BRP Valentin Diaz (PS-177) during its commissioning with the Philippine Navy. | |
History | |
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United States of America | |
Name | USS Monsoon |
Builder | Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, Louisiana [1] |
Laid down | 15 February 1992 |
Launched | 10 October 1992 |
Acquired | 20 September 1993 |
Commissioned | 22 January 1994 |
Recommissioned | 22 August 2008 |
Decommissioned | 01 October 2004, 28 March 2023 [2] |
Identification | PC-4 |
Fate | Transferred to Philippine Navy [2] |
Badge | |
History | |
United States of America | |
Name | USCGC Monsoon |
Commissioned | 01 October 2004 |
Decommissioned | 22 August 2008 |
Identification | WPC-4 |
Fate | Returned to the US Navy |
Philippines | |
Name | BRP Valentin Diaz |
Namesake | Valentín Díaz, Filipino revolutionary and co-founder of Katipunan |
Acquired | 28 March 2023 |
Commissioned | 11 September 2023 |
Identification | PS-177 |
Motto | Seek. Strike. Prevail. |
Status | In service |
Badge | |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Alvarez-class patrol ship |
Displacement | 331 tons |
Length | 174 ft (53 m) |
Beam | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
Draft | 7.5 ft (2.3 m) |
Installed power | 2 × MTU 6V396 TC52 diesel generators |
Propulsion | 4 × Paxman Valenta 16RP200CM diesel engines producing combined total of 13,400 shp (9,990 kW) sustained [1] |
Speed | 35 knots (65 km/h) maximum |
Range | 2,900 mi (2,500 nmi; 4,700 km)at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Endurance | 10 days |
Boats & landing craft carried | 1 × 7-meter RHIB |
Crew | 4 officers, 24 men, 8 Special Forces |
Sensors and processing systems |
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Electronic warfare & decoys |
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Armament |
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BRP Valentin Diaz (PS-177) is an Alvarez-class patrol ship of the Philippine Navy. She is the Philippine Navy's second ship of the class and was a Cyclone-class patrol ship previously named USS Monsoon (PC-4) during her service with the US Navy.
Launched as the fourth of fourteen ships of the Cyclone-class patrol ship, the primary mission of USS Monsoon (PC-4) was to serve as a platform for conducting maritime special operations, including interdiction, escort, noncombatant evacuation, reconnaissance, operational deception, intelligence collection, and tactical swimmer operations. Her small size, stealthy construction and high speed were tailored to performing long-range Special Operations Forces (SOF) insertion and extraction as well as other SOF support duties as needed.
As good a design as it is, Monsoon had barely gone into service in the mid-1990s when the Special Operations Command rejected them as too big for commando missions, and the regular surface Navy dismissed them as too small for any of its missions. The Navy began looking for ways to phase out Monsoon and her sister ships, so on 1 October 2004, Monsoon was decommissioned aon 1 October 2004.
She was then loaned and transferred to the United States Coast Guard, being re-commissioned as USCGC Monsoon (WPC-4). The ships that were on loan to the U.S. Coast Guard were used in a variety of roles, including search and rescue, interception, boarding, and inspection of foreign freighters arriving at United States ports.
As a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, Monsoon, along with USCGC Boutwell helped with the arrest of Mexican drug kingpin Francisco Javier Arellano Félix in 2006 while he was deep-sea fishing off the Baja Peninsula. The crew of Monsoon took him into custody and his U.S. registered fishing boat, Dock Holiday, was towed back to San Diego from international waters by a Coast Guard patrol boat. [4]
She was returned to the U.S. Navy on 22 August 2008, and was re-commissioned. As of 2015, ten of the U.S. Navy's 13 Cyclone-class patrol ships including Monsoon were deployed to Naval Support Activity Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, to deal with a potential conflict with Iran. [5] The remaining three ships of the class are slated to be transferred to Naval Station Mayport in Florida to primarily perform drug interdiction duties with U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (USNAVSO) / U.S. Fourth Fleet. [6]
Monsoon together with sistership Chinook were decommissioned again from the US Navy on 28 March 2023, [7] and were transferred to the Philippine Navy on the same day. [2] [8]
She was rechristened as BRP Valentin Diaz (PS-177) on 11 September 2023, in honor of a Filipino revolutionary in its war of independence from Spanish colonial rule. [9] [10] She is currently assigned to the Littoral Combat Force of the Philippine Fleet. [11]
The ship is the first ever Philippine Navy ship to use the name.
On 7 April 2024, Valentin Diaz conducted a joint patrol in the South China Sea with BRP Antonio Luna, BRP Gregorio del Pilar, USS Mobile of the US Navy, HMAS Warramunga of the Royal Australian Navy, and JS Akebono of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. This marked the first multinational patrol between the nations. [12]
The Island-class patrol boat is a class of cutters of the United States Coast Guard. 49 cutters of the class were built, of which 3 remain in commission. Their hull numbers are WPB-1301 through WPB-1349.
USCGC Dallas (WHEC-716) was a United States Coast Guard high endurance cutter commissioned in 1967 at the Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was the sixth ship or boat to bear the name of Alexander J. Dallas, the Secretary of the Treasury under President James Madison (1814–1816). She is one of twelve Hamilton-class cutters built for the Coast Guard.
USS Zephyr (PC-8) is a Cyclone-class patrol coastal ship in the United States Navy.
USS Cyclone (PC-1) was the first of the Navy's Cyclone-class coastal patrol ships. As the lead ship of her class, Cyclone served as the test bed for this series of 14 vessels.
The Cyclone-class patrol ships are a class of coastal patrol boats, formerly in service with the United States Navy. Most of these ships, named for weather phenomenae, were launched between 1992 and 1994. The primary mission of these ships is coastal patrol and interdiction surveillance, an important aspect of littoral operations outlined in the Navy's strategy, "Forward...From the Sea." These ships also provided full mission support for U.S. Navy SEALs and other special operations forces. Several ships of the class were transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) for a time and then later returned.
USS Tempest (PC-2) is the second of the Cyclone-class of United States Navy coastal patrol ships, named for various weather phenomena. She was transferred to the US Coast Guard as USCGC Tempest (WPC-2), on 1 October 2004, and placed in 'Commission Special' status until December 2005, when she was formally commissioned as a Coast Guard cutter. She was returned to the US Navy on 22 August 2008.
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USS Monsoon (PC-4) is the fourth Cyclone-class patrol ship. Monsoon was laid down by Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, Louisiana on 15 February 1992 and launched 10 October 1992. She was commissioned 22 January 1994 by the United States Navy. She was decommissioned 1 October 2004 and loaned to the United States Coast Guard as USCGC Monsoon (WPC-4). She was returned to the U.S. Navy on 22 August 2008, and decommissioned again on 28 March 2023.
The second USS Chinook (PC-9) is the ninth Cyclone-class patrol ship of the United States Navy. Contract awarded 19 July 1991 to Bollinger Shipyards, her keel was laid 16 June 1993, and she was launched 26 February 1994. She was delivered on 7 October 1994 and commissioned on 28 January 1995. She was decommissioned on 28 March 2023.
USS Shamal (PC-13) is the thirteenth Cyclone-class patrol ship. Shamal was laid down 23 September 1994 by Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, Louisiana and launched 3 March 1995. She was commissioned 27 January 1996. Decommissioned by the United States Navy 1 October 2004 and transferred to the United States Coast Guard and recommissioned the USCGC Shamal (WPC-13).
USS Tornado (PC-14) is the fourteenth and last Cyclone-class patrol ships, notable for being the only ship in the class designed with shaping features for signature management. She was laid down by Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, Louisiana 25 August 1998 and launched 7 June 1999. She was commissioned by the United States Navy 24 June 2000, decommissioned 1 October 2004 and transferred to the United States Coast Guard as USCGC Tornado (WPC-14).
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The BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-8) was an Andrés Bonifacio-class frigate of the Philippine Navy in commission from 1977 to 1990. She was one of six ex-United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tenders/ex-United States Coast Guard Casco-class high endurance cutters received from the United States after the Vietnam War, two of which were acquired to supply spare parts for the other four. She and her three commissioned sister ships were the largest Philippine Navy combat ships of their time.
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