Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

Yoram יורם Registered name: Nora sailed under the Italian flag.
Capacity: 840 tons

In 1947, David Ben Gurion expanded the Haganah הגנה's arms acquisition system, sending Yehuda Arazi, Ehud Avriel and Munia Mardur abroad to find arms sources and to arrange shipmens to Palestine.
Each of them was given his own budget, and operated independently, reporting directly to David Ben Gurion.

From December, 1947 to March, 1948, Yehuda Arazi, Ehud Avriel and Munia Mardur acquired six ships to transport the arms:
* Santa-Chiara
* Ressurectio
* Maestralle
* Monte-Chiaro
* Scio
* Nora
Each of the ships continued to carry foreign flags, and were operated by their foreign crews.
Ada Sereni, working on Yehuda Arazi's instructions, acquired Santa-Chiara and Ressurectio.

In March, 1948, Yoram יורם Nora was acquired by the Haganah, in Venezia..

Benyamin Yerushalmi served as a field person for Mossad leAliyah Bet, and was assigned by Ehud Avriel as Escort aboard Yoram יורם Nora.

Prior to sailing for Shibenik, Yoram יורם Nora was loaded with 300 tons of onion and potato sacks and wooden-plates, to be used as cover for the real cargo.

Around March 19, 1948, Yoram יורם Nora entered Shibenik port.
The Italian crew suspected that the mission might be illegal, eventhough they were not told that the final destination was Palestine.
Tthe Italian crew learned that they were involved in arms smuggling, during the loading, and some of them wanted to sign off, but they were "convinced" by the Yugoslavs that such a move would "not be to their benefit".
Ben Yerushalmi convinced them to take out to sea, and gave them a raise and even a promise, to get them protection, once they reached Tel Aviv.

Yoram יורם Nora ran into a severe storm east of Crete, forcing them to take shelter in Larnaca Bay, Cyprus.
She stayed there, in company with two British destroyers from the Palestine Blockade force.
When the storm was over, the destroyers sailed to the east, and Yoram יורם Nora followed crawling in the same direction.

Yoram יורם was the first ship to arrive on time to provide the much needed arms to Operation Nachshon מבצע נחשון‎, which marked a turning point in the war against the Palestinians and the battle for Jerusalem, carrying 4,500 rifles, 200 light machine guns, 5 million rounds of ammunition.

On April 1. 1948, Yoram יורם Nora reached the anchorage of Tel Aviv, forty five days before the end of the British Mandate.
When she arrived , she found a British destroyer, one of the two they had met in Larnaca, approaching, and starting to circle.
The Italian captain, afraid the British would discover the cargo, panicked and sighed: "Adeso, tuto finito" (now, it's all over), before collapsing.
Ben Yerushalmi assumed command, and impersonating a captain, ordered the crew to salute the British destroyer, according to the maritime tradition. The destroyer returned a salute and sailed off.