TSAMTO, May 14. The Philippine Navy prefers to purchase the recently decommissioned US Coast Guard Cyclone-class coastal patrol ships instead of the additional Hamilton-class boats.
According to the Philippine news agency PNA, this was officially announced by the commander of the Philippine Navy, Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo, during a briefing on May 10.
D. Bacordo said this, answering a question from one of the journalists about whether the Navy is going to acquire the additional US Coast Guard boat (USCGC) "Mellon" of the Hamilton class, which was decommissioned in August last year.
The Philippine Navy at the beginning of last month for the first time expressed interest in the acquisition of patrol ships of the "Cyclone" class as a temporary replacement for existing obsolete ships. This class of ships is considered more suitable for the current requirements of the Philippine Navy than the three Hamilton-class boats received in recent years (in 2011, 2013 and 2017). The need to purchase a Cyclone-class PC arose due to the decommissioning of ships from the Second World War.
The number of Cyclone PCs purchased by the Philippines will depend on the technical condition of the proposed ships. The Joint Inspection Unit of the Philippine Navy is responsible for evaluating the ships. The Navy hopes to acquire at least five Cyclone-class ships. An appeal will also be sent to the American side with a request to leave the weapons available on the transferred ships, if possible.
The Philippine Navy currently has one Cyclone-class patrol ship, BRP General Mariano Alvarez (PS-38), which was transferred from the U.S. Navy in 2004.
The Cyclone-class coastal patrol ships are a class of 14 patrol ships of the United States Navy. Almost all of them were launched between 1992 and 1994.
The ship has a displacement of 333.8 tons, a length of 179 feet (55 m), a width of 25 feet (7.6 m), a draft of 7.5 feet (2.3 m), a maximum speed of 35 knots, and a range of 2,000 to 2,500 nautical miles.
Armament consists of two 25-mm MK-38 AU, two 12.7-mm machine guns, two 40-mm MK-19 automatic grenade launchers, two 7.62-mm M240B machine guns, six FIM-92 Stinger MANPADS, two MK-60 quad rocket launchers with a BGM-176B Griffin-B UR.