Battle of Baltim

Overview

The Battle of Baltim was fought between the Israeli Navy and the Egyptian Navy on 8–9 October, 1973, during the Yom Kippur War. It took place off the Nile Delta, between Baltim and Damietta. The battle began when six Israeli Sa'ar-class missile boats heading toward Port Said were engaged by four Egyptian Osa-class missile boats coming from Alexandria. It lasted about forty minutes. The Osas fired Styx missiles, missed, and began to withdraw back to Alexandria when the Israelis began to give chase. Two Osas were sunk by Gabriel missiles within a span of ten minutes, and a third was sunk twenty-five minutes later. The fourth made it back to base.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Baltim was a naval engagement fought off the Nile Delta between Baltim and Damietta during the Yom Kippur War. Six Israeli Sa'ar-class missile boats, operating toward Port Said, engaged four Egyptian Osa-class missile boats sortying from Alexandria. The engagement demonstrated the operational effectiveness of the Israeli Gabriel missile system against Soviet-supplied Osa boats armed with Styx missiles. The Egyptian force fired Styx missiles without effect before withdrawing; Israeli pursuit resulted in three of the four Osas being sunk within roughly thirty-five minutes. The loss of three-quarters of the Egyptian force in a single forty-minute engagement effectively curtailed Egyptian missile boat operations in this sector during the war.

Tactics

Commanders (1)