commander of the operation, ordered the Israeli sailors to start the ship's engines every night to get the residents of Cherbourg used to the sound. The Israeli side also arranged for additional supply ships to be deployed to the Sa'ar 3 squadron in Gibraltar and the Bay of Biscay.

Escape

On the night of December 24, 1969, the crew continued to maintain the ship, while 80 additional officers took refuge in the hold. Concerned that the ships might sink while crossing the Bay of Biscay in rough weather, the Israeli navy assigned a meteorologist to monitor all weather reports from Britain, France and Spain.

The fleet was scheduled to depart at 8:30 p.m., but bad weather kept delaying the departure. Despite orders from Israel to sail regardless of the weather, Colonel Kimhi decided to continue waiting. At midnight, the meteorologist heard a British weather report saying the storm would weaken within two hours. At 2:30 a.m. on December 25, the fleet left Cherbourg and headed out to sea.

French authorities were unaware of the incident until a British reporter visited the port 12 hours later.and discovered that all five Sa'ar 3 warships had disappeared. The Israeli ships crossed the Bay of Biscay before turning south into the Mediterranean, joining up with the supply fleet.

As the ships passed through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean, the British monitoring station radioed for them to identify themselves, but received no response. A British helicopter spotted the group of ships, which had no flags or identification numbers, but identified them as Israeli vessels. The British monitoring station radioed safe passage before the Israeli warships continued their journey.

A Sa'ar 3 ship after being converted by Israel. Photo: Wikipedia.

The fleet was spotted by international media as it sailed along the North African coast back home. When it reached the coast of Crete, Israeli F-4 fighter jets began to appear at low altitude to escort the five warships.

French Defense Minister Michel Debré ordered an air strike to sink the stolen ships, but the French army's chief of staff refused to carry out the order, and Prime Minister Jacques Chaban Delmas also opposed the attack, fearing an escalation. Despite the anger, the French government knew it could not intervene because the ships were already in international waters.

The group of warships arrived in Haifa on December 31, completing a 5,825-kilometer journey. After acquiring all 12 French ship frames, Israel began converting them into missile boats, developing a completely new naval warfare doctrine that helped sink several Egyptian and Syrian warships without losing a single ship during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

According to VNE