Operation NOA

OPERATIONOPERATION NOANOA

In 1967 the Middle East was a cauldron of hate, mistrust and politics and it was about to boil over into the Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt. But even after the war ended simmering tensions remained and Israel, always on the defensive, established their famed intelligence organisation Mossad, one of the world’ s most feared yet almost paradoxically admired secret service agencies. In December 1969 Mossad was responsible for one of the most audacious missions of the 1960s - Operation Noa, named after the daughter of Captain Binyamin “Bini” Telem.

In the 1960s the Israeli Navy was comparatively weak when positioned against the likes of Jordan and Egypt. Measures had been taken to build up the naval strength including placing orders with French shipbuilders CMN for the construction of Sa ’ ar 3-class patrol boats. Work on the vessels progressed speedily and it was anticipated that their handing over to the Israeli Navy would be a formality.That was until 1968 when Israel launched a reprisal attack on Beirut Airport after PLO terrorist attacks in Israel.This move by Israel angered French President Charles de Gaulle who subsequently imposed a complete ban on all military sales to Israel. Five of the patrol boats had already been handed over and a sixth slipped out of Cherbourg as soon as the embargo had been announced, with the seventh successfully sailing from France three days after the sixth. Five unfinished patrol boats were left locked inside the shipyard, and following the embarrassment of the sixth and seventh vessels departure an armed guard was placed on them. President de Gaulle, in one of his usual vitriol filled speeches, declared that under no circumstances were the five boats ever to reach Israel.

De Gaulle had not counted on the skill and guile of GeneralYariv, the head of Military Intelligence, and Admiral Mordechai Limon, who headed the Israeli purchasing mission in France.These two men started work on what would become ‘Operation Noah’ s Ark’ , the extraction and delivery to Israel of the five remaining boats held at Cherbourg. The five vessels INS Sufa (Storm), INS Ga ’ ash (Volcano), INS Herev (Sword), INS Hanit (Spear), INS Hetz (Arrow) languished at the shipyard for several months,and this time-frame coincided with President Charles de Gaulle leaving office to be replaced by his successor Georges Pompidou. Any hopes that the Israeli’ s had that a new President would view the arms embargo in a different light were soon dashed.They devised a plot whereby the French authorities were to be lulled into believing that the Israeli’ s had accepted that the five patrol boats were out of reach and that the Israeli government instead demanded compensation for their cost. At the same time, they secretly arranged for the five boats to be sold to a Panama registered purportedly Norwegian company called Starboat that was, in fact, a front for Mossad.

Starboat signalled to the French authorities that the five Israeli boats, suitably modified, would be ideal for the companies oil exploration work.The terms of the deal were that the five vessels were to be transferred to the ownership of ‘Starboat’ but would be crewed by personnel from the Israeli Navy experienced in their operation for their transfer journey to an unspecified Norwegian port for refitting. French Defence Minister Michel Debré approved the scheme,probably feeling content that he had settled the matter of the five incomplete vessels.

While the front was wafer thin and would scarcely stand up to scrutiny, it proved sufficient for the French authorities to allow the boats to sail to their new ‘Norwegian ’ owners.However, the boats lacked certain items off equipment that was needed for the safe 3,000 mile passage to Israel, so the two Israeli men scoured Europe in search of the missing pieces of kit.

Their task was made harder because of France ’ s military arms embargo against Israel. Food had to be collected in small but regular quantities so as not to raise suspicion, and quietly loaded on each of the five patrol boats. The problem of loading the five vessels with sufficient diesel fuel to get them to a refuelling ship positioned in Gibraltar was another masterstroke of subterfuge. Loading all at one time with a quarter of a million litres of fuel would have alerted the authorities, so instead each boat was gradually filled using a small 5-tonnes tank truck.

The escape plan called for the boats to leave under cover of darkness but their twenty powerful Mayback main engines would be extremely noisy and hard to disguise.To solve this problem a scheme was devised by the operation ’ s commander, Captain Hadar Kimhi, who ordered that every night for a few days before departure the engines would be switched on causing Cherbourg residents to become accustomed to the noise.When French police received complaints about the running of the engines late at night, the Israelis protested that the power supply from ashore was insufficient and that the engines provided the extra power needed.

Even with initial full fuel tanks the five patrol boats would still need more fuel to get to Israel. MV Lea was positioned to provide fuel at Gibraltar and MV Nahariya as a backup in the Bay of Biscay.The MV Lea had her ballast tanks hurriedly converted to carry 200,000 litres of light diesel fuel.Another tanker (Dan) was positioned near Lampedusa.

The plot to free the five Israeli patrol boats set the date of Christmas Eve 1969 as the day for the escape attempt. It was carefully chosen as most French people would be enjoying Christmas dinners and partying with families and friends and crucially their guard would be down. On the morning of December 24, 1969,Admiral Limon arrived at Cherbourg from Paris. He booked a table at a local restaurant for a party of revellers to further throw off any French intelligence operations who might have been suspicious. All the while Limon and his assembled crews would gather at Cherbourg port with the aim to leave at 2030 hours.

