Maritime mail: 1st Visit of Israeli Navy to New York (30 April - 11 May 1951) - dateless Long Island addressed cover franked by both American 3c (domestic first class mail) & Israeli 5 pruta Doar Ivri (Israeli DO-2 postage period printed matter rate) stamps & tied by 2x strikes of the illustrated circular cachet of the INS corvette 'Hagana' (one tied to both stamps); cover bears typed heading 'First Visit Israel Navy to NYC'; return addressed to sailor on the ship; unsealed. The Israeli Navy ships 'Hagana' and 'Misgav' participated in a promotional event called "Operation Columbus", in support of the launch of the Israel Bonds drive in the US and accompanying the Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, in New York. The operation set out on 30 March 1951 on a transatlantc route via the Mediterranean and the Azores Islands, on the way to New York City; the original plan was for the ships to visit 14 American ports though for budgetary reasons this was trimmed down to 5: New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC. The highlight of the visit was the New York disembarkment (30 April - 11 May 1951), where 150 sailors participated in a march on Broadway and accompanied Ben-Gurion who rode in an open-topped car.