Gideon Raz

Gideon Raz was born in 1939 in Petah Tikva

Gideon Raz was born in July 1939, the eldest son of Zehava and Shmuel Reiz. The family moved to Kiryat Motzkin and later to Nahariya, where his father worked as an agricultural instructor for new immigrant villages. In Nahariya he joined the Hapoel sailing club, which drew him to the sea.

In 1953 he entered the Acre naval officers school. He was not strong in theory but did well in practical sailing.

He enlisted in 1957 and served first as deputy commander of a torpedo boat. He then volunteered for the submarine flotilla, where he served 13 years, commanded the submarines INS Leviathan and INS Dolphin, and led the flotilla from 1972 to 1973. In the Yom Kippur War he commanded a missile boat squadron.

He later led the transfer of the first pair of Sa'ar 4 missile boats around Africa to the Red Sea and commanded that arena. He founded the weapons department at Navy headquarters and became head of the Sea Division, serving for some months as acting Navy commander. He then became deputy to the defense establishment comptroller. He died on February 17, 2015.