The wreck of the Altalena, the Irgun arms ship shelled on the orders of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion during Israel’s War of Independence, was located overnight about 20 kilometers off Israel’s coast after decades of searches.
The vessel was found intact at a depth of 503 meters during a complex maritime operation following months of planning and preparation. The search was carried out using a ship equipped with specialized sensors and advanced survey systems.
The Altalena
(Photo: GPO)
“We managed to reach the ship at a depth of more than 500 meters thanks to advanced technologies and intensive work by a professional and dedicated team at sea,” said Roni Sadeh, director of the Marine Mapping Division at the Survey of Israel.
Hagai Ronen, director general of the Survey of Israel, said the discovery demonstrated how advanced mapping technology could be used to document significant historical sites and said the agency would work to record and preserve the wreck.
Sonar located wreck too deep for divers
The wreck was located using sonar systems, which use sound waves to navigate, detect objects and map the seabed. Divers cannot reach depths of more than 500 meters, making remote sensing technology essential to the search.
Officials say raising the entire Altalena is likely impossible because of the scale and complexity of such an engineering operation, which has no clear precedent in these conditions.
Several alternatives are now being considered, including establishing a floating memorial or maritime heritage center. Another possibility would be to recover individual sections of the ship, although its current condition has yet to be determined.
Efforts are underway to document the wreck in detail at its location on the seabed.
The 1948 Altalena affair
The Altalena sailed from France to Israel in June 1948 carrying about 930 immigrants, including Holocaust survivors and Irgun fighters, as well as a large quantity of weapons and military equipment.
Its arrival came shortly after the establishment of the IDF and the dismantling of the pre-state underground organizations. During negotiations, Irgun commander Menachem Begin demanded that part of the weapons shipment be transferred to Irgun units fighting in Jerusalem.
Ben-Gurion rejected the demand and ordered that the ship be fired upon if its crew refused to surrender all the weapons to the IDF.
The dispute escalated into armed clashes at Kfar Vitkin and later off Tel Aviv. Nineteen people were killed, including 16 Irgun members and people aboard the ship and three IDF soldiers.
The damaged vessel remained off the Tel Aviv coast for several months before Ben-Gurion ordered it removed and sunk at sea.
For decades, efforts were made to locate the Altalena, including proposals to recover the wreck and use parts of it as a memorial to those killed in the confrontation.
The newly identified wreck lies at a depth of 503 meters, considerably deeper than some earlier estimates, helping explain why previous searches failed to locate it.