BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PF-16)

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BRP RAMON ALCARAZ.jpg
BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PF-16) before the installation of the Mk. 38 Mod. 2 25 mm autocannons.
History
United States
Name: USCGC Dallas
Builder: Avondale Shipyards
Commissioned: March 11, 1968
Decommissioned: March 30, 2012
Identification: WHEC-716
Fate: transferred to Philippine Navy.
Philippines
Name: BRP Ramon Alcaraz
Namesake: Commodore Ramon Alcaraz (1915–2009), former Philippine Navy fleet commander and World War II hero
Acquired: May 22, 2012
Commissioned: November 22, 2013
Maiden voyage: June 10, 2013
Nickname(s): BRP Monching
Status: in active service, as of 2024
General characteristics
Class & type: Gregorio del Pilar-class frigate
Displacement: 3,250 tons, probably less due to removal of several weapons & sensors system
Length: 378 ft (115 m)
Beam: 43 ft (13 m)
Draft: 8.75 ft (2.67 m)
Propulsion:
  • Combined diesel or gas (CODOG) arrangement:
  • 2 × Fairbanks-Morse 38TD8-1/8-12 12-cylinder diesel engines, each producing Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value).
  • Total diesel engine output: Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value)., and
  • 2 × Pratt & Whittney FT4A-6 gas turbines, each producing Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value).
  • Total gas turbine output: Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value).[1]
Speed: 29 knots (54 km/h)
Range: 14,000 nautical miles (25,900 km)
Endurance: 45 Days
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 2 × RHIB
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • Kelvin Hughes MantaDigital 25KW X-band magnetron navigational radar
  • Kelvin Hughes MantaDigital 200KW SharpEye S-band solid state navigation/surface search radar
  • Furuno FAR-28X7 series navigation radar
  • Sperry Mk 92 mod. 1 Fire Control System[1]
Electronic warfare
& decoys:		 2 × Mk.36 Super Rapid Blooming Offboard Countermeasures (SRBOC) Chaff and Decoy Launching System
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 1 × AgustaWestland AW109 Power naval helicopter[4]
Aviation facilities: retractable hangar and flight deck

BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PF-16) is a frigate in the Philippine Navy and the second ship of the Gregorio del Pilar class. From 1968 to 2012, it was known as USCGC Dallas (WHEC-716) and served the United States Coast Guard as a high endurance cutter. It was decommissioned on 30 March 2012 and was acquired by the Philippines under the Excess Defense Articles and the Foreign Assistance Act.[5]

Ramon Alcaraz is the second of several ex-US Coast Guard Hamilton-class cutters that will serve the Philippine Navy.[6]

Design

The ship was designed with a high level of habitability and provides fairly comfortable accommodations, including air conditioning.[7]

Propulsion

Ramon Alcaraz employs the shipboard application of aircraft gas turbine jet engines with the use of controllable pitch propellers. She is equipped with two 18,000 horsepower (13,000 kW) Pratt & Whitney[8][8] gas turbines and can propel the ship at speeds up to 28 knots (52 km/h). Ramon Alcaraz also has two 3,500 horsepower (2,600 kW) Fairbanks-Morse[8] diesel engines, capable of driving the ship economically at 17 knots (31 km/h) for up to 14,400 nautical miles (26,700 km) without refueling.[8] A retractable/rotatable bow propulsion unit provides manoeuvrability in tight situations.

Armament

Prior to turn-over to the Philippine Navy, the ship was armed with a Mk.75 Oto Melara 76 mm Compact main gun, two Mk.38 25 mm Bushmaster chain guns at midships, and a Phalanx CIWS system aft.[9] The CIWS and chain guns were removed prior to its turn-over, with the Mk.75 gun remaining.[10]

The Philippine Navy then purchased two new Mk.38 Mod.2 25 mm Bushmaster Autocannons to replace the mounts removed by the US Coast Guard.[10] These were already installed as of January 25, 2015.[3]

Flight support

Ramon Alcaraz has a flight deck and hangar capable of handling helicopters.

A newly acquired naval helicopter (an AgustaWestland AW109 Power) made its shipboard deployment on May 21, 2014.[4]

History

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See also: USCGC Dallas (WHEC-716)

The ship was first launched in 1968 and served for decades as the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Dallas (WHEC-716) before being given to the Philippines.

