SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Just like any other incoming vessel in this time of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the country’s newest and most powerful warshipis also undergoing the requisite 14-day quarantine after it arrived here on Saturday from South Korea.
The multi-role frigate, which will be christened BRP Jose Rizal (FF150) upon its commissioning, is now on anchorage at Subic Bay and will remain so until June 1, port officials of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said on Sunday.
“The ship will have to undergo quarantine for 14 days, which includes the five-day sailing time from Korea,” said SBMA deputy administrator for port operations Rani Cruz.
“According to Department of Health and Bureau of Quarantine protocols, the crewmembers would have to undergo swab tests and be cleared for Covid-19 infection before the ship would be allowed to berth,” Cruz said.
The ship crew, he added, include 62 Philippine Navy personnel and 15 Korean technicians from Hyundai Heavy Industry, the company which built the vessel.
The Filipino crewmen had been in Korea for at least three months in order to train in the operation of the frigate, Cruz added.
“The crewmen will have to stay on board the ship until June 1, or after the results of the swab tests administered on them by the Philippine Coast Guard yielded negative results,” SBMA Seaport Department manager Jerome Martinez also said.
According to the Philippine Navy, BRP Jose Rizal will be the most powerful ship in the Philippine military fleet and the first to have missile capability. It will be armed with missiles and torpedoes and will be capable for anti-surface, anti-air, anti-submarine, and electronic warfare.
The ship, launched in Korea on May 23 last year, is rated with a maximum speed of 25 knots and can stay out at sea for 30 days straight.
Costing P8 billion, it is among the first two brand-new frigates to be acquired by the Philippine Navy under a P16 billion (US$315 million) contract awarded by the Philippine government to Hyundai Heavy in 2016. Another P2 billion has reportedly been earmarked for the ships’ weapon systems and munitions.
The 107.5-meter long BRP Jose Rizal and its sister ship the BRP Antonio Luna, which is expected to be delivered in September, are reported to be spinoffs of the HDF-3000 frigate design. This is a smaller version of the South Korean Navy’s Incheon (FFX-1) frigate class.
In recent months, BRP Jose Rizal underwent a series of sea trials, including replenishment exercises off the coast of South Korea with the Royal New Zealand Navy’s future fleet tanker/replenishment vessel HMNZS Aotearoa, which was also built by HHI.
The vessel, which left the Korean city of Ulsan on May 18, reached Philippine waters in the early morning of May 21, the Philippine Navy said. The following day, it was welcomed by the Naval Forces Northern Luzon and rendered a meeting procedure with three patrol boats at the vicinity of Bolinao, Pangasinan.
Later, it was accorded the traditional passing honors by BRP Andres Bonifacio (PS17) and three multipurpose assault crafts (MPACs).
BRP Jose Rizal was supposed to receive an official acceptance ceremony upon docking here last Saturday, but quarantine requirements had cancelled the scheduled naval welcome.
The Philippine Navy said the technical inspection and acceptance of the frigate will be made after the quarantine period, while a simple arrival and commissioning ceremony will be held on June 19 to coincide with the birthday of the Philippine hero Dr. Jose Rizal, the ship’s namesake.
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