Nature played a cruel trick on the plans that evening as gale force winds from the southwest made any attempt to extract the vessels suicidal. Limon and his men had to wait until the storm blew itself out. Four hours waiting was enough as at 0200 hours on Christmas Day the craft’ s engines were fired up and lines were cut as the Israeli’ s took back their property. Once outside the harbour, course was set that would take the boats westwards for the Bay of Biscay. It didn ’t take long for the French authorities and the CMN shipyard to discover they had been duped by the Israelis. As the five boats passed Gibraltar a British monitoring station flashed a signal asking them to identify themselves. No reply was given.

The British station personnel, aware of the departure of the boats, instead correctly guessed who they were and flashed the signal ‘ non voyage ’ . Soon after entering the Mediterranean the world’ s news media frantically searched for the missing boats, eventually finding them heading towards Israel and hugging the North African coastline as far from France as they could possibly position themselves.

This was just as well as disgraced and embarrassed French Defence Minister Michel Debré ordered an air strike to sink the boats. The French Chief of Staff refused to obey and replied he would resign rather than obey the order.The order was countermanded by Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas, who prevented any further escalation.Although the French government was furious, it realised that there was little that could be done, since the boats were already on the high seas when the ruse was uncovered. French Foreign Minister Maurice Schumann warned that if the boats appeared in Israel, “the consequences will be very grave indeed” .

All the boats safely reached Haifa on 31 December much to the chagrin of a shamed President George Pompidou.They were, however, unarmed, but in the coming months each was armed with Gabriel anti-ship missiles plus electronic warfare and electronic counter measures equipment.The embarrassed French authorities, who had been caught napping, subsequently expelled Rear Admiral Mordechai Limon from France.

It was said that the French president stated: “I do not like tea with Lemon and Mokka coffee ” .

Main photo: Preparation on 24th December at Cherbourg port. Images copyright Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum, Haifa.

H HM MS S F Fa allm mo ou utth h 1 19 96 66 6--1 19 96 68 8

Author Neil McCart seen aft on the quarter deck on 6 April 1967 as Falmouth steams through the Inland Sea of Japan, between Beppu and Matsuyama.

On 20 May 1961, in No 4 basin at Devonport Dockyard, the Rothesay-class frigate HMS Falmouth was recommissioned by Commander Ian A. Wright for her third commission since leaving the builder ’ s yard some five years earlier. Originally it had been intended that Falmouth would be one of the first ships of the Royal Navy to be armed with a Seacat surface-to-air missile launcher, but in 1961 the system was still being developed and so in its place she was armed with a 40mm anti-aircraft gun, which complemented the ship ’ s twin 4.5-inch (114mm) dual purpose guns and twin Limbo Mk 10 anti-submarine mortars.Three days after recommissioning, Falmouth left Devonport to carry out post-refit trials, which included a courtesy visit to her namesake town in Cornwall, and in June she began her work-up at Portland which took her through to early October. No sooner had she successfully concluded her work-up than Falmouth left Devonport bound for Gibraltar and the Far East Station at Singapore.

During the afternoon of 24 October she cleared the Suez Canal and, after refuelling briefly atAden,she steamed south to Mombasa, from where she began her first Beira Patrol. In late 1966 the United Nations ’ oil embargo against the illegal regime in what was then Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) had been in force for some eight months, and the rivalry between ships on the patrol in the Mozambique Channel was not as well organised as it would become over the years. In the event, for those on board Falmouth there were shipboard activities ranging from fishing to beard-growing competitions to fill the long, often monotonous, hours patrolling the waters off the city port of Beira. On 15 November, however, she handed over the patrol to Caprice and returned to Mombasa to undergo a maintenance period alongside the repair ship Triumph.

During the weeks which followed,in conjunction with Zulu and Diana, Falmouth carried out further patrols off Beira, and on 21 December she intercepted the Panamanian oil tanker MV Almak, which was held for most of the forenoon, until clearance was given for her to proceed.This patrol ended during the afternoon of 31 December 1966 when, after being relieved by Diana, she returned to Mombasa.

o n i c t e l c o l o r ’s u t h A g h t i o p y r c o s h o t p t n s e I 28 January 1968 - Falmouth secures stern first to the pier at Soufrière, St Lucia.She is welcomed by local people and a steel drum band.

