Posted on 09/01/2016 6:10:19 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
When the Queen Elizabeth 2 set sail for Israel in April 1973, the hundreds of passengers on board were blissfully unaware that Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi had ordered a submarine to torpedo Britain's most famous cruise ship.
Blood-thirsty Gaddafi was seeking revenge on Israel after a Libyan passenger plane was shot down by Israeli fighter jets on 21 February, 1973, killing 108 people.
He'd set his target as the QE2 which was packed with Jewish passengers undertaking a chartered cruise through the Mediterranean to Israel in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the state's founding.
Details of the failed QE2 attack are detailed in a new book The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel, which tells the story of Ashraf Marwan, a top-level Egyptian official who secretly worked for Israel and managed to thwart a Libyan attack on an Israeli passenger plane.
When Gaddafi first started plotting to exact retribution on Israel it did not matter to him that the downing of Libyan Airlines Flight 114 in the Sinai Desert on February 21, 1973, was a mistake.
The Boeing 727-200 was flying from Benghazi to Cairo when it entered airspace over the Sinai peninsula which was under Israel's control.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3768700/How-Colonel-Gaddafi-ordered-submarine-torpedo-QE2-retaliation-downing-Libyan-passenger-plane-Israel.html#ixzz4J0egzv5z Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The ship is seen her on its voyage across the Mediterranean to Israel before the deadly plot was discovered
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3768700/How-Colonel-Gaddafi-ordered-submarine-torpedo-QE2-retaliation-downing-Libyan-passenger-plane-Israel.html#ixzz4J0ealyaA
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
I recall a story from a helo pilot in the late 80s/early 90s who said that he was once tasked with observing a Libyan sub that went just over the horizon from the Libyan shore and radioed back (comms intercepted) that they were proceeding to dive, never dived, and then about 1/2 hour later radioed back that they had resurfaced. Gist of the story was that they were superstitious about diving or just didn’t trust their equipment, but they were being ordered to do the training so they went where they wouldn’t be observed and then phoned it in.
Never knew if it was true or not, anyone else hear anything similar?
It had an ugly funnel when built, and the modification didn’t help much.
The things that happen...or, don’t happen.
Glad it didn’t work out.
I’ve been on the ship once, and given a clear day, can always see her, climbing out of LAX just before heading east toward Charlotte.
#2 The people on shore must have noticed the sub was not wet on top when they docked and also had a guy on board named Indiana Jones Jr.
The QE 2 is not in Long Beach.
“Originally, the 2nd QUEEN ELIZABETH was supposed to live on as a luxury hotel in Dubai, similar to what her great predecessor the legendary QUEEN MARY has been doing in Long Beach, CA. Currently, the world economic situation has placed the QE2 in an uncertain future, and for now she sits alone, and idle in Dubai, waiting for the next chapter of her life to begin.”
You’re right. Sorry.
Not to worry, I’m often wrong. :)
I cheated. I had to look it up.
bump
Sort like the old SS United States.
I’m sure the smart skipper would have had Indy out there with a hose wetting things down before heading back — lol
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