You probably all know that the Sues Canal in Egypt was built by French and British engineers and managed by a French and British company? Right? You also know that Egypt had a king there, and it was the Kingdom of Egypt? Well this kingdom was aligned with the west and also not very pro-Israel, I mean it is the in-thing to be anti-Israel, the only Jewish country! Even the Americans had an arms embargo on poor little Israel. You also know that it was so western that British spitfires took off from Cairo and attacked Tel AViv during the 1948 War of Independence.
Well all good things come to an end and in 1952 a group of military officers called the Free Officers Movement, planned a coup d'etat that overthrew poor King Farouk I, who by the way had a great stamp collection. The Free Officers Movement wanted to end British influence in Egypt and establish a republic, well basically all western influence. In June 1953 King Farouk abdicated Egypt was declared a republic! The monarchy was abolished.
In 1954 Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein became Egypt's second president. Nasser wanted also wanted to move away from the west and more to Russia and this scared the west, partucularly the Americans and British. As such they withdrew funding for a huge dam, the Aswan Dam. Dammit, that was not a good move as the Soviets rushed in with funding.
In 1956 Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal in a speech in Alexandria. He announced that the canal will be managed and operated by the Suez Canal Authority, an Egyptian entity, instead of the international company that previously operated it. Nasser sought to establish Egypt's sovereignty. The nationalization of the canal led to the Suez crisis, a complex international conflict between Egypt, Israel, France and the United Kingdom. In essence it meant that shipping to Eilat was endangered.
The nationalization of the Suez Canal by Egypt led to a joint military operation by Israel, the United Kingdom and France against Egypt. The Israeli part of the operation was called Operation Kadesh, which began as early as October 29, 1956 , while the overall Anglo-French operation was called Operation Musketeer. Israel, followed by the United Kingdom and France, invaded Egypt. The military operation was intended to restore Western control over the canal and oust Nasser from power. The invasion provoked significant international opposition, mainly from the United States and the Soviet Union. The two powers, despite their Cold War rivalry, pressured the invading forces to withdraw. Operation Kadesh ended on November 7th 1956 with the entire Gaza Strip in Israel hands, meaning no more terror attacks from Gaza.
On October 31, 1956, during the first stages of the Suez crisis, the "Ibrahim al-Awal" received an order to bomb the city of Haifa in Israel. The ship fired several shells at the oil refinery area in the city, causing some damage but no significant casualties.
The ship "Ibrahim Al-Awal" was originally a British frigate of the Hunt series, built for the British Royal Navy during World War II. She was launched as HMS Mendip in 1940 and took part in significant battles during the war. After World War II, HMS Mendip was sold to the Egyptian Navy in 1951 and renamed "Ibrahim El-Awl".
As a small curiosity, in 1957 Israel organized a weapons exhibition in Haifa and showed the weapons captured in Operation Kadesh. The exhibition took place on the captured Egyptian ship.
Well all good things come to an end and in 1952 a group of military officers called the Free Officers Movement, planned a coup d'etat that overthrew poor King Farouk I, who by the way had a great stamp collection. The Free Officers Movement wanted to end British influence in Egypt and establish a republic, well basically all western influence. In June 1953 King Farouk abdicated Egypt was declared a republic! The monarchy was abolished.
In 1954 Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein became Egypt's second president. Nasser wanted also wanted to move away from the west and more to Russia and this scared the west, partucularly the Americans and British. As such they withdrew funding for a huge dam, the Aswan Dam. Dammit, that was not a good move as the Soviets rushed in with funding.
In 1956 Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal in a speech in Alexandria. He announced that the canal will be managed and operated by the Suez Canal Authority, an Egyptian entity, instead of the international company that previously operated it. Nasser sought to establish Egypt's sovereignty. The nationalization of the canal led to the Suez crisis, a complex international conflict between Egypt, Israel, France and the United Kingdom. In essence it meant that shipping to Eilat was endangered.
The nationalization of the Suez Canal by Egypt led to a joint military operation by Israel, the United Kingdom and France against Egypt. The Israeli part of the operation was called Operation Kadesh, which began as early as October 29, 1956 , while the overall Anglo-French operation was called Operation Musketeer. Israel, followed by the United Kingdom and France, invaded Egypt. The military operation was intended to restore Western control over the canal and oust Nasser from power. The invasion provoked significant international opposition, mainly from the United States and the Soviet Union. The two powers, despite their Cold War rivalry, pressured the invading forces to withdraw. Operation Kadesh ended on November 7th 1956 with the entire Gaza Strip in Israel hands, meaning no more terror attacks from Gaza.
On October 31, 1956, during the first stages of the Suez crisis, the "Ibrahim al-Awal" received an order to bomb the city of Haifa in Israel. The ship fired several shells at the oil refinery area in the city, causing some damage but no significant casualties.
The ship "Ibrahim Al-Awal" was originally a British frigate of the Hunt series, built for the British Royal Navy during World War II. She was launched as HMS Mendip in 1940 and took part in significant battles during the war. After World War II, HMS Mendip was sold to the Egyptian Navy in 1951 and renamed "Ibrahim El-Awl".
In response to the firing of the enemy ship, the Israeli Navy sent two warships, INS Eilat (formerly HMS Zealous) and INS Jaffa (formerly HMS Zodiac), to intercept the Egyptian ship. The Israeli warships, with the support of the Israeli Air Force, fought a fierce battle with the "Ibrahim al-Awl". The two ships of the Israel navy had only arrived in Israel a few months earlier. They bought from British surplus and had not be in use for over ten years, that is, since the end of World War II.
The Israeli forces managed to disable "Ibrahim Al-Awal", causing significant damage to its propulsion system. The Egyptian ship's crew, realizing that they were in trouble, and could not continue fighting, waved a white flag and surrendered. Some loyal Egyptian sailors tried to sink their ship. However, Israeli naval units arrived in time and captured the "Ibrahim". The Israelis closed the valves that the saboteurs opened. The sailors were taken captive to Israel and on the right you see a Red Cross letter sent to a sailor who was captured from the ship (from his family).
The "Ibrahim Al-Awl" was towed to Haifa, where she was captured and later repaired. After its capture, the "Ibrahim Al-Awl" was integrated into the Israeli Navy and its name was changed to Ahi Haifa. The ship underwent extensive repairs and renovations to bring it up to Israeli operational standards . It served in the Israeli Navy for several years, and played a role in several naval operations and training .
Ironically, on June 5, 1967, Haifa was part of an Israeli naval task force that carried out bombardments against Egyptian coastal batteries and fortifications in the vicinity of Port Said. This operation was part of a larger effort to neutralize the Egyptian naval and coastal defenses !
As a small curiosity, in 1957 Israel organized a weapons exhibition in Haifa and showed the weapons captured in Operation Kadesh. The exhibition took place on the captured Egyptian ship.
