Philippine Navy's BRP Rizal (PS-74) Retiring Soon

As the Philippine Navy's Flag Officer in Command (FOIC) Vice Adm. Robert Empedrad recently announced in his press statement, that the Philippine Navy is short of ships that will allow them to have the capability to patrol and defend our vast waters, MaxDefense Philippines received news that the Philippine Navy is preparing to retire another warship and a fast attack craft soon.

The warship is one of the Philippine Navy's major surface assets and among the longest serving ships in the fleet.

This ship is no other than the Rizal-class patrol vessel, the BRP Rizal (PS-74).

The BRP Rizal (PS-74), taken in 2018. Photo taken from the BRP Rizal's Facebook page.

The Journey from USS Murrelet (AM-372) to BRP Rizal (PS-74):

The BRP Rizal (PS-74) was formerly the US Navy Auk-class minesweeper USS Murrelet (AM-372) first commissioned with the US Navy in 24 August 1945. Although it was too late for the ship to see action in World War II, the USS Murrelet was assigned to sweep mines remnants from the war along Japanese and Korean waters in 1946.

The ship saw action during the Korean War in 1951 to 1952, conducting maritime patrols and minesweeping operations before returning to the US mainland in 1952. She was again reassigned in Korea in 1953. The ship received 5 Battle Stars for its service in the Korean War, before she was reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper with hull number MSF-372 in 1955, and decommissioned from US Navy service in 1957. 

As the USS Murrelet (AM-372). Photo taken from Wikipedia.

The ship was transferred to the Philippine Navy as part of US Military Assistance Program, and was commissioned on 18 June 1965 as the fleet minesweeper RPS Rizal (E-69), names after the Rizal province rather than the national hero.

As RPS Rizal (PS-69) in the 1960s. Photo taken from Navsource.

That makes her a almost 55 years in service with the Philippine Navy, and over 75 years old in active service with any naval service!

She was reclassified the Philippine Navy in 1966 as a patrol ship with hull number changed to PS-69. In the Philippine Navy, due to its previous US Navy designated as MSF, the ship together with its sistership the BRP Quezon (PS-70) were unofficially called "Minesweeping Frigates".

After a long service with the Philippine Navy, the ship should have been replaced decades ago, with the original plan was for it to retire in 1994. But due to lack of sufficient naval assets, the ship was rehabilitated and brought back to service as the BRP Rizal (PS-74) in 1995.

BRP Rizal in 2016. Photo taken from Wikipedia.

And with the Philippine Navy's Sail Plan 2020 in place, it was decided that ship will be among those for retirement from service before the end of 2020. MaxDefense received information that the tentative schedule of decommissioning ceremonies will be on 29 January 2020, subject to change depending on situation.

Currently, the ship is among the mainstays of the Offshore Combat Force, Philippine Fleet.

BRP Rizal's current badge. Photo taken from BRP Rizal's Facebook page.

Replacements?

Following the concept of 1:1 replacement, it appears that the BRP Rizal (PS-74) does not have an actual replacement. 

But sources in the Philippine Navy believes that the upcoming frigate for delivery in the next few months, the first of the Jose Rizal-class frigate. the future BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150) could be it.

The upcoming frigate, the future BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150) is said to be BRP Rizal's successor although the Philippine Navy appears to not follow the concept of 1:1 replacement due to more retirements than commissioning of major surface assets between 2010 and 2020. Credits to original source of photo.

This is based on the premise that the 4 retired Malvar-class (ex-USN PCE) patrol vessels from 2010 to 2019 were replaced by the 3 Hamilton-class cutters acquired from the US Coast Guard, which are now known as the Del Pilar-class ocean patrol vessels. And the last destroyer escort of the Philippine Navy, the former BRP Rajah Humabon (PS-11) was replaced by the Pohang-class corvette BRP Conrado Yap (PS-39).

MaxDefense has no objection on the idea of the ship being retired, as we believe that the Philippine Navy should have the ship rested back in 1994 and instead tried its best to get a newer replacement.

But with the Philippines in a poorer security situation compared to 1994, the Philippine Navy should have instead used the ship a little longer until more newer assets are available. This is to allow the Philippine Navy to have sufficient assets to conduct patrols and maritime security operations.

While there are already plans to acquire additional Pohang-class corvettes from South Korea, the DND and the Philippine Navy has not moved quick to secure them yet despite South Korea having at least 2 recently retired ships available for the taking.

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MaxDefense will be monitoring the planned retirement of BRP Rizal, and post on our social media page if the event takes place. Until then, we do hope that the Philippine Navy will try its best to pursue ways to keep its operational capabilities in check despite the reduced number of ships in its fleet.

With the upcoming retirement, it is not too far off that its sistership, BRP Quezon (PS-70) will be up for retirement very soon, most likely within the year. MaxDefense will monitor these developments as well.

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First edit and release: 20 January 2020
Copyright MaxDefense Philippines

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Is the Philippines Navy's BRP Sultan Kudarat (PS-22) Next on the Retirement Queue?

MaxDefense received a shoulder tap lately that another major surface ship of the Philippine Navy will be retiring soon.

Based on the information we received and validated by different sources, the next ship on the axe is the Malvar-class patrol vessel, BRP Sultan Kudarat (PS-22).

The ship was suppose to have its major dry-dock works last 2017, but apparently it did not happen. And now the Philippine Navy leadership decided to just retire it as part of the PN’s Sail Plan 2020, which aims to retire all its World War 2-era warships and surface assets by 2020.

The Malvar-class patrol vessel BRP Sultan Kudarat (PS-22) together with a Point-class patrol boat BRP Abraham Campo (PC-396) in Mactan, Cebu in 2010.
Photo taken by and credited to Mike Baylon, directly taken by MaxDefense from Navsource. 

