Handout photo of the USS Michigan. U.S. EMBASSY IN MANILA
The USS Michigan (SSGN 727), an Ohio-class guided-missile submarine, will arrive in Subic Bay on Tuesday. Its arrival coincides with the resumption of the sixth round of talks between the negotiating panels of Manila and Washington for increased rotational presence of American forces in the country.
In a statement, the US embassy in Manila said the warship’s visit is “for a routine port call that highlights the strong historic, community, and military connections between the United States and the Republic of the Philippines.”
“This visit will allow the ship to replenish supplies as well as give the crew an opportunity for rest and relaxation. While in Subic the sailors of the USS Michigan will visit a school that helps persons with disabilities, and visit the Olongapo City Museum to learn more about Filipino culture and history,” the embassy statement said.
The USS Michigan is part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and is homeported in Puget Sound, Washington. It is commanded by Capt. Erik A. Burian and crewed by approximately 150 sailors.
The submarine was commissioned on September 11, 1982 and is the third United States Navy vessel to bear the name of the state. In 2003, the Michigan entered the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington for conversion from a Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine into a Guided Missile Submarine.
In June 2007, the new USS Michigan SSGN-727 was returned to service as one of only four SSGN's in the submarine fleet.
PH eyeing 3rd Hamilton cutter from US?
Meanwhile, a defense source said the government was reportedly negotiating for a third Hamilton-class from the US Coast Guard under the US Foreign Military Sale (FMS), similar to the terms that covered its earlier acquisition of the first two Hamilton cutters that were renamed BRP Gregorio del Pilar and BRP Ramon Alcaraz.
The US Coast Guard decommissioned the high-endurance ship a long time ago but placed it on its excess defense materials for interested countries.
Up to three C-130s are also expected to be acquired by the Philippine Air Force (PAF) to boost its lift transport capability, the source added. PAF currently only has three operational C-130s.
Obama visiting in April
“Let’s see if all these new acquisitions will be announced by US President Barrack Obama come April during his visit in Manila,” the source said.
Obama’s visit is expected to up the ante of tensions between Manila and Beijing, which in recent years have been ensnared in a territorial dispute in the West Philippines Sea (WPS).
Chinese and Philippines ships had a standoff in April 2012 in the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc off Zambales province; and later, in Ayungin Reef in the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), Palawan.
Panatag, though well within the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Philippines, was de facto occupied by China since 2012 after the standoff.
China has also been trying to grab Ayungin by implementing a rotation of naval and maritime ships since June 2013. Beijing recently reiterated its demand for Manila to take out its old, rusting Navy warship that it abandoned in the Ayungin area to mark its claim to the territory. Philippine Marines are stationed in that old ship, the BRP Sierra Madre.
Ayungin is part of the two reefs and 7 islets that comprise the town of KIG led by Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon. The town is found within the WPS, within the heart of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
China is claiming the entire South China Sea as its territory through its nine-dash line claim---a claim Manila described as “excessive” when it haled Beijing to an UN arbitral tribunal in January 2013.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/83361/uss-michigan-us-guided-missile-sub-to-dock-on-tuesday-in-subic
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