BRP Magat Salamat (PS-20)

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BRP Magat Salamat (PS-20)
Career (United States of America) United States Navy ensign
Name: USS Gayety (AM-239) / (MSF-239)
Ordered: 1942
Builder: Winslow Marine Railway and Shipbuilding, Winslow, Wash.
Laid down: 14 November 1943
Launched: 19 March 1944
Commissioned: 23 September 1945
Decommissioned: 1 March 1954
Renamed: USS Gayety (MSF-239)
Reclassified: Fleet Minesweeper
Fate: Transferred to Republic of Vietnam Navy on 17 April 1962. Escaped to the to Philippines in 1975 after the fall of South Vietnam.
Career (Philippines)
Name: BRP Magