Israel Acquires Two Destroyers from Britain; Navy Strengthened

The Israel Navy received powerful reinforcements this week-end when two British destroyers, the Zealous and the Zodiac, were transferred under the blazing sun of this Welsh seaport. The destroyers were renamed Elath and Yaffo–names selected by Minister of Defense David Ben Gurion.

The short formal transfer ceremony took place here in 80 degree temperature. A small British naval detachment was up on the foredeck of H.M.S. Zealous. Shortly afterwards, the commanders of the South Wales and Plymouth reserve fleets, accompanied by Captain J. Fitzroy and L. Forbes of the Admiralty, were piped aboard. They were joined by three officers of the Israel Navy–Lt. Cmdr. Y. Shapiro, Lt. Cmdr. A. Barak and Lt. Y. Margalit.

Watched from the jetty by the commander-in-chief of the Israel Navy, Capt. S. Tana, the director general of the Israel Defense Ministry F. Peres and the members of his staff, and Israel Embassy officials, headed by charge d’affaires Gershon Abner–two petty officers aboard the Zealous lowered the British ensign to the accompaniment of more bosun’s pipes, while shore and jetty parties stood at attention.

The British party then took leave of the ship to another blast of the pipes, the last senior officer carrying with him the ship’s nameplate. The three Israel officers left on board then took up positions forward, and at a signal from the popes, Lt. Cmdr. Shapiro raised the blue and white ensign of the Israel Navy.

BRITISH NAVY UNDERTOOK TO TRAIN ISRAELIS TO MAN THE DESTROYERS

Capt. Tana then went aboard, where he was greeted by Lt. Cmdr. Shapiro with the words: “Israel naval ship at your command, sir.” Capt. Tana then unveiled the ships new nameplate–Elath–and invited the British and Israel groups on the jetty to join him. For nearly an hour afterwards the British officers conducted the Israelis on a tour of the Elath, which was built in 1944 and has never seen active service. After refitting, the Elath and the Yaffo, which lies at the nearby Penarth dockyard, will be taken to their home ports by Israel sailors. At present, their weapons and other equipment are in protective cocoons.

Earlier, the Israelis had entertained the British naval officers at a luncheon here, where toasts were proposed to the Queen, by Mr. Abner, and the President of Israel, by Capt. Fitzroy. Today’s ceremony was seen by Mr. Peres as contribution to strengthening friendly relations between Britain and Israel. He thanked British Minister of State Selwyn Lloyd and Foreign Undersecretary Evelyn Shuck burgh for their cooperation, revealing that, together Israel Ambassador Eliahu Elath, he had been discussing with them the whole question–political and technical–of British arms supplies to Israel.

In a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Mr. Peres said that insofar as the two destroyers were concerned he felt Israel had had a fair deal. The ships were in good shape, the price paid was a fair one and naval cooperation had been excellent. As an example, he cited the fact that the British Navy had undertaken to train an Israel complement to man the ship.