Battle of Baltim: The Battle of Baltim was the second of two naval engagements in the Mediterranean between Israeli and Egyptian Naval Forces during the Yom Kippur war which was fought between 06 and 26 October 1973. The first, and better-known naval engagement of this war was the Battle of Latakia which was fought on 06 October where Israeli Sa'ar Missile Boats defeated 3 Syrian OSA and KOMAR class missile boats, a minelayer, and a gunboat using Gabriel missiles. The Israeli naval forces also effectively used ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) to defend their ships from Syrian missile fire. Shortly after the Battle of Latakia, on 12 October, the Israeli had launched at ground offensive in an attempt to retake the Suez Canal. 4 Egyptian OSA class missile boats sortied from Port Said and it was believed that they would attempt to flee to Alexandria. However, the Egyptian missile boats returned to Port Said when the Israeli ground offensive stalled. An OSA Class Missile Craft The Israeli Navy Command then made the decision to attempt to draw the Egyptian Navy out by conducting naval bombardment of shore targets along the north coast west of Port Said. In all, there were 10 Israeli Sa'ar missile boats deployed from Haifa, Israel, under the command of CDR Michael Barkai, which were to conduct the shore bombardment. At 2100, the Israeli fleet picked up radar contacts off the coast of Egypt and raced towards the Egyptian Coast at 40-knots in an abreast attack formation. Soon afterwards it was realized that the ships were chasing radar "ghosts", or possibly sea clutter, and the race towards the Egyptian Coast was halted. As the Israeli missile boats had been hastily deployed from Haifa, 4 of the boats were low on fuel and barely had enough to return to port. CDR Barkai contact the Israeli Naval Command and apprised them of the situation. Israeli Naval Commander Rear Admiral Binyamin Telem responded by suggesting that the 4 vessels low on fuel return to Haifa, with the remaining 6 vessels remaining on station. These ships were the INS Reshef, INS Keshet (both Sa'ar 4 Missile Boats), INS Soufa (No. 322), INS Herev (No. 341) (Sa'ar 3 Missile Boats), INS Misgav (No. 313), and INS Eilat (No. 321) (Sa'ar 2 Missile Boats). A Sa'ar 4 Class Missile Boat CDR Barkai, who had been onboard the INS Miznak which had been serving as the fleet command ship, transferred to the INS Herev. During this transfer of command, the Israelis learned that four vessels of the Egyptian Navy had deployed from Alexandria and were heading east. At 2300, CDR Barkai ordered his fleet of 6 missile boats to intercept the Egyptian vessels. He then ordered the missile boats to head west in 3 pairs of 2 ships on parallel courses. The northern-most missile boats were to two Israeli built boats Reshef and Keshnet. The southern-most missile boats were the Herev and Soufa (sometimes spelled "Sufa"). Between these two pairs of boats were the Eilat and the Misgiv (which did not have any missiles onboard). (Note: The Herev and Soufa were two of the infamous "Cherbourg Boats". An amazing story of Israel's outsmarting the French during the French Government's embargo on exporting arms to Israel. You can read all about it here.) As the 6 ships sped west, they did not know if the Egyptian vessels were aware of their approach. At approximately midnight, the two southern-most boats the Herev and Soufa moved close to the coastline in order to conduct bombardment of Damietta. Just prior to commencing bombardment, the Herev picked up a radar contact just off of Baltim located to the west. CDR Barkai ordered the Reshef and Keshnet to fire chaff cannisters in order to determine if the radar contact was an actual ship or another false radar indication. Upon firing the chaff cannisters, two pairs of STYX missiles were fired from the Egyptian vessels which homed in on the chaff. CDR Barkai immediately ordered his fleet to advance towards the Egyptian vessels, which were later identified as four OSA class missile boats. The Egyptian OSA's were armed with STYX missiles which had a range of 27-miles, while the Israeli boats were armed with Gabriel missiles which only had a range of 12-miles. This put the Israeli's at a disadvantage while approaching the OSA's. At approximately 0015 on 13 October, the Egyptian boats commenced launching their STYX missiles. Using their ECM systems, the Israeli missile boats were able to evade being hit by the Egyptian missiles. CDR Barkai had previously ordered his boat crews not to launch any of their Gabriel missiles anywhere outside a 10 and a half miles range. The Egyptian OSA's launched the last their STYX missiles, commenced a figuire-eight manuever and headed back to Alexandria with the Israeli fleet of missile boats in hot pursuit. The Battle of Baltim Battle Line (Courtesy of Wikipedia) Between 20 and 25 minutes later, the Keshet had closed to within CDR Barkai's ordered firing range and launched a Gabriel missile which struck the northernmost Egyptian OSA and set it on fire. However, the Keshet was unable to continue the assault due to a burst pipe which was causing the boat to take on water in the engine room approximately two kilometers from the damaged Egyptian missile boat. The Misgav then moved in and proceeded to sink the OSA using her 40mm guns. Reshet had also fired a missile which struck a second OSA, as had the Eilat. Both ships then moved in and sank that boat with gunfire. The remaining two Egyptian missile boats meanwhile, had split from each other, with one of the vessels being hit by either the Herev or Soufa and immediately turned and headed for the coastline. The damaged OSA came to a stop and the two Israeli boats fired multiple rounds from their guns but were unable to sink the OSA. It was soon realized that the OSA had run aground in shallow water. The fourth Egyptian missile boat continued on towards Alexandria with the Reshef in pursuit. One source states that the Reshef experienced and electrical problem in its missile system but continued pursuing the OSA in the hopes of coming within range of her 40mm gun mount. The Reshef was ordered back to join the rest of the fleet when it was realized that the vessel was too close the coastline and was possibly in danger of an air or missile attack. The fourth Egyptian OSA was able to make it within range of the Alexandria missile defenses and escaped. At 0130 the Israeli missile boats turned to the northeast and safely returned to Haifa. To: Battle of Baltim (Page 2)