One of the craziest is Cherbourg Project. Israel (The IDF) payed France for 5 ships, but then, after an ill conceived attack on the Beirut airport, Charles de Gaulle started an official Arms embargo on Israel. Thus the 5 ships were detained in port indefinitely. Israel really really wanted the ships. Moscow was arming the Egyptian army, and the Israelis wanted to keep up. So they stole the boats (which I remind you, they already payed for).
There was a minimal Israeli crew on the ships; so, the IDF sent more crew as tourists, in groups 2; to fill up the ranks. They filled the boats using a small 5 ton truck (they smuggled 250,000 liters of fuel aboard). Dry supplies were purchased, in small amounts over time (not to arouse suspicion). The ships were routinely operated at night for a short time to check the engines; so when the time to escape came, the start of the engines wouldn’t attract attention. Civilian ships were prepared with extra fuel, for refueling the ships once they escaped. The refueling equipment was hidden in the civilian ships.
The ships escaped on Christmas. After about 12 hours, the French learned that the ships escaped. At first, an order to attack the ships from the air was given (the ships were unarmed), but it countermanded. The ships finally arrived at Israel after sailing more then 5000Km. The French of course, were furious, and it was (one) of the reasons Israel changed from French weapons and crafts (Mirage for example) to USA weapons and crafts.
