Naval Force Day marking sinking of Israel’s Eilat commemorated

CAIRO - 22 October 2019: Egypt celebrated on Monday the Naval Force Day marking the 52nd anniversary of sinking Israeli destroyer Eilat four months after the Six-Day War in 1967, clinching a historic victory as the Israeli warship was the world’s first destroyed by ship-to-ship missiles.



On that occasion, Commander of the Naval Force Vice Admiral Ahmed Khaled Hassan held a Sunday press conference to highlight the recent modernization of the branch and its ability to face threats to Egypt’s national security.



The official Facebook page of the spokesperson for the Egyptian Armed Forces posted two videos showcasing the capabilities of the Naval Force and the drills carried out jointly with several states.

On October 21, 1967, Eilat intruded into Egyptian national waters as a show of force in the Mediterranean off the coasts of the Sinai Peninsula, thenoccupied by Israel, on June 5 of the same year. As a consequence, the Egyptian Navy fired a number of P-15 Termit (SS-N-2 Styx) missiles using Soviet Project 183R class (Komar) boats at the Z-class destroyer built in 1944 by Cammell Laird for the Royal Navy before it was sold to Israel in 1955.