On 17th July 1947, the President Warfield was renamed "Exodus 1947", in a ceremony on the open sea, and the Zionist blue-white flag with the Star of David, later to become the flag of the State of Israel, was hoisted. The Hatikwa, later to become the Israeli national anthem, was sung repeatedly. Thereby, the Haganah stated their goal: the founding of the State of Israel.
On the following night the unforeseen occured: the British destroyers attacked the Exodus 1947.
Noah Klieger, a refugee, relates the situation:
The British fleet attacked on the night of 17th/18th July, as we were on the high seas, and over
20 sea miles from Palestinian territorial waters. Six destroyers and two minesweepers, under the command
of the light cruiser, "Ajax" [...] made an assault on the "Exodus". An assault on this old, scrap,
pleasure steamer whose belly held over 4,500 Jewish survivors of the holocaust it was taking to the
promised land of Palestine.
The refugees were determined not to surrender the ship to the British without a fight.
Tin cans, screws, potatoes, bottles, wooden boards and metal bars - these were the weapons with
which we "Exodus" refugees fought. Only after the British assault-group had opened fire, and we
suffered the first of our dead and seriously injured, did the combat-tried marines succeed in bringing
the "Exodus" under their control. The unequal fight - in the course of which the destroyers rammed
our ship several times causing heavy damage - lasted 7 hours. We suffered four dead, among them being
the first officer, William Bernstein, and the 15 year old Zvi Jakubowitz, and over 150 seriously
injured.
In the late afternoon of 18th July 1947, the "Exodus 1947", flying the Zionist flag, was escorted into the port of Haifa by the British warships.
