Sa'ar 5 () is a class of Israeli Navy corvettes. They were Israeli designed using lessons learned from the s. Three Sa'ar 5 ships were built by Huntington Ingalls Industries (formerly Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation of Pascagoula, Mississippi) for the Israeli Navy, based on Israeli designs. They were the largest surface warships in Israel's naval fleet, although the Sa'ar 6-class corvette now being deployed are considerably larger. Although classified as "corvettes" due to their small size and crew of only 71, their weaponry and speed are almost comparable to that of a frigate. They are equipped with sonar, 2 triple torpedoes, 2 quadruple missile launchers, electronic warfare capabilities and decoys, a Close-in weapon system, 2 autocannon and a helipad and helicopter hangar. The first of class, , was launched in February 1993, followed by in August 1993 and in March 1994. Combat history On 14 July 2006 during the 2006 Lebanon War, INS Hanit was struck by a Hezbollah-fired C-802 missile while patrolling 8.5 nm offshore of Beirut; the missile was Chinese-built with an upgraded Iranian radar seeker. The missile hit the corvette's unstealthy crane near the rear helicopter pad; the explosion holed the pad, set fire to fuel storage, and killed four crewmembers. The fire was extinguished after four hours and Hanit returned to Ashdod under its own power for three weeks of repairs. The ship's radar system was not fully functional at the time, and both the ECM and the Barak anti-missile systems were in a two-minute stand-by mode. An officer ordered that the anti-missile defenses be switched off about an hour prior to the attack without notifying the captain. The decision took into account intelligence assessments that Hezbollah did not have the capability to hit Israeli warships. The partial sensor shutdowns were known by the officer responsible, but the captain was not informed. In August 2009 INS Eilat and INS Hanit passed through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea, along with a . The move was seen as a possible warning to Iran. On 31 May 2010 INS Lahav and INS Hanit participated in the Gaza flotilla raid, meant to stop a convoy of ships from breaching the blockade of the Gaza Strip, along with the missile boat INS Nitzachon. Ships Three ships of the Sa'ar 5 class have been built: , launched February 1993 , launched August 1993 , launched March 1994 The ships' missile systems