INS Hanit
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| Career (Israel) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Hanit |
| Namesake: | Spear |
| Builder: | Northrop Grumman by Ingalls Shipbuilding |
| Laid down: | April 5, 1993 |
| Launched: | March 4, 1994 |
| Commissioned: | February 7, 1995 |
| Status: | Active |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Sa'ar 5-class corvette |
| Displacement: | |
| Length: | 85.64 m (280.97 ft) |
| Beam: | 11.88 m (38.98 ft) |
| Draft: | 3.17 m (10.40 ft) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: |
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| Range: | 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km) |
| Complement: |
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| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Electronic warfare and decoys: |
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| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | Eurocopter Panther |
| Aviation facilities: | Helipad and helicopter hangar |
The INS Hanit (translated as Spear) is a Sa'ar 5-class corvette of the Israeli Navy that was built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in 1994. On July 14, 2006, during the 2006 Lebanon War, it suffered damage after being attacked by Hezbollah, apparently by a C-802 anti-ship missile.
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[edit] Attack on July 14, 2006
During the 2006 Lebanon War, the vessel was patrolling in Lebanese waters ten nautical miles off the coast of Beirut. It was damaged on July 14, 2006 on the waterline, under the aft superstructure [1][2] by a missile (likely a Chinese-designed C-802[3]) fired by Hezbollah. Reportedly, setting the flight deck on fire and crippling the propulsion systems inside the hull.[4] However, INS Hanit stayed afloat, got itself out of the line of fire, and made the rest of the journey back to Ashdod for repairs on its own.[5] Four crew members were killed during the attack: Staff Sergeant Tal Amgar, Corporal Shai Atas, Sergeant Yaniv Hershkovitz, and First Sergeant Dov Steinshuss.[6]
According to the Israeli Navy, the ship's sophisticated automatic missile defense system was not deployed, even though the early warning system is usually deployed during peace-time wargames. Israel said the defense system was not deployed because of Israeli aircraft in the area. In the aftermath of the event, reports suggested that no known intelligence existed which would have pointed to the fact that such a sophisticated missile was deployed in Lebanon by Hezbollah. In fact, the investigative work of Ha'aretz journalists Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff showed that a certain Colonel K., an intelligence officer, had given a lecture already on April 21, 2003, predicting that Hezbollah had shore-to-sea missiles in its possession. Furthermore, on the morning of Friday, July 14, 2006, one of the branch heads of naval intelligence, Lieutenant-Colonel Y. briefed the head of naval intelligence, Colonel Ram Rothberg, telling him that "ships enforcing Israel's naval blockade on Hezbollah should take into account the possibility of a C-802 missile being fired on them." The assessment, however, did not result in a warning. If such a warning had been issued, Israeli ships would have moved further away from the shore and activated their anti-missile systems.[7]
As a result of the incident, two navy officers, two junior officers and the commander of the ship have been formally reprimanded and repositioned to non-commanding positions on land. One of the junior officers had shut down the central radar and parts of the defence system without notifying the commander, in the belief that the ship was not under threat.[8]
Repairs occurred over many months and the ship was said to be "recently put back into operation" according to a late 2007 report.[9]
[edit] IDF report
An IDF report on the Lebanon war incident reveals that the crew did not act sufficiently in order to anticipate the threat.
The IDF report, which was submitted to Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, said, "as far as the intelligence picture is concerned, it was found that despite the lack of pinpoint information about the weapon in the hands of Hezbollah, there was information in the Navy in the past that could have led to some type of an assessment that the enemy holds shore-to-ship missiles." In addition, failures were uncovered in "the way the forces understood the operative reality and implemented it." [10]
The Israeli military has alleged that Iranian military advisors from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had assisted with deploying and readying the missile launcher.[11]
[edit] References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: INS Hanit |
- ^ "Hezbollah missile hits Navy ship off Beirut coast". Haaretz. 2006-07-14. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/738695.html.
- ^ "Missile, Not Drone, Hit Israeli Warship". London: The Guardian. 2006-07-15. http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5952824,00.html.[dead link]
- ^ "Striking Deep Into Israel, Hamas Employs an Upgraded Arsenal" by MARK MAZZETTI, The New York Times, Dec. 31, 2008.
- ^ "INS Hanit Suffers Iranian Missile Attack". Defense Update. 2006-07-16. http://www.defense-update.com/2006/07/ins-hanit-suffers-iranian-missile.html.
- ^ "Strike on Israeli Navy Ship". NAVSEA. 2006-07-19. http://www.dcfp.navy.mil/mc/articles/other/INSHanit.htm.
- ^ "Middle East Crisis: Hezbollah-Israel conflict wrap". Spero News. 2006-07-15. http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=4398.
- ^ Harel, Amos; Issacharoff, Avi (2008-01-18). "How the navy missed its boat". Ha'aretz English. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/945846.html.
- ^ Greenberg, Hanan (2007-01-01). "Officers reprimanded over Hanit vessel incident". YnetNews. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3347191,00.html.
- ^ Exclusive: Photos of navy ship hit during war revealed. YnetNews. 10.11.07
- ^ Greenberg, Hanan (2006-11-07). "Report: Ship crew didn't realize missile threat". YnetNews. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3325146,00.html.
- ^ Gardner, Frank (2006-08-03). "Hezbollah missile threat assessed". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5242566.stm.
