[3] Barkai and Admiral Binyamin Telem decided to lure the Egyptians out by shelling coastal targets along the Nile delta.

The Israeli boats charged at forty knots, but after about thirty minutes it turned out that they had been chasing electronic shadows.

Halting to regroup, Barkai asked his ships to report the state of their fuel and munitions supply.

As he was moving from the Miznak to INS Herev, four Osa-class missile boats were detected coming out of Alexandria, heading east.

At 23:00, Barkai formed his boats into three pairs, moving in parallel lines across a broad front.

The Sa'ar boats switched on their electronic defenses and opened full throttle, while Barkai decided not to call for help from the Israeli Air Force.

After firing their last barrage at a range of thirty kilometers, the Osas made a figure-eight maneuver and began speeding back to Alexandria, with the Sa'ars giving chase.

[8] After a twenty-five-minute chase, INS Keshet entered the seventeen kilometer range and fired a missile which hit an Osa.

The Herev and the Soufa fired dozens of rounds into the Osa before discovering that it had in fact run aground.

The Reshef was closest to it and began chasing the Osa, but the weapons officer reported an electrical malfunction preventing a missile launch.

INS Reshef kept pursuing, hoping to reach gun range, but Barkai noticed that it was breaking away from the rest of the force and was getting dangerously close to the coast.