Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

Nogah Noga was a a former United States Navy patrol craft.
Registered Name: MV Yucatan, originally USN PC.1265.

MV Yucatan sailed from New Orleans to Haifa חיפה.

On July 6, 1948, MV Yucatan Nogah arrived at Vera Cruz.
David Hanovice cites: "Two additional crewmembers joined our ship from one of the other undercover clandestine ship in Mexico at that time. These were Deck Officer, US Coast Guard licensed Mate, Bernie Marks an ex US Navy veteran of World War II, and Sidney Weinhaus an ex-US Navy veteran of world war II, who served as 2nd Electrician."

On July 12, 1948, MV Yucatan Nogah sailed from Vera Cruz for Marseille.
David Hanovice cites: "I became Acting 2nd Assistant Engineer, the "Oil-King". One of my duties beside standing watches of 4 hours twice a day, was transferring diesel fuel oil from the 50-gallon drums stored all over the ship. I used hoses and low air pressure to push the diesel oil by the use of a jury rig to one of the ship's storage tanks."
"As we were sailing in the Gulf of Mexico eastward, just before passing the Island of Cuba, one of the main engines broke down and the Chief Engineer requested that we go to a shipyard in Havana for repairs. All arrangements were made by radio. We arrived there on the weekend, but the shipyard started work on the repairs immediately."

On August 8, 1948, MV Yucatan Nogah sailed from Habana for the Straits of Gibraltar.

On August 18, 1948, MV Yucatan Nogah arrived at Marseille, after sailing through a terrible storm, in which the ship rolled over 40 degrees,
David Hanovice cites: "While waiting in Marseille, all of the American Merchant Seamen, including Captain Ben Berg, C/E Dan Bailey, 1st Assistant Engineer Ben Hagai Steuerman and Bernie Marks transferred to another ship. The other volunteers continued with the Yucatan to Haifa. We went to dry docking for inspection were they repaired the storm damages and overhauled both main engines before sailing to Haifa, Israel. In Marseille, Ben Halpern joined the Ship as Chief Engineer and also managed it as ship's agent. He knew his way around and spoke French fluently. I was appointed to work with the shipyard technicians, supervise and assist in the overhaul of the main engines and other engine room repairs, supplying them with needed spare parts from the ship's inventory. Volunteers from among Jewish DP's and others from DP camps around Marseille who were awaiting transportation to Israel at that time performed some of the work of the ship's maintenance."

In October 1948, Noga K-26 MV Yucatan, originally United States Navy PC.1265, was refurbished at the new Israeli Naval ship repair facility with the assistance of the Kirshtein\Greenspan and haOgen shipbuilding and repair companies in Haifa חיפה.

On the morning of October 19, 1948, the naval battle at Majdal, the first in Operation Yoav, started as a routine patrol of the Israeli warship flotilla.
INS Wedgwood, INS Haganah and INS Noga moved south, and at 10:25AM, turned to move closer to Gaza.
At 11:00AM, INS Haganah spotted an Egyptian vessel.
At 11:21AM, INS Haganah confirmed that the Egyptian corvette unloading cargo.
At 12:03PM, INS Wedgwood and INS Haganah closed in on the shore, while INS Noga, armed only with 20 mm cannons, retreated due to insufficient armament.
At 12:38PM, the Egyptian corvette fired back, but missed, and the Israeli ships hit and damaged the corvette.
Egyptian aircraft began making bombing runs on the Israeli ships.
INS Haganah stayed near Majdal, while INS Wedgwood chased the corvette and avoided fire.
An Egyptian plane hit INS Haganah, and one crew member died, and four were wounded.
With her cannon damaged, INS Haganah retreated.
INS Wedgwood continued chasing the Egyptian corvette, while under fire from aircraft, her bow cannon was damaged, the corvette sped out of range.
IMS Wedgwood turned back.
At 13:40PM, Egyptian field cannons fired from shore, forcing both INS Haganah and INS Wedgwood to move out to sea.