Philippine Navy retires oldest warship

The country’s oldest World War 2 era warship was recently decommissioned by the Philippine Navy after 38 years of fruitful service to the nation.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that the decommissioning of the vintage ship, BRP Rajah Humabon (PS-11), is needed due to its expensive maintenance.

“Yes, my directive is to fast track the decommissioning of World War 2 vintage ships,” Lorenzana said in a text message. “They are old and uneconomical to maintain.”

According to Navy officials, the retirement of the ship is in line with the Navy’s Strategic Sail Plan of moving to modern and more capable ships.

Philippine Fleet Spokesperson Lt. Sahirul Taib, said the decommissioning took place at the Captain Moya Boat Landing, Naval Base Haracleo Alano, in Sangley Point, Cavite and was led by Rear Admiral Danilo Rodelas, commander of Philippine Fleet.

“Yes, it’s very old already. The Philippine Navy has been using it for the last 38 years and prior to that, it came and was also used by the United States since 1943,” Taib said.

Taib said after stripping the boat of its navigational equipment, BRP Rajah Humabon will be placed at the Philippine Fleet Museum also in Sangley Point.

“The ship has already served the country for a very long time being the flagship of the Philippine Navy,” Taib said.

The other old Philippine Navy ships will also be decommissioned in the near future once the new ships intended for the service command arrives, according to Taib.

In 2012, BRP Rajah Humabon was used as a training ship of the Philippine Navy under the Naval Education and Training Command.

It was a former destroyer escort of the United States Navy, the USS Atherton (DE-169), in 1943, and was mostly assigned at the Atlantic theater conducting patrols and anti-submarine missions.

New warships The Philippine Navy is still awaiting the completion and delivery of two missile-armed ready frigates from South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries worth 118 billion.

The first ship is expected to be delivered in 2020.

Defense and military officials said that the frigates will give the Philippine Navy an anti-air, anti-surface, anti-submarine and electronic warfare capability once it is commissioned in Philippine Service.

“As soon as the new ships arrive like the frigates, then a decision will be made what vessels will be decommissioned next. We still have the Malvar class (ships). That is also one of our legacy vessels and we have five of them,” Taib said.

“So far we are still using those in our operational areas,” he added.

After BRP Rajah Humabon, the next oldest ship the Philippine Navy has is BRP Pangasinan (PS31), which has been in active service since 1944.

“Aside from BRP Pangasinan, we still have four Malvar Class type ships. One is 1976 while the three others are 1977,” Taib said.