- Navy:
- Sea Companies, 1943-48
- Name:
- פלוגת הים = Plugat HaYam o פלי"ם = Palyam
- Career:
In 1943 the Haganah (the Hebrew secret armed forces) formed the Sea Companies (Plugat Hayam = Palyam) in Palestine. The Palyam primarily engaged in maritime infiltration of immigrant vessels and underwater attacks on British patrol ships, coastal targets and deportation ships. With the start of the War of Independence in 1948, some of the immigrant vessels were turned into “warships,” and the members of the Palyam became sailors in the newly founded Israeli Navy. Some of them formed the nucleus of Shayetet 13, the Israel Naval Commando unit.