Name Miguel Malvar class Succeeded by Rizal-class corvette Lost 1 | Operators Philippine Navy Active 6 | |
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Builders Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Co.; Albina Engine and Machine Works; Willamette Iron and Steel Corp.; Winslow Marine Railway and Shipbuilding; USA | ||
The Miguel Malvar class is a ship class of patrol corvettes of the Philippine Navy, and are currently its oldest class of corvettes. These ships were formerly used by the US Navy as Admirable-class minesweepers, and PCE-842-class and PCE(R)-848-class patrol craft, which were both based on the Admirable-class hull. In the Philippine Navy, the vessels have undergone upgrades and modifications, and have been re-categorized as corvettes.
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One ship, the former USN USS Quest (AM-281) was supposedly a member of this class but was converted into a non-combatant Presidential Yacht by the Philippine Navy in 1948 as the RPS Pag-asa (APO-21) (later on renamed as RPS Santa Maria, and as RPS/BRP Mount Samat)
History
The PCE class of naval ships served with the United States Navy during the Second World War.
Out of the reserved US Navy units, six were transferred to the Philippines as part of the US Military Assistance Program (PS-28 to PS-33), while five were former South Vietnamese Navy units that escaped to the Philippines in 1975.
With 40 years of active duty with the Philippine Navy, ships of this class have been involved in local and international crisis, exercises, and incidents.
Technical details
Originally the ship was armed with one 3"/50 caliber dual purpose gun, two to six Bofors 40 mm guns, 1 Hedgehog depth charge projector, four depth charge projectiles (K-guns) and two depth charge tracks.
The same configuration applied up until the late 1980s when the Philippine Navy removed most of its old anti-submarine weapons and systems, and three 20 mm Oerlikon guns and four 12.7 mm general purpose machine guns were installed, making it lighter and more suited for surface patrols, but losing its limited anti-submarine warfare capability.
The ship was originally powered by two Cooper Bessemer GSB-8 diesel engines, but these were replaced by two GM 12-567ATL diesel engines similar to her sister ships, with a combined rating of around 1,710 bhp (1,280 kW). These were then again replaced in the mid 1990s with two GM 12-278A diesels with a combined rating of around 2,200 bhp (1,600 kW) driving two propellers. The main engines can propel the 914 ton (full load) ship to a maximum speed of around 16 knots (30 km/h).