WarSclerotic

Submarines: Dolphins Go To War.

March 11, 2014:

Israel recently revealed that in 2013 its submarines spent 58 percent of their time at sea on combat missions while the rest of the time was spent for training.

Israel currently has three Dolphin class subs in service and two more new ones (with more capabilities than the first three) entering service this year, followed by a third in 2017. The Israelis also admitted that their subs sometimes go far (to Iran and the Red Sea) from their bases on missions. Give that Israel is not at war with anyone with a navy, these missions are probably related to collecting information on the ships and ports of potential enemies. That would include Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Sudan and so on. The navy revealed that the subs undertook 54 “special operations” in 2013 and that was a big increase from previous years.

No details were given on what the special operations were but based on what kind of surveillance operations Israel has conducted in the past and what U.S. subs did in that area during the Cold War, the Israeli subs have probably been using their passive (listen only) sonar to collect information about ports and warships as well as deploying and retrieving larger electronic sensors placed underwater near where enemy ships operate. Israel may also be tapping underwater communications cables. For some of these operations the Israelis would use divers carried on the subs as passengers. Israel has a small force of naval special operations troops similar to the American SEALS and the British SBS.

All of the Israeli subs are built in Germany, where the local media periodically pretends to be appalled at what the Israelis actually do with these subs. Thus back in 2012 revelations in German media that the Dolphin class boats were equipped in Germany with a special hydraulic ejection (from torpedo tubes) systems for launching missiles with nuclear warheads caused a stir. This was actually misleading, as well as being old news. The Dolphin class subs have long had the ability to launch Harpoon anti-ship missiles and longer range cruise missiles from the torpedo tubes. It makes no difference if the warhead has high-explosives or a nuclear bomb in it. For over a decade Israel and Germany played down this capability. For example shortly after September 11, 2001 Israel denied that it had submarines capable of firing cruise missiles equipped with nuclear warheads. But the U.S. navy had reported spotting such missiles being tested by an Israeli sub in the Indian Ocean before 2001.

In 2000 it was widely reported that Dolphin class subs were being equipped with nuclear weapons. The 135 kilometer range Harpoon missiles were alleged to have been modified to carry a nuclear warhead and Israel. It was also asserted that Israel was developing a submarine launched 350 kilometer range cruise missile. Both of these weapons were launched from the subs torpedo tubes. Since then Israel has developed a new cruise missile, with a range of 1,500 kilometers and carrying a 200 kiloton nuclear warhead. These nuclear equipped subs were to provide an extra degree of security as all other Israeli nuclear weapons were in land bases and, in theory, could be wiped out by a surprise missile attack. A nuclear missile equipped submarine at sea would be much more difficult to find.

Germany continues to build Dolphin class boats for Israel. The first three arrived in 1998-2000. The second three Dolphins cost about $650 million each, with Germany picking up a third of the cost on two of them. The first two Dolphins were paid for by Germany, as was most of the cost of the third one. This is more of German reparations for World War II atrocities against Jews.

The three older boats have since been upgraded to include larger fuel capacity, converting more torpedo tubes to the larger 650mm size, and installing new electronics. The fuel and torpedo tube mods appear to have something to do with stationing the subs off the coast of Iran. Larger torpedo tubes allow the subs to carry longer range missiles. The larger fuel capacity makes it easier to move Dolphins from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. Although Israel has a naval base on the Red Sea, Egypt, until 2012, did not allowed Israeli subs to use the Suez Canal. So the Dolphins were modified to go around Africa, if they had to.

As built the Dolphins could stay at sea for about 40 days (moving at about 14 kilometers an hour, on the surface, for up to 8,000 kilometers). Larger fuel capacity extended range to over 10,000 kilometers and endurance to about 50 days. The three new Dolphins have a fuel cell based (AIP or Air Independent Propulsion) system which enables them to stay under water for over a week at a time. The Dolphins are also very quiet and very difficult to hunt down and destroy. The first three Dolphins didn’t have the AIP system.

The 1,625 ton Dolphins can carry 16 torpedoes or missiles and have ten forward torpedo tubes (four of them the larger 650mm/26 inch size). The Dolphins are considered the most modern non-nuclear subs in the world. The first three cost $320 million each. All have a crew of 35 and can dive to a depth of more than 200 meters (660 feet). The Dolphin design is based on the German 209 class subs but has been so heavily modified that it is considered a different class and only Israel has them.

The Danger of Ignoring Iran’s Threats « Commentary Magazine.

Jonathan S. Tobin | @tobincommentary 03.11.2014 – 5:00 PM

Netanyahu cries out, world remains silent, Ynet News, March 12, 2014

(It will not take long for Iran to pass beyond the nuclear threshold. Does anyone else care? — DM)

Analysis: Israel’s prime minister sees battle against Tehran as his life’s mission, but world has in fact come to terms with Iran becoming a nuclear threshold state.

EILAT – On Monday, before the Klos-C ship set sail, Israeli Navy fighters presented the Turkish crew with a gift – a small parcel of personal equipment, like the kind supplied by the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel‘s Soldiers.

The captain expressed his satisfaction over the hospitality. He had, however, one request: Would the Navy agree to supply him, as a gesture between sailors, with a case of vodka? Since that incident several years ago, the Navy is very careful about hurting Turkish sailors’ feelings. The permits were given. The vodka was issued. And so, what began as a heroic operation, Entebbe on the sea, ended with a modest case of vodka. Great joy.

If only it were like that. Monday’s event at Eilat’s military portwas an almost accurate repeat of the event held in honor of the seizure of the Karine A arms ship, in January 2002. A display of weapons on the platform, for the foreign press, embassies’ military attachés and the public opinion at home. A speech by the prime minister, throwing harsh accusations at Iran, the weapons’ supplier, and at the Palestinians, its clients, and not forgetting to mention the apple of his eye: The settlements. 

But the differences are so big. The main enemy at the time was Yasser Arafat. Prime Minister Sharon wanted to banish him from Ramallah, and used the capture of the arms ship and Arafat’s false excuses as leverage; President Bush took Sharon’s accusation very seriously. He didn’t let him banish Arafat, but he stopped believing him. The ship’s capture worked, and Sharon had good reasons to celebrate all the way from Eilat.

The main enemy today is Iran. Israel’s claims against it are founded. Netanyahu sees the battle against it as his life’s mission. He invests and invests and invests, warns and warns and warns, speaks here and speaks abroad, and the world refuses to be impressed. The world refuses to be impressed because the world is opportunistic, selfish and tired, and so are its leaders. In practice, the world has come to terms with Iran becoming a nuclear threshold state. That’s the reality, and Israel’s prime minister, in spite of his proven rhetorical skills, is failing to change it.

Some of the responsibility for this awkward situation falls on Netanyahu’s shoulders after all. Years of winks, zigzags and talks about the Palestinian issue from both sides of his mouth have taken their toll. It’s easy for leaders of Western countries to ignore his cries, although they are being voiced in clear English.

In Karine A, 50 tons of weapons and ammunition were seized. Quantity wise, the display was more impressive. The Klos-C cargo is of better quality. Forty long-range rockets are not a trivial thing. I asked one of the foreign reporters, a representative of a British newspaper, how he would summarize what he saw. He said it was a powerful picture. It illustrated to his readers that the whole of Israel faced a concrete threat on a daily basis.

Churchill in Eilat

But Netanyahu is only marginally interested in the threat from Gaza. His target is Iran. The fact that the West, not to mention the East, is unwilling to listen to him drives him crazy. From speech to speech he raises his tone. If they didn’t listen to him when he spoke quietly, perhaps they’ll listen when he protests vigorously.

Iran, the big Satan, is now being joined by Europe, the little Satan. A hypocritical Europe, a prude Europe. He is personally attacking Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign minister, without mentioning her name. “We witnessed smiles and handshakes of the West’s representatives with the heads of the Tehran regime while these missiles were being unloaded in Eilat,” he says. Iran is not condemned, or barely condemned, but Israel – “if we build a balcony in Jerusalem, we hear loud condemnations from the international community.”

He is as harsh in English. He accuses the world of “self-deception.” Rouhani, he says, is just a public relations agent. The real Iran is the Iran of Khamenei, the supreme leader.

And then he shares an apocalyptic prophecy with the world. Iran will be able to equip the next containers with “nuclear suitcases,” he says, and send them to any place in the world… Iran is planning intercontinental missiles which will threaten the Western population.

When I heard him I asked myself what he expects us, Israel’s citizens, to do following his remarks. Should we dig a fallout shelter in our apartment building’s backyard? Should we try to have foreign passports issued? Become Muslims? Does this cry have any purpose?

I was reminded of Churchill, the man Netanyahu wants so much to resemble. Churchill warned his country and the world against Nazi Germany, and the world, complacent as always, refused to listen. When Churchill’s warnings were verified, he was called to lead Britain to victory.

But if Netanyahu’s cries are verified, he won’t have a country to lead. From his fallout shelter, under the entrance to Jerusalem, he will shout, “Told you so, told you so” – and on top there won’t be a single living Israeli who will be able to tell him, “That’s right, well done.”

Without a purpose, from speech to speech he is increasingly becoming a Steinitz. Digging and digging, grinding and grinding, being right and being right, yet justice refuses to show up.

The Chinese lead seal

Two notes at the margins of the Eilat event: First of all, the ship’s weapons containers were locked with lead seals of two types: Iranian seals and Chinese seals. Colonel Assaf, an Intelligence Directorate official who presented the containers, explained that the seals which had the Chinese code engraved on them were also locked in Iran. I warned him that China was one of the prime minister’s priorities at the moment. He understood the warning. When he presented the containers, he said politely: “Iran and another country.”

Moreover, the M-302 rockets, the more significant catch in the ship, are Chinese rockets. They were manufactured in Syria with Chinese approval.

Secondly, not many foreign reporters arrived in Eilat on Monday, certainly in comparison to the event celebrating Karine A. There is, of course, a general drop in the interest the world is showing in the Middle East, and a general shrinkage of the global media industry. Beyond that, the enthusiasm over the capture of a ship is limited. It is more or less similar to the enthusiasm over a report on an incident between two Korean ships, one from the south and the other from the north.