picture 179591

The Israel Navy was a small and poorly equipped service at this time with many aging vessels focused on coastal defence. The French-built Ayah-class motor torpedo boats (T-203 shown) were long in the tooth and in need of replacement, but continued to serve in secondary roles like coastal patrols. In this role the deck-mounted torpedo tubes were usually removed and sometimes also the 40mm cannon, leaving only the forward 20mm gun shown here. They were employed in patrolling the long coastlines of Sinai and Israel to protect against infiltrators. (Artwork by David Bocquelet)