Major Yaakov Raanan, captain of the Dakar submarine, used
verses from Tanach in his final broadcast from the
submarine to Naval Headquarters in Haifa. The message was
received at midnight, January 18, 1968. The following day,
the submarine disappeared.
The final message which Major Raanan conveyed was in response
to a telegram the submarine had received from the Commander
of the Navy, General Zev Almog, who asked that the
submarine's crew dispatch their control messages more
punctually. The reply, which the captain sent at midnight,
read: "See Yeshaya chapter 10, verse 1; see
Tehillim chapter 115, verse 6."
This was the final message. The next day, the submarine
disappeared. Naval commanders examined the verses and
discovered that the YeshayaTehillim
read, "They have ears, and do not listen."
Over the years, historians and researchers tried to ascertain
whether the submarine commander was trying, by means of this
message, to hint at the submarine's difficult situation.
General Mick Alder (Res.), who wrote the book Dakar
which was censored by the military, also found it difficult
to determine whether or not Raanan was alluding to the
impending catastrophe. Some tried to explain that Raanan
sought to hint to the Commander of the Navy that he was
exercising caution against eavesdropping enemies. Others
thought that he was expressing his anger at the unfeeling
instructions of the commander.
The report of the discovery of the submarine was received
with much excitement at in the Avakart home in Haifa. Members
of the family, chareidi Jews who live in the heart of Haifa's
Hadar neighborhood, are deeply linked to the submarine. 31
years ago -- two weeks after the disappearance of the
submarine -- Mrs. Avakart gave birth to twins. She and her
husband decided to call one Dakar, after the submarine, and
the other Raanan, after its captain.
Over the years, the Navy remained in close contact with the
family, participating in all of its simchas. In
appreciation of the names of the twins, the Navy gave the
Dakar's flag, which had remained in Navy headquarters, to the
family. At one point, Captain Raanan's family even sought to
adopt Raanan Avakart, one of the twins.
Erev Shabbos, when reports about the finding of the
submarine began to stream in, the Avakart family was briefed
on the new information. Excitement prevailed in their home.
The family was flooded with numerous requests from the media
for interviews and photographs. Dakar responded to the
request of Yated Ne'eman and told his story to this
reporter, his neighbor.
