The Philippine Navy decommissioned four of its legacy vessels in a ceremony at Sangley Point, Cavite City, on Monday, March 1.
The decommissioned vessels include the corvettes BRP Quezon and BRP Pangasinan and the fast attack craft (FAC) BRP Emilio Liwanag and BRP Salvador Abcede.
Quezon is the former Auk-class minesweeper USS Vigilance, which initially entered service with the US Navy in 1943. It was subsequently acquired by the Philippines in 1967 and was renamed after a province on Luzon island.
Pangasinan was originally delivered as USS PCE-891, a PCE-842-class patrol craft, to the US Navy in 1944 and was transferred to the Philippine Navy in 1948, subsequently being renamed after a province on Luzon island.
Quezon and Pangasinan were among the oldest active warships in the world just prior to decommissioning.
Emilio Liwanag and Salvador Abcede are both Chamsuri-class attack craft that the Philippines acquired from South Korea in the mid-1990s. The vessels were named after two Filipino military officers who participated in combat operations in the Korean War.
The navy said the gradual decommissioning of legacy vessels is to make way for incoming modern platforms.