The ship was scheduled to be transferred to the Philippines as an excess defense article through the Foreign Assistance Act via a "hot transfer" on May 2012.[11] The Dallas was formally decommissioned on 30 March 2012, and the US Coast Guard removed the ship’s guns and other equipment.[12]

On 6 May 2012 during the 70th commemoration of the Fall of Bataan, President Benigno Aquino III announced the naming of the ex-USCGC Dallas to BRP Ramon Alcaraz in honor of the World War II hero and officer of the Philippine Navy. Commodore Ramon "Monching" Alcaraz commanded one of the Philippine Offshore Patrol's Q-boat Q-112 Abra during World War II which shot down 3 Japanese aircraft.[13]

The ex-Dallas was formally transferred to the Philippine government on 22 May 2012 during a ceremony at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Pier Papa in North Charleston, South Carolina. The ship was turned over to its Filipino crew, with Capt. Ernesto Baldovino as its first commanding officer.[12][14][15] The ship's crew had been in the US for several weeks prior to the transfer for training aboard other Hamilton-class ships operated by the US Coast Guard.[16] Ramon Alcaraz was scheduled to be refitted at the expense of the Philippine Navy prior to sailing to the Philippines. The ship's transfer cost was pegged at Php 450 million (around US$10 million as of 2012), while operation costs will be similar to its sister ship, BRP Gregorio del Pilar.[17] An additional US$5 million was allocated for installation of additional equipment, different from her sister ship Gregorio del Pilar.[18] The ship will have better fire control and weapons systems than Gregorio del Pilar.[19]

The ship was originally expected to leave Charleston, South Carolina for the Philippines on January 2013 but it was delayed.[18][19][20] The ship finally departed Charleston harbor at 10:00 AM on 10 June 2013. She reached the Atlantic-side entrance of the Panama Canal and crossed its entire stretch on 17 June. Ramon Alcaraz continued her journey across the Pacific Ocean and was scheduled for port visits at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, and at Guam.[21] before reaching Manila by 3 August 2013.[22]

On August 1, 2013, Ramon Alcaraz entered Philippine waters.[23] Her official arrival ceremony was held Subic Bay on August 6.[24][25] On November 22, 2013, she was commissioned at Pier 15 in Manila’s South Harbor.[26][27]

After commissioning, she sailed to Tacloban City to transport about 200 tons of relief goods, water purification systems, and navy personnel who helped with relief efforts following Typhoon Haiyan.[26][27]

Notable operational deployments

File:Philippine frigates with USS John S. McCain (DDg-56) in June 2014.JPG
BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PF-16) with BRP Gregorio del Pilar and US Navy USS John S. McCain during CARAT Philippines 2014.

Exercises

The ship, together with its sister ship BRP Gregorio del Pilar participated in joint naval maneuvers as part of CARAT 2014 Philippines from June 26 to July 1, 2014. It was scheduled to conduct exercises on gunnery, combined air, surface, anti-submarine operations at sea.[28]

The ship, together with a naval AW109E helicopter (serial PNH-431), traveled to Northern Australia as a major participant in the KAKADU 2014 Multi-lateral Naval Exercises hosted by the Australian Defence Force from August 25 to September 12, 2014.[29] The ship's crew also participated in boarding training with the Australian Navy before the actual sea-phase of the exercises.[30]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Saunders, Stephen: Jane's Fighting Ships 107th Edition 2004–2005. Jane's Information Group Ltd, 2004.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/315210/news/nation/phl-navy-s-new-ship-the-brp-ramon-alcaraz-reaches-san-diego
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ http://www.zambotimes.com/archives/news/71560-BRP-Ramon-Alcaraz-meets-sister-ship-in-Bolinao,-Pangasinan.html
  25. ↑ http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/320786/news/nation/phl-attempts-to-modernize-navy-with-46-year-old-warship-brp-ramon-alcaraz
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 http://www.philippinestoday.net/archives/12581
  28. ↑ Philippines and US to conduct CARAT 2014 near South China Sea
  29. ↑ Philippine Navy Sends Alcaraz for Biggest Aussie War Games
  30. ↑ Australian and Philippine navies conduct boarding training together in Darwin

External links

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