Palyam

Palyam (Hebrew: פלי"ם‎, an abbreviation of Plugat HaYam (Hebrew: פלוגת הים‎), lit. Sea Company) was the sea force of the Palmach.

History

Palyam was set up in April 1945 as the Palmach's tenth company (Pluga Yud) which originated from the Palmach's Naval Platoon. The Company's first commander was Abraham Zakai. It belonged to the Fourth Battalion which was the Palmach's Staff Battalion, attached to the Palmach's Staff Battalion (the 4th Battalion).

The division was in charge of underwater demolition and maritime activity units. The majority of their activities were related to the escorting of ships of Aliyah Bet, immigration ships (66 of them in all) bringing Jewish refugees from Europe by boat, despite the British White Paper of 1939 limiting Jewish immigration into Mandate Palestine.

From August 1945 to May 1948, approximately seventy Palyamniks escorted close to 70,000 immigrants in 66 sea voyages, from Sweden in the north to Algeria in the south, France in the west to Romania in the east. They also escorted the arms ships that brought vital arms during the war.