THE Philippine Navy now has three more landing craft heavy ships to boost its capability in carrying out humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations.
The three decommissioned vessels from the Royal Australian Navy arrived last Saturday morning in Liloan, Cebu, the latest addition to the Navy’s LCH fleet.
This brings to five the Navy’s current number of LCH vessels, all from the RAN as pledged by the Australian government.
“It will bolster our capability in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, transport of cargoes for national development and the Navy’s other non-traditional roles,” said Navy spokesperson Capt. Lued Lincuna.
The vessels were off-loaded in Cebu at around 10:30 am Saturday. These were formerly named as named as Her Majesty’s Australian Ship Balikpapan (L126), HMAS Wewak (L130) and HMAS Betano (L133).
Lincuna said recommendations for the new names of the ships are still being considered.
The decommissioned vessels were sold to the Philippine government for P 270 million while the first two LCH sea vessels were donated by the Australian government in July 2015.
Lincuna said the ships will undergo minor repairs and refurbishment in Cebu before being moved to the Navy’s shipyard in Sangley Point, Cavite in May.
These were delivered without armaments although caliber .50 guns will be installed on the vessels as defensive weaponry.
The Navy hopes to complete the refurbishment and repairs in time for the Navy’s 118th founding anniversary on May 25.