Israeli Navy Chief Steps Down

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Israeli Navy Chief Steps Down

Norman Polmar | July 31, 2007

The commander-in-chief of the Israel Navy, Vice Admiral David Ben-Bashat, submitted his resignation on July 26, the latest of several senior Israeli military officers who have resigned or been dismissed in the aftermath of last summer’s invasion of Lebanon. During operations against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon the Israeli missile corvette Hanit was struck by a guided missile and heavily damaged.

Admiral Ben-Bashat became commander-in-chief of the Israel Navy in 2004. Previously he had held senior positions ashore and afloat, including command of several surface ships. He also served as defense attaché in Singapore and attended the U.S. Naval War College at Newport, R.I.

The large missile corvette Hanit (“spear”) was struck on July 21, 2006, some ten miles off the coast of Lebanon, by a C-802 missile launched from the shore. Apparently two missiles were launched, the first fired “high” to distract the ship’s defensive systems and the second aimed at the Hanit.

The first missile struck a small merchant ship, reported to be a Cambodian-flag cargo ship with an Egyptian crew, steaming about 35 miles off the coast. The second missile hit the stern of the 1,275-ton Hanit. Four sailors were killed.

The Israel Navy apparently had no knowledge that there was a missile threat in the area. The C-802 missiles were probably produced in Iran, copied from a Chinese weapon, and launched by Syrian specialists.

Previously Israel’s Defense Minister Amir Peretz and the Israel Defense Force chief of staff, Air Force General Dan Halutz, resigned, and other officers were dismissed in the wake of the poor Israeli military performance during the invasion of Lebanon.

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Copyright 2008 Norman Polmar. All opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of Military.com.

About Norman Polmar

NORMAN POLMAR has been a consultant to several senior officials in the Navy and Department of Defense, and has directed several studies for U.S. and foreign shipbuilding and aerospace firms. Mr. Polmar has been a consultant to the Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Mr. Polmar also served as a consultant to three U.S. Senators and to two members of the House of Representatives, as a consultant or advisor to three Secretaries of the Navy and two Chiefs of Naval Operations, and as a consultant to the Deputy Counselor to President Reagan.

Mr. Polmar has written or coauthored more than 40 books and numerous articles on naval, intelligence, and aviation subjects. His comparative analysis of U.S. and Soviet submarine design and construction, COLD WAR SUBMARINES, written in collaboration with Mr. Kenneth J. Moore and the Russian submarine design bureaus RUBIN and MALACHITE, was published in late 2003.

For the past three decades he has been author of the reference books Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet and Guide to the Soviet Navy.

Mr. Polmar’s articles and comments appear frequently in various newspapers and periodicals and he is a columnist for the Proceedings and Naval History magazines, both published by the U.S. Naval Institute.

From 1967 to 1977 Mr. Polmar was editor of the United States and several other sections of the annual Jane's Fighting Ships.

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