An elderly visitor in traditional Korean dress on Falmouth’ s boat deck. Seaboat transfer of mail to liner SS Kenya during Beira

In the event she carried out one more patrol off Beira, before setting course for Singapore, sailing by way of Diego Suarez and what was then the RAF base at Gan on Addu Atoll. On arrival at Singapore ’ s naval base she once again secured alongside Triumph for a threeweek maintenance period. Falmouth’ s arrival on the Far East Station coincided with the easing of the Confrontation with Indonesia, and it would not be long before the Singapore garrison, which had doubled in size over three years, could be reduced.This meant that when Falmouth was ready for sea once again she could visit various countries in South-East Asia. Initially, however, she joined Victorious, Kent, Arethusa, Brighton, Londonderry, Blackpool and HMAS Vampire for exercises in the South China Sea, which continued with the US Navy off their Phillipines base at Subic Bay. On completion of the exercises Falmouth set course for Japan, where she visited the ports of Beppu and Matsuyama, after which she spent two days at the South Korean port of Pusan. On 18 April Falmouth arrived alongside Hong Kong Dockyard’ s NorthWall,where a change of command took place, with CommanderWright being relieved by Commander DavidW. Brown RN (Later Admiral Sir David W. Brown).

The ship ’ s arrival at Hong Kong came at a time of great tension in the colony, where only weeks previously there had been serious riots in the Kowloon area, the worst the colony had known since 1956, and some 8,000 police and 800 British troops had been mobilised. On board Falmouth the ship ’ s company were formed into landing parties and placed on stand-by to assist the civil authorities. Fortunately their assistance was not required and on 29 April, in company with Brighton, she left for Singapore. In May 1967 Falmouth underwent a docking and maintenance period in the Admiralty Floating Dock (AFD 10), but this was cut short when, on 20 May, she was ordered back to Hong Kong to stand by when civil disorder once again threatened the colony; but this time her stay was limited to just five days before she returned once again to Singapore. It was the last day of May 1967 when she arrived back at Singapore, but just as she prepared to complete her maintenance period, on 5 June, the Six Day War between Egypt and Israel broke out and with it serious riots in what was then still the British colony of Aden.

That same day Falmouth was ordered to proceed with dispatch to Aden where, for five days she stood by off the Outer Harbour of the colony, where British troops were coming under fire from ever more bold nationalist guerrillas. On 11 June, however, she was ordered south to Mombasa, but next day a member of the ship ’ s Communications Department was taken ill with appendicitis and there was an attempt to land him at Mogadishu,Somalia,for admission to hospital.However,with no diplomatic relations with Somalia, signals requesting permission to land never reached the shore authorities and there was a diplomatic protest from Somalia alleging, ‘flagrant violation of international norms and Somalia ’ s sovereignty and territorial waters. ’

passenger/cargo Patrol.

‘Open toVisitors ’ at Pusan, 14 April 1967. A group of South Korean Naval Cadets inspect the main armament and f’ csle. 8 February 1968 - Falmouth at La Guira,Venezuela. Astern of her is destroyer HMS London and submarine HMSWalrus. HMS Falmouth in Sydney.

In the event, however, heavy surf prevented boat traffic in the harbour and so the Squadron Surgeon was transferred from RFA Fort Dunvegan. He removed the offending appendix at sea and the rating made a full recovery. No sooner had Falmouth arrived at Mombasa than she was once again ordered south to the Mozambique Channel for what was to prove her final patrol off the port of Beira, and after 16 days she returned to Mombasa ’ s Kilindini Harbour where she secured to a buoy at 0817 on 13 July 1967.

Just under 18 hours later, at 0200 on 14 July, a serious fire broke out in the forward diesel generator compartment, which was fuelled by a diesel oil leak.The fire burned for an hour and at one point a Harbour Board fire boat secured alongside and prepared to take over the fire fighting duty, but at 0300 the ship ’ s own fire fighting parties managed to control and extinguish the blaze. Six days later, with temporary repairs having been made, Falmouth left Kilindini Harbour.

With the Suez Canal now closed following the Six Day War, the nearest dockyard where more permanent repairs could be carried out was the South African Naval Base at Simonstown, some 28 miles north of Cape Town.This marked the end of Falmouth’ s Far East deployment and on 5 August she left Simonstown Dockyard to set course for home, pausing briefly at Freetown and Gibraltar to refuel, before arriving in Plymouth Sound on 24 August.Ahead lay a five-week docking and maintenance period. It was early October 1967 before Falmouth was once again ready for sea, and for the second leg of the commission she was bound for the Mediterranean, leaving Devonport on 3 October. For much of this deployment Falmouth remained in and around Malta, but in mid-November she joined Defender, Duncan, Puma and Keppel for ‘Exercise Midwinter ’ , an air defence exercise which took the ships into the Atlantic, west of Ireland, and on 19 November Falmouth anchored in Ireland’ s picturesque Bantry Bay. During the days which followed the ships were ‘ attacked’ relentlessly by Buccaneer aircraft, before heading for the Clyde, where the exercise ended.

It was 3 January 1968 when Falmouth left Devonport to join London,Aisne, Juno, Decoy, the submarine Walrus and RFA Orangeleaf, to form the 1st Western Fleet Division for a deployment to the Caribbean area. However, soon after sailing for Ponta Delgada, where she would refuel, Falmouth was ordered to go to the assistance of the newly built Polaris submarine Resolution, which was on her final sea trials in the Atlantic before carrying out missile firing on the US Navy ’ s missile ranges off the Florida coast. However, when she was some 300 miles west of Ushant the submarine had suffered a fault in an electrical generator and she was unable to dive. It was initially thought that Falmouth would have to tow the submarine, but in the event she escorted Resolution to the southern end of the Irish Sea, where two Clyde-based tugs took over escort duties.

On 23 January 1968 Falmouth arrived at her first Caribbean port, Roseau, the capital of the island of Dominica, and this was followed by Castries, the capital of St Lucia, where an intrepid exped party from the ship left to climb the thick jungle-clad volcanic plug of Petit Piton located near to Soufrière, which was Falmouth’ s next port of call. One member of the exped team remembers: ‘The last 1,000ft faced us with a 70-degree gradient.When we finally emerged from the cliffs and jungle onto the narrow platform that was the summit, a breathless view opened in all directions - to Grenada, to Martinique and almost to Barbados. In the distance a tiny grey funnelled ship was rounding a headland as it approached Soufrière. ’ Falmouth arrived at Soufrière during the forenoon of 29 January, to be greeted by a good turnout of local people and a steel drum band played as the frigate secured to the pier. There were visits to Kingstown, StVincent, and Georgetown, Guyana, and these were followed by a major exercise which included vessels from the US,Netherlands andVenezuela. For Falmouth, London, Juno and Walrus, the exercise was followed by a visit to La Guira.

Upon leavingVenezuelan waters Falmouth visited Belize, the Mexican port ofVera Cruz, and Freeport, Grand Bahamas, before sailing to the Ireland Island Naval Base at Bermuda to undergo a two-week self-maintenance period before returning to Devonport 29 March 1968. Just over three weeks later Falmouth sailed for the final leg of the commission, which took her to Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, where she joined the NATO exercise ‘Dawn Patrol’ where she acted as planeguard to USS Shangri-La. There were visits to Istanbul, Heraklion and Samos, but by mid-June the commission was drawing to a close and after a final weekend at Malta Falmouth steamed west via Gibraltar to Devonport, where she arrived on 23 June.

Falmouth was to undergo a major refit at Portsmouth, and for the eight-hour passage up-Channel Commander Brown had invited the all-girl singing group the ‘Paper Dolls ’ on board for the day, but in the event, at 0900 on 27 June when Falmouth sailed, the showbiz passengers were stuck in traffic outside Plymouth.At 1700 the same day Falmouth arrived alongside Portsmouth Dockyard’ s South Railway Jetty. Falmouth’ s two-year General Service Commission was over.

After the ship was shifted to Fountain Lake Jetty, her ship ’ s company was reduced, leaving only a handful to prepare the ship for her 29-month modernisation refit. During the commission she had steamed some 107,000 miles and spent 362 days at sea. Finally, at 0730 on 2 August 1968, Falmouth was paid off into dockyard control. During her months in dockyard hands the ship ’ s 40mm Bofors gun was at last replaced by the Seacat missile system, and the forward set of Limbo mortars was replaced with a flight deck and hangar, enabling the ship to operate aWestlandWasp helicopter. It would be 1971 before she sailed once again, and by then her appearance had changed drastically.

HMS Falmouth Principal Particulars (As Built)

Laid Down: 23 November 1957 Launched: 15 December 1959 First Commissioned: 25 July 1961 Pennant No: F113 Length OA: 370ft (112.7m) Beam: 41ft (12.5m) Draught: 17ft - 4in (5.3m) Armament: Two 4.5-inch (114m) dual purpose guns in twin mounting forward. One 40mm Bofors gun.Twin Mk10 Limbo anti-submarine mortars. Propulsion: Twin screw, two sets of English Electric geared steam turbines. Steam provided by two oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox superheat boilers. 30,000SHP. Complement: 200 officers and ratings.

Main bottom left: HMS Falmouth. Bottom right: Falmouth leaving the Japanese port of Beppu on 6 April 1967, as she sets course through the Inland Sea for Matsuyama. Middle right: ‘Open toVisitors ’ Pusan, South Korea - looking aft over the 40mm Bofors gun and the Limbo anti-submarine mortars.A US Navy auxiliary is secured aft of Falmouth. Inset left: A dramatic aerial view of HMS Falmouth in the mid-1960s. Inset right: HMS Falmouth manoeuvring alongside at Devonport in the mid-1960s. Top right: HMS Falmouth at sea.

o n i c t e l c o l h o r ’s A u t g h t c o p y r i o s o t p h l A l