Roxas Boulevard, Manila – Three Landing Craft Heavy (LCH) vessels that will add up to the growing fleet of the Philippine Navy (PN) arrived in Liloan, Cebu, Philippines from Australia on Mar. 26 at around 10:30 in the morning.
LCH 3, 4 and 5 are the decommissioned vessels of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) formerly named as Her Majesty’s Australian Ship (HMAS) BALIKPAPAN (L126), HMAS WEWAK (L130) and HMAS BETANO (L133). They were transported by a cargo ship from NTG Shipping traversing the waters from Darwin, Australia via Cairns, also of Australia, before heading to the Philippines.
They will be moved from Cebu to the PN shipyard in Cavite in the middle of May in preparation for their christening and commissioning tentatively scheduled on May 25, 2016 in time for the PN anniversary celebration.
With their capability of moving large amounts of cargo, personnel and equipment, these vessels will bolster the PN’s humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations. They will also be useful in transporting troops from one operational area to another especially during amphibious operations.
Correspondingly, the PN initiated necessary preparations and other training activities last year to ensure the competent crewing of these ships which will be validated once they assume their posts. The operational readiness training is deemed to be dynamic and adaptable to changes. At present, more or less 30 PN personnel are assigned aboardship while the vessel will undergo minor repairs and refurbishment.
These three LCH vessels amounting to approximately PhP 270M in total are the supplementary assets procured by the government in conjunction with the two vessels of the same kind that were donated by the Australian Government and subsequently turned over to the PN on July 23, 2015.
The acquisition of additional capabilities of our Navy further translates into offering better service to our maritime nation as we continue to protect our country, step up commitment for HADR and our continuing pledge to provide assistance to our Filipino people in all corners of the archipelago. These new assets are manifestations of our Navy’s optimum readiness to perform its tasks and the ability to adapt vis-a-vis the emergent operating environment.
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