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BRP Valentin Diaz

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BRP Valentin Diaz (PS-177) during its commissioning with the Philippine Navy.
History
United States of America
NameUSS Monsoon
BuilderBollinger Shipyards, Lockport, Louisiana[1]
Laid down15 February 1992
Launched10 October 1992
Acquired20 September 1993
Commissioned22 January 1994
Recommissioned22 August 2008
Decommissioned01 October 2004, 28 March 2023[2]
IdentificationPC-4
FateTransferred to Philippine Navy[2]
Badge
History
United States of America
NameUSCGC Monsoon
Commissioned01 October 2004
Decommissioned22 August 2008
IdentificationWPC-4
FateReturned to the US Navy
Philippines
NameBRP Valentin Diaz
NamesakeValentín Díaz, Filipino revolutionary and co-founder of Katipunan
Acquired28 March 2023
Commissioned11 September 2023
IdentificationPS-177
MottoSeek. Strike. Prevail.
StatusIn service
Badge
General characteristics
Class and typeAlvarez-class patrol ship
Displacement331 tons
Length174 ft (53 m)
Beam25 ft (7.6 m)
Draft7.5 ft (2.3 m)
Installed power2 × MTU 6V396 TC52 diesel generators
Propulsion4 × Paxman Valenta 16RP200CM diesel engines producing combined total of 13,400 shp (9,990 kW) sustained [1]
Speed35 knots (65 km/h) maximum
Range2,900 mi (2,500 nmi; 4,700 km)at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Endurance10 days
Boats & landing
craft carried		1 × 7-meter RHIB
Crew4 officers, 24 men, 8 Special Forces
Sensors and
processing systems
  • AN/SPS-64(V)9 I-band Surface Search Radar
  • Sperry Vision RASCAR 2100M Combat System
  • Sperry Vision RASCAR 3400C X-band Navigation/Surface Search Radar
  • Sperry Vision RASCAR 3400C S-band Navigation/Surface Search Radar
  • Wesmar side-scanning hull-mounted Sonar
  • FLIR Systems AN/KAX-1 MarFLIR
Electronic warfare
& decoys
  • Privateer AN/APR-39(V)1 ESM radar warning
  • 2 × Mk.52 Mod.0 sextuple Chaff Launchers
Armament
  • 2 × Mk.38 Mod. 2Bushmaster 25 mm chain guns
  • 3 × M2HG Browning 12.7 mm 50 caliber machine guns
  • 2 × M240 7.62 mm machine gun[3]

BRP Valentin Diaz (PS-177) is an Alvarez-class patrol ship of the Philippine Navy. She is the Philippine Navy's second ship of the class and was a Cyclone-class patrol ship previously named USS Monsoon (PC-4) during her service with the US Navy.

History

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US Navy and US Coast Guard

[edit]
USS Monsoon (PC-4) sailing up the Hudson River in May 2010.

Launched as the fourth of fourteen ships of the Cyclone-class patrol ship, the primary mission of USS Monsoon (PC-4) was to serve as a platform for conducting maritime special operations, including interdiction, escort, noncombatant evacuation, reconnaissance, operational deception, intelligence collection, and tactical swimmer operations. Her small size, stealthy construction and high speed were tailored to performing long-range Special Operations Forces (SOF) insertion and extraction as well as other SOF support duties as needed.

As good a design as it is, Monsoon had barely gone into service in the mid-1990s when the Special Operations Command rejected them as too big for commando missions, and the regular surface Navy dismissed them as too small for any of its missions. The Navy began looking for ways to phase out Monsoon and her sister ships, so on 1 October 2004, Monsoon was decommissioned aon 1 October 2004.

She was then loaned and transferred to the United States Coast Guard, being re-commissioned as USCGC Monsoon (WPC-4). The ships that were on loan to the U.S. Coast Guard were used in a variety of roles, including search and rescue, interception, boarding, and inspection of foreign freighters arriving at United States ports.

As a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, Monsoon, along with USCGC Boutwell helped with the arrest of Mexican drug kingpin Francisco Javier Arellano Félix in 2006 while he was deep-sea fishing off the Baja Peninsula. The crew of Monsoon took him into custody and his U.S. registered fishing boat, Dock Holiday, was towed back to San Diego from international waters by a Coast Guard patrol boat.[4]

She was returned to the U.S. Navy on 22 August 2008, and was re-commissioned. As of 2015, ten of the U.S. Navy's 13 Cyclone-class patrol ships including Monsoon were deployed to Naval Support Activity Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, to deal with a potential conflict with Iran.[5] The remaining three ships of the class are slated to be transferred to Naval Station Mayport in Florida to primarily perform drug interdiction duties with U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (USNAVSO) / U.S. Fourth Fleet.[6]

Monsoon together with sistership Chinook were decommissioned again from the US Navy on 28 March 2023,[7] and were transferred to the Philippine Navy on the same day.[2][8]

Philippine Navy

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The BRP Valentin Diaz (PS-177) and BRP Ladislao Diwa (PS-178) during their commissioning with the Philippine Navy.

She was rechristened as BRP Valentin Diaz (PS-177) on 11 September 2023, in honor of a Filipino revolutionary in its war of independence from Spanish colonial rule.[9][10] She is currently assigned to the Littoral Combat Force of the Philippine Fleet.[11]

The ship is the first ever Philippine Navy ship to use the name.

On 7 April 2024, Valentin Diaz conducted a joint patrol in the South China Sea with BRP Antonio Luna, BRP Gregorio del Pilar, USS Mobile of the US Navy, HMAS Warramunga of the Royal Australian Navy, and JS Akebono of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. This marked the first multinational patrol between the nations.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Saunders, Stephen: Jane's Fighting Ships 2009-2010. IHS Jane's, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c NAVCENT Public Affairs (28 March 2023). "U.S. Navy Decommissions Last Patrol Craft Stationed in Bahrain". DVIDS. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  3. ^ MaxDefense Philippines - Commissioning of BRP Valentin Diaz and BRP Ladislao Diwa
  4. ^ Alfano, Sean; "Feds Land A Big Fish", CBS News
  5. ^ Axe, David. "Congress Hates On the Navy’s Tiniest Warships" War is Boring. 21 April 2015.
  6. ^ "HISTORY OF U.S. NAVAL FORCES SOUTHERN COMMAND/HISTORY OF U.S. 4TH FLEET". U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command U.S. Fourth Fleet. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  7. ^ NavSource Online: Patrol Craft Coastal Photo Archive. "USS Monsoon (PC-4), ex-USCGC Monsoon (WPC 4)". NavSource.org. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  8. ^ "2 ex-US Cyclone patrol boats to join BRP Mariano Alvarez in Navy fleet". Philstar Global. 30 March 2023. Archived from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  9. ^ Punongbayan, Michael (6 September 2023). "US patrol ships to join Philippine Navy fleet". Philstar Global. Archived from the original on 9 September 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  10. ^ Rita, Joviland (11 September 2023). "Philippine Navy commissions 2 patrol vessels". GMA News. Archived from the original on 11 September 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  11. ^ Sadongdong, Martin (5 September 2023). "PH Navy to commission 2 patrol vessels from US". Manila Bulletin. Archived from the original on 8 September 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  12. ^ Lariosa, Aaron-Matthew (7 April 2024). "U.S., Japanese and Australian Warships Join Philippine Forces in South China Sea Patrol". USNI News. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
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