Dolphin Class Submarine - Operations and Deployment

Operations and Deployment

According to news reports the submarines are normally based in the Mediterranean. One Dolphin was sent to the Red Sea for exercises, briefly docking in the naval base in Eilat in June 2009, which Israeli media interpreted as a warning to Iran. In 2009 the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, quoting an Israeli defense official, reported that the small Eilat naval station is unsuited strategically to base the Dolphin-class boats, specifically noting the tight entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba at the Straits of Tiran as one held by potential adversaries including Saudi Arabia on the east and the demilitarized Egyptian Sinai to the west. Eilat is a 10 km (6.2 mi) strip of coast between Egypt and Jordan, the only two Arab states that currently have peace treaties with Israel. According to The London Sunday Times, the Israeli Navy decided in May 2010 to keep at least one submarine equipped with nuclear missiles there permanently as a deterrent in response to rumored ballistic missiles moved from Syria to Lebanon.

If the ships are based at the larger Haifa naval base, access to the Persian Gulf area either requires openly sailing on the surface through the Egyptian controlled Suez Canal as permitted in the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty or a long voyage sailing around Africa. According to the Convention of Constantinople signed by the ruling great powers of the time including the UK, France, and the Ottoman Empire in March 2, 1888; "The Suez Maritime Canal shall always be free and open, in time of war as in time of peace, to every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag." Denied crossing at the Suez Canal and blockade of the Straits of Tiran occurred in both in 1956 and 1967 leading to Israel twice seizing the Sinai to break the blockade. The Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty allows for the free passage of Israeli ships through the Suez Canal, and recognizes the Strait of Tiran, the Gulf of Aqaba and the Taba—Rafah straits as international waterways. Even if a Red Sea or Indian Ocean base is unavailable other nations have used submarine tenders, ships that resupply, rearm, and refuel submarines at sea, when nearby friendly bases are unavailable.

In response to rumors that Israeli submarines might be allowed to secretly base in Bahrain, an island kingdom in the Persian Gulf near Iran, the commander in chief of Bahrain's defense forces, Sheikh bin Ahmad Al-Khalifa stated to the Iranian ambassador Hossein Amir Abdollahian "We view the Zionist regime as our enemy and the enemy of all Muslim world. Bahrain in no way allows Tel Aviv to be present in its territorial waters."

According to two contradictional Sudanese media reports, in November or December 2011 two Israeli air raids against Gaza bound weapon smugglers in Sudan were accompanied by Israeli submarine activity off the Sudanese coast. The Sudanese government claims no strikes took place.

In February 2012 Ynet, the online version of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot (Late Edition), reported that for security reasons applicants for the submarine service with dual citizenship or citizenship in addition to Israeli, which is common in Israel with a relatively high percentage of olim or immigrant families, must officially renounce all other citizenships to be accepted into the training program.