Dabur-class patrol boat


The Dabur 'class' is a class of patrol boats originally built at the Sewart Seacraft shipyard in the United States for the Israeli Navy. later constructed by Israel Aerospace Industries - Ramta division.

Design and Construction

The Dabur-class boats have a displacement of 35 tons The ships have a length of, a beam of and a draft of. The ships are crewed by a complement of six to eight officers and ratings. The hull is made of aluminum.
The first Dabur-class vessels were laid down in 1970, following an evaluation process led by Israeli Navy engineer Amnon Saly, who played a key role in identifying and adapting a suitable civilian vessel design for military use. with 12 hulls built by Swiftships in Morgan City Louisiana and 22 more built by IAI-Ramta for a total of 34. The class is designed to be light and is able to be carried overland. They have good rough weather capability, however they were not considered fast enough to cope with current threat capabilities and were phased out in the Israeli Navy for newer ships.

Propulsion

The class is powered by two diesel General Motors type 12V71TN creating driving two shafts. This gives the ships a maximum speed of and a patrol speed of. The effective range at maximum speed is and at patrol speed,.

Armament

The boats are armed with two Oerlikon 20 mm cannons, two 12.7 mm machine guns. Two torpedo tubes are provided for the Mark 46 torpedo and there is space for two racks of depth charges. Carl Gustav recoilless rifles are carried aboard the ships for anti-terrorist purposes.

Exports

In 1976, five of the class were given to the Christian Lebanese Forces Militia in Lebanon, but they were later returned in 1990. In 1978 Israel sold four of the class to Argentina and four to Nicaragua. In 1984 they sold two to Sri Lanka. In 1991 four more were sold to Fiji and six to Chile. Chile bought four more in 1995, and Nicaragua purchased three more in 1996.

Service history

Dabur-class boats first battle engagements were made in the October 1973 Yom Kippur War. During the war, two Dabur boats attacked an Egyptian commando force in its own port at Marsa Talamat and destroyed speed boats and rubber dinghies just as they were preparing for attacks on Israeli targets in the Sinai Peninsula.

Operators

  • *RFNS 301 Vai
  • *RFNS 302 Ogo
  • *RFNS 303 Saku
  • *RFNS 304 Saqa
*

Former operators

Secondary sources