| BHD 600 | |
| Ensign Size: | 100px |
| Type: | Naval Training Base |
| Garrison: |
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BHD 600 or Haifa naval training base is the sole naval training base of the Israeli Navy. It is located in the port city of Haifa and is responsible for the training of most of Israeli Navy personnel.
The base is responsible for the training of all Israeli Navy personnel except Shayetet 13 and YILTAM fighters. All Shayetet 3, Shayetet 7 and regular personnel are trained here in addition to supplementary training for commanders. UAV and UUV operators are also trained here. In addition to training, regular military exercises are also held here.
The base was established in 1965 and training missions were initiated in 1967 after the arrival of new ships from Cherbourg after the Cherbourg Project. These vessels were initially used for training purpose.
In the 1960s, limited facilities at the training base prompted Israeli Navy to hold drills in Malta as Naval Combat exercises couldn't be held at the training base. With the passage of time, the facilities were gradually improved and helped to strengthen up the Israeli Navy before the Yom Kippur War.
At the end of the 1990s, the Haifa Administration wanted to promote a plan for the construction of a marina in Bat Galim . Environmental activists opposed the plan, which included drying up an extensive sea area, for the purpose of construction that would finance the construction of the marina. The Society for the Protection of Nature proposed an alternative plan that included the evacuation of the base and the construction of a marina in the area opposite to it, which was not accessible to the public.[1] In January 2003, the Israel Land Administration also presented a plan for the development of Bat Galim that included the evacuation of the base.[2] In May 2008, local authorities approved the construction of a neighborhood of 1,000 housing units in the base area.[3] However, the plan did not go into effect, as the Ministry of Defense refused to sign an agreement to evacuate the base. In 2015, the plan was transferred to the National Committee for the Planning and Construction of Preferred Housing Complexes, with the hope that its rapid advancement would serve as leverage to renew negotiations with the Ministry of Defense, but it did not advance the plan.[4]
At the end of 2017, it was agreed that the base would vacate only a strip of beach along the seashore, so that for the first time so that a sequence of promenades would be created, in front of the sea from the Mediterranean coast, through the beach of the base, Bat Galim beach to the southern beaches of the Haifa.[5] The construction of the boardwalk began in 2018, most of it was completed, and in August 2020 it was decided to name it after Hulda Gurvitz.[6] however the Navy withdrew from the agreement and refused to allow the construction to be completed.[7]
| Base commanders | ||||
| Rank and name | Command period | Image | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abraham Ofer | 1949 – 1950 | ||
| 2 | Yehiel Zaltz | 1950 – 1951 | ||
| 3 | Shlomo Arel | 1952 | ||
| 4 | Aryeh Friedman | 1953 – 1954 | ||
| 5 | Yitzhak Gazit | 1954 – 1956 | ||
| 6 | Yehuda Igra | February 1957 – February 1962 | ||
| 7 | Yehuda Ben-Zur | June 1962 – May 1965 | ||
| 8 | Lt. Col. Yekutiel Netz | May 1965 – March 1968 | ||
| 9 | Yitzhak Shoshan | March 1968 – July 1968 | ||
| 10 | Aryeh Barak | July 1968 – March 1971 | ||
| 11 | Eli Levy | April 1971 - June 1971 | ||
| 12 | Pinchas Pinhasi | June 1971 – June 1974 | ||
| 13 | Shabtai Levy | July 1974 – June 13, 1975 | ||
| 14 | Shaul Sela | June 13, 1975 – July 1977 | ||
| 15 | Abraham Ben Shushan | August 1977 – June 1978 | ||
| 16 | Yitzhak Koral Almog | July 1978 – August 1981 | ||
| 17 | Alex Tal | August 1981 – August 1983 | ||
| 18 | Doron Amir | August 1983 – July 1986 | ||
| 19 | Danny Melamed | July 1986 – July 1989 | ||
| 20 | Bani Arieli | August 1989 – July 1991 | ||
| 21 | Dror Aloni | August 1991 – January 1993 | ||
| 22 | Dodo Iver | June 1993 – April 1995 | ||
| 23 | Bnei Hod | April 1995 – October 1997 | ||
| 24 | Shloma Cohen | October 1997 – September 1999 | ||
| 25 | Eli Gambash | September 1999 – April 2002 | ||
| 26 | Benny Shefnier | April 2002 – October 2004 | ||
| 27 | Ilan Shariki | October 2004 – August 2007 | ||
| 28 | Ronan Niemani | August 2007 – July 2011 | ||
| 29 | Tzachi Appelman | July 2011 – August 2013 | ||
| 30 | Sami Tzemach | August 2013 – 2015 | ||
| 31 | Yuval Ilon | 2015 – July 2017 | ||
| 32 | Nadav Turgeman | July 2017 – August 2019 | ||
| 33 | Boris Shuster | August 2019 – July 2021 | ||
| 34 | Tamir Shemesh | July 2021 - incumbent[8] |