Brief History:

BRP Sultan Kudarat (PS-22) was originally a PCE-842-class patrol craft escort of the US Navy, which was commissioned in October 1944 as PCE-895, and served in the remaining years of World War 2. She was renamed as USS Crestview (PCE-895) in February 1956, and was transferred to the Republic of Vietnam Navy in November 1961.

As the US Navy patrol craft escort USS PCE-895 during World War 2 (top), and as the USS Crestview (PCE-895) taken in 1955 (above).
Photos taken from Navsource. 

In South Vietnamese service, she was named Dong Da Il (HQ-07) and served from 1961 to 1975. The ship was among those that escaped Vietnam after South Vietnam fell to North Vietnamese forces. Legally, the US government took possession of the ship despite being docked in the US Navy base at Subic Bay.

As the Republic of Vietnam Navy patrol vessel Dong Da II (HQ-07) taken in South Vietnam in 1971.
Photo taken from Navsource.

Out of practicality, the US handed-over the ship to the Philippine Navy in April 1976, and was named RPS Sultan Kudarat (PS-22). She is considered one of the oldest fighting ships in service anywhere in the world, being in service for more than 74 years now, 43 years of it with the Philippine Navy.  She currently serves with the Philippine Fleet’s Offshore Combat Force.

As the Philippine Navy ship BRP Sultan Kudarat (PS-22) during post-repair sea trials in Subic Bay in 1989.
Photo taken from Navsource.

Expected Fate:

Like most of her sister-ships that served the Philippine Navy, BRP Sultan Kudarat might be used as a parts hulk for the remaining sister-ships still in service. If we follow the usual way the Philippine Navy disposes retired ships, her hull might be sold-off as scrap and the PN could use the sale for other purposes. 

But MaxDefense’s opinion is that this could change, as it could also be possible for the PN to use the hulk as a target ship as part of a Sinking Exercise (SINKEX) once the new Jose Rizal-class frigates, armed with the LIGNex1 SSM-700K C-Star anti-ship cruise missile, gets commissioned starting 2020.

Let’s see when exactly will this happen, although our information was that the retirement may happen “very soon”.

BRP Sultan Kudarat's hulk as a SINKEX target? Who knows, it may happen.
Photo taken from Youtube.

Same Issue on Lack of Replacements:

This upcoming retirement of BRP Sultan Kudarat highlights an issue that MaxDefense has been saying for several years now: that the Philippine Navy is retiring it's assets without a replacement.

Normally in other navies, a ship only retires when a replacement is already on it's way. In the case of BRP Sultan Kudarat, it is unclear what replacement will be coming to cover the Navy's capabilities by it's retirement.

MaxDefense compiled the retirements made by the Philippines Navy since 2015 to show our point in a clearer manner, and we will only focus on surface combatants above 100 tons and not transport or amphibious support vessels:

Retirements:
* BRP Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo (PG-140) Aguinaldo-class inshore patrol vessel - early 2016
* BRP Gen. Antonio Luna (PG-141) Aguinaldo-class inshore patrol vessel - April 2016
* BRP Iloilo (PS-32) Malvar-class patrol vessel - September 2016
* BRP Rajah Humabon (PS-11) Cannon-class destroyer escort(frigate) - 2018
* BRP Dionisio Ojeda (PC-117) Tomas Batilo-class fast attack craft - mid 2018
* BRP Bienvenido Salting (PC-112) Tomas Batilo-class fast attack craft - October 2018


Commissionings:
* BRP Andres Bonifacio (FF-17) Del Pilar-class frigate - July 2016 - apparently the direct replacement of BRP Iloilo (PS-32)
* BRP Conrado Yap (PS-39) Pohang-class corvette - estimated April 2019 - apparently the direct replacement of BRP Rajah Humabon (PS-11)

The BRP Rajah Humabon (PS-11) (top), which retired last year, will be directly replaced by the BRP Conrado Yap (PS-39) (above) which is expected to be commissioned by April 2019 at the earliest.
Photos taken from Wikipedia (top) and to an uncredited source (above).

Based on this, it can be seen that the Philippine Navy has lost 4 major assets, mostly from the Littoral Combat Force, without a direct replacement.

And while the Philippine Navy is expected to receive 2 frigates between 2020 and 2021, and 2 corvettes and 6 offshore patrol vessels between 2022 to 2024, the service is also bound to lose 4 more Malvar-class and 2 Rizal-class patrol vessels before 2021. Thus, there would be a backlog of 4 offshore-capable ships starting 2021 until 2024, that's if the Philippine Navy will not retire more ships in its fleet like the Kagitingan-class inshore patrol vessels.

Aside from the Pohang-class corvette BRP Conrado Yap (PS-39), the only other sure major surface warships coming in for commissioning by 2020 is the BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150) frigate committed by South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries for delivery by early 2020.
Photo taken from HHI's website.

The only way at the moment to provide a short to medium-term solution and avoid the backlog is for the Philippine Navy to introduce used warships by 2020. 

Also, the Philippine Navy has no littoral assets coming in within the Horizon 2, although MaxDefense received information that a friendly foreign government, most likely the US government, is offering littoral patrol boats that could be used to replace the retired ones. But a proposal remains nothing else but paper until the first boats arrive. And until that happens, the absence of a solid plan means for everyone to expect no new assets for the Littoral Combat Force.



For now, all we can do is wait for the Philippine Navy to actually retire the BRP Sultan Kudarat from active service, and hope that they would have a good news to bring once they do the retirement. Replacing them with another Pohang-class corvette or Hamilton-class cutter would be very much welcomed.

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