BRP Quezon (PS-70)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Name: | Vigilance |
| Ordered: | 1942 |
| Builder: | Associated Shipbuilding Corp. |
| Laid down: | 28 November 1942 as HMS Exploit (BAM-24) |
| Launched: | 5 April 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 28 February 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 30 January 1947 |
| Struck: | 1 December 1966 |
| Fate: | Transferred to Philippine Navy in 1967. |
 Philippines
|
|
| Name: | Quezon |
| Namesake: | Manuel L. Quezon (1878 - 1944) was the first Filipino president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines under U.S. occupation rule in the early period of the 20th century. |
| Operator: | Philippine Navy |
| Commissioned: | 19 August 1967 |
| Status: | in active service |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Rizal class |
| Type: | Patrol Corvette |
| Displacement: | 890 tons standard, 1,250 tons full load |
| Length: | 221.67 ft (67.57 m) |
| Beam: | 32.67 ft (9.96 m) |
| Draft: | 10.75 ft (3.28 m) |
| Installed power: | 5,800 shp (4,300 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × EMD 16V-645C Diesel Engines |
| Speed: | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) (maximum) |
| Range: | 5,000 mi (4,300 nmi; 8,000 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Complement: | 80 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Armament: |
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The BRP Quezon (PS-70) is one of two Rizal class ships in service with the Philippine Navy. She was formerly a USN Auk class minesweeper produced during World War II, and is now classified as a patrol corvette protecting the vast waters of the Philippines. Along with other ex-World War II veteran ships of the Philippine Navy, she is considered as one of the oldest active fighting ships in the world today.
USS Vigilance (AM-324) was originally laid down for the Royal Navy under the lend-lease program as HMS Exploit (BAM-24). However the United States Navy decided to keep the ship and renamed her Vigilance (AM-324) on 23 January 1943.
Commissioned in the US Navy in 1944, her first duties included screening of transport convoys between Pearl Harbor and the Marshall Islands and local escort duties between Guam, Peleliu, and Ulithiat. She also did minesweeping duties and anti-submarine patrols near Okinawa, was able to assist in anti-aircraft duties with other vessels, and assisting in firefighting and treatment of wounded from USS Whitehurst (DE-634) and USS England (DE-635). She was able to shoot a number of attacking Japanese aircraft during this period. She continued on minesweeping and patrol duties in Leyte, Philippine Islands, and in the Japanese home islands before and after Japan surrendered. With her service during World War II, she was awarded with three battle stars.
She was then transferred to the Philippines on 19 August 1967 and was commissioned to the Philippine Navy as the RPS (now BRP) Quezon (PS-70), and together with her sister ship, was one of the Navy's main warships during the 1960s up to the present.
She was stricken from the navy in late 1994, but was overhauled at the Cavite Naval Dockyard and returned to service in 1995. Some of her weapons were also removed, mainly its anti-submarine equipment due to lack of spare parts. This includes the five Mk6 depth charge projectors and two depth charge racks. This move totally removed her anti-submarine warfare capabilities, which were outdated. Quezon completed a rehabilitation overhaul in April 1996 by Hatch & Kirk, wherein she was fitted with a remanufactured EMD 645C diesel engines, rehabilitation works, and equipping the ship with state-of-the-art safety equipment on deck and engine room with all digital control panels. Recent upgrades includes a satellite radio dish for communications.
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Wikipedia