Battle of Latakia

Coordinates: 35°31′16″N 35°43′34″E / 35.52105°N 35.726114°E / 35.52105; 35.726114

Battle of Latakia Part of the Yom Kippur War Diagram outlining the Battle of Latakia Date 7 October 1973 Location near Latakia, Syria Result Decisive Israeli victory Belligerents  Israel  Syria Commanders and leaders Michael Barkai Fadal Hussein Strength 5 ships 5 ships Casualties and losses None All vessels sunk Unknown casualties

Yom Kippur War Syrian front 1st Hermon Valley of Tears Model 5 Latakia 2nd Hermon 2nd Latakia Syrian GHQ Raid Gown al-Mazzah Airport Raid 3rd Hermon Egyptian front Badr Fort Budapest Lahtzanit Ofira Romani Marsa Talamat Tagar Baltim Sinai Mansoura Chinese Farm Abirey-Halev Egyptian Missile Bases Raid 25th Brigade ambush Ismailia Scud missile attack Suez International front Nickel Grass

The Battle of Latakia (Arabic: معركة اللاذقية‎‎; Hebrew: קרב לטקיה‎‎) was a small but revolutionary naval battle of the Yom Kippur War, fought on 7 October 1973 between Israel and Syria. It was the first naval battle in history to see combat between surface-to-surface missile-equipped missile boats and the use of electronic deception.^[1]

At the outset of hostilities, the Israeli Navy set out to destroy the naval capabilities of the Syrians, who were equipped with Soviet Komar-class and Osa-class missile boats. The Syrian missile boats were equipped with Soviet manufactured P-15 Termit (NATO reporting name: SS-N-2 Styx) anti-ship missiles with twice the range of the Israeli Gabriel anti-ship missiles.^[2]

The four Israeli Navy Sa'ar 3-class and one Sa'ar 4-class missile boats headed towards the Syrian port of Latakia in two parallel columns. In the western column were the missile boats Miznak (Blast), Ga'ash (Storm), and Hanit (Lance); the eastern column was composed of the missile boats Mivtach (Reliance) and Reshef (Spark)).

At 22:28 hours the Israelis encountered the Syrian K-123 torpedo boat which was sunk with 76mm cannon fire from Mivtach and Hanit. As they headed toward the shore, the Israeli ships engaged a 560-ton Syrian T43-class minesweeper and also sank it, this time using four Gabriel anti-ship missiles. At 23:30 the Israelis made contact with two Syrian Komar-class and one Osa-class missile boats. The Syrian missile boats fired their Styx missiles at long range, but as the missiles approached, the Israelis employed electronic countermeasures and launched chaff rockets to successfully decoy the missiles. When the Israeli ships closed the range, they fired five Gabriel missiles, sinking one Komar and the Osa immediately and damaging the second Komar. The surviving Syrian Komar tried to escape, but it ran aground in shallow water and was destroyed by 76mm cannon fire at 00:26 hours.

During this naval clash other Syrian missile boats launched missiles from within the port limits of Latakia (actually launched while the missile boats were moored between merchant ships in port). However, these missiles malfunctioned or lost guidance and two foreign (one Greek and one Japanese) merchant vessels anchored along the piers were hit. Both vessels were struck in the engine rooms.

The Syrian Navy remained bottled up in its home ports for the rest of the war.

While the Battle of Latakia was the first naval battle in history between missile boats, it was not the first incident in which a missile boat sank another ship using missiles. That had happened when two Egyptian Navy Komar-class missile boats sank the British-built Israeli destroyer Eilat on 21 October 1967, shortly after the Six Day War, using four P-15 Termit surface-to-surface missiles.^[3][4]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Battle of Latakia.

• Jewish Virtual Library battle of Latakia page
• Zahal.org Battle of Latakia page