ABSTRACT
A French general explained on German Television that the Yom Kippur War had sounded the funeral knell of the classic armor – air combat team which has dominated the battlefield since World War II. In 1965, an Israeli destroyer – ex-British Z class of World War II vintage – was no match whatsoever for a Komar missile boat, not to speak of the more advanced and better equipped OSA boat. The Six Day War in 1967 found us in a rather bizarre situation. In 1968 a second construction program was launched to provide an answer for a new role for the Israel Navy – the Red Sea. The Yom Kippur War has proved to us as well as to the Arabs the great importance of open sea lanes in any all-out conflict.
