The Boats of Cherbourg: The Navy That Stole Its Own Boats and Revolutionized Naval Warfare

REVISED EDITION 2019

On Christmas eve 1969, five small boats slipped out of Cherbourg harbor after midnight into the teeth of a Force Nine gale that sent freighters scurrying for cover. The boats, ordered by Israel from a local shipyard, had been embargoed for more than a year for political reasons by France. In a brazen caper, the Israelis were now running off with them. The vessels would be refueled at sea by Israeli merchant ships spaced along the 3,000-mile escape route. As the boats rac...