The Boats of Cherbourg

by Abraham Rabinovich

Book Overview

The story of the revolutionary missile boat used by Israel in the Yom Kippur War. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080500680X
• ISBN13: 9780805006803
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Seaver Books
• Length: 322 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Triumph of an Idea

The state of Israel made a decision at its inception that never again would it allow itself to be in a position of weakness. After centuries of persecution and having just experienced an attempted annihilation of its people, it was in no mood to compromise its safety. It developed the Mossad, the greatest spy agency in history whose record of feats is unparalleled.It all begins with politics. France, long a supporter of the state, began its shift toward the Arab (and later, Palestinian) position in the 1960's. Israel had purchased a particular type of boat from France but De Gaulle refused to release the boat after it blew ashore. Thus an incredible plan was hatched to steal the ship (well, take what was theirs) and somehow return to home waters. The story of the background, the arrangements, the spies, the methods and the actual theft is better than fiction. Needless to say, the import was more than "stealing a ship". It was about developing a gunboat with a special type of rocket that could skim the surface and inflict maximum damage. The fruits of this labor was born out in the 1973 Yom Kippur War in which Israel took total control of the seas, entered Egyptian waters, sunk ships at will and prevented any Arab naval excursions. Great story.

Superbly written and researched. Effortless to read!

Abraham Rabinovich writes so well that I kept fearing the day I would finally finish reading his masterpiece of international intrigue. The story, for Israel, is not unlike the American "skunk works" ultra-secretive design of the "Stealth Fighter" & "Stealth Bomber" - in that, in near total secrecy Israel revolutionized naval warfare. However, the United States is expected to create technological breakthroughs with the amount of resources availbe to her. In the 1960's Israel's flagship was a destroyer named "Eliat." Like everything in the Israeli navy - the "Eliat" was a 'hand-me-down' from the French Navy. Israel could not afford to add another destroyer to its tiny navy and this created a dilemma. What the Israeli Navy needed was a 'force multiplier' - several fast multi-purpose ships that packed a serious punch. In fact, Israel needed enough boats to simultaneously mount an attack/defense against Syria and Egypt. A young Israeli engineer named Even-Tov became convinced that he could design a devastating sea-to-sea missile that used an altimeter and radar. Even-Tov convinced the Defense Minister - Yitzhak Rabin that he could deliver a sea-to-sea missile, code-named 'Gabriel', within a year. This promise of a "serious punch" was the catalyst for the most intensive weapons system design project the Israel people (let alone the Israeli Navy) had ever undertaken. Israel's future Navy would be centered entirely on a small fleet of "missile boats." Up until this time, only the Soviets had created missile boats. It was only a matter of time before the Soviets shared a few missile boats with Egypt. In fact, Egypt used a "Styx-class" missile boat to sink the "Eliat." The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) sent naval officers to Europe to look for this do-it-all boat on which to place 'Gabriel' along with the hopes of the future navy. They decided, in principal, on a German ship design called 'Jaguar.' The Israeli officer's report would explain that many of the European boats he reviewed were nice but the Jaguar was a "boat made for war." IDF engineers spent over 18 months redesigning the wooden boat to be a couple meters longer and steal-hulled. This book reveals the Israeli geniuses that revolutionized naval combat. If it were only as simple as having the right idea, the right people, in the right place, at the right time - a French embargo was instituted within months of the delivery of the last five boats. I won't reveal any more of the story. This is a wonderful book. I also strongly recommend "Six Days of War" by Michael B. Oren.

The best kept secret in Naval History

The Boats of Cherbourg is a well written, exciting book about a well known but under-appreciated episode in Naval History. Rabinovich does an excellent job of putting the events in the book in historical context: the rise of anti-ship missiles, Israel's struggle for survival, the changes in Naval Warfare. The heart of the story, the dramatic plan to "liberate" the patrol boats, is told in a manner that makes you feel the suspense and the tension the Israelis manning the boats must have felt. A must on any Naval History buff's bookshelf.

Techno thriller -- an admirable story, very well told

If this book had had a press agent, it would have been a bestseller. It has the technical depth of a Clancy thriller -- but it is a true story, based on over a hundred interviews. The battle scenes are especially remarkable. Chess for keeps. The Israelis used a short range "smart" missile against a long range, not-so-smart missile. Each 14,000 hp missile boat had to charge its enemy at full speed to close the range gap, under fire, with many miles to put under the keel before it could realistically open fire itself. An Israeli boat was able to do this successfully by cloning itself electronically, so that the incoming Russian-made missiles "saw" multiple racing targets instead of one. The hair-raising aspect of this primitive countermeasure was that one of the alternative targets seen by the incoming missile was indeed the real, almost completely vulnerable oncoming Israeli missile boat. Put this one next to Hornblower. A classic.

Israel outwitted France and returned home embargoed boats

PLEASE LOOK THROUGH, I'M NOT A NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERTHE BOATS OF CHERBOURG is the interesting story about the revolutionary missile boats used so effectively by Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The book describes the developping of the missile boat concept. The boats were built in the French harbour of Cherbourg. After delivering seven of the total twelve boats, the French government embargoed the last five for political reasons, even if all the boats were already paied by Israel. On Christmas Eve 1969, the boats were seen for the last time in Cherbourg. In that stormy night, they disappeared in direction to the street of Gibraltar, and finally they arrived safely at New Year's eve 1970 in Haifa, Israel. The whole world smiled at France after that incident.Russia supported Egypt's and Syria's navies with the Russian sea-to-sea missile Styx and other war equipment since 1962. In the early sixties, Israel started also the developping of the first (western) sea-to-sea missile, the Gabriel. In fall 1967, Israel's flag ship Eilat was sunk by a Styx of Egypt's navy. The Gabriel project was not finished before 1969.Although the Russian Styx had a range of 50 km and the Israeli Gabriel just 25 km, Israel's boats and sea-to-sea missiles were a powerful combination in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. How they successfully tricked out the Styx, please read in the book!