3rd coast guard cutter from US turned over

From Malaya Business Insight (Oct 31): 3rd coast guard cutter from US turned over

THE Philippine Navy’s third cutter, donated by the administration of US President Barrack Obama, is due to leave the United States on Tuesday (American time), three months after it was officially transferred to the Philippine government.

Navy public affairs office chief Capt. Lued Lincuna said the ship, which had been named after Andres Bonifacio, is expected to arrive on the second week of December.

Lincuna said the ship will be manned by around 80 Filipino crew members who underwent training on the vessel, a former US Coast Guard asset previously known as the USNS Boutwell.

Lincuna said BRP Andres Bonifacio will depart from a US Coast Guard base in Alameda, California where it has been docked since it was decommissioned by US authorities in March this after 48 years in the service.

The ship was transferred to Philippine Navy officials last July, through the US Excess Defense Articles Program.

She will be joining her sister ships, BRP Gregorio Del Pilar and BRP Ramon Alcaraz which arrived the country in 2011 and 2013, respectively.

The ship was second of the two ships which Obama promised to transfer to the Philippine government during a visit in Manila in November last year, at the sidelines of the Association of Asia Pacific Economic meeting.

The first ship, a research vessel, was renamed BRP Gregorio Velasquez, named after a pioneer in Philippine physiology.

http://www.malaya.com.ph/business-news/news/3rd-coast-guard-cutter-us-turned-over