Silence, tight quarters and no women: On board Israel's most advanced submarine

Haaretz ^ | Sept 9, 2016 | Amos Harel

[sukhoi-30mki]

The commander of Israel Navy Ship Eilat, a Sa’ar-5 class Israeli missile boat, was extremely displeased.

For some time, INS Rahav, the navy’s latest Dolphin-2 class submarine, had been cruising in the waters beneath him, at fairly close quarters. The sub occasionally lunged up and trained its periscope on the missile boat. Observers on the boat, whose task is to spot such potential threats, hadn’t noticed the periscope’s tip, which is the size of a fist, on the surface.

The sub was practicing intelligence gathering, using the missile boat and its surroundings as targets; it wasn’t spotted even when sailors from the boat were lowered into the water in a rubber dinghy. The commander of the missile boat sounded rather offended when the Rahav informed him, somewhat late, of its presence, but Lt. Col. Shalom made no effort to apologize. The whole doctrine of submarine activity is based on total secrecy. In an operational mission, the sub’s identification by the enemy could prove fatal. After all, a submarine is not an aircraft, which can take action to cut off any contact with an adversary’s aerial defense system and escape danger within tenths of a second.

Last week’s exercise dovetailed with the farewell cruise of the outgoing commander of Shayetet 7, the Israel Defense Forces submarine squadron, Col. Doron. Military censorship forbids publication of the officers’ surnames.

Indeed, there are few areas in which the country’s defense establishment is so stingy about releasing information. In 1999, when the first German-made Dolphin-class submarines arrived in the country (INS Rahav, which the navy took possession of this year, is the fifth), Western media reported that Israel had equipped the vessels with nuclear cruise missiles. Israel, it was explained, had thus acquired second-strike capability: If Iran were to

read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.740992

[BlackVeil]

Submarines are a world unto themselves, apparently. Not everyone can serve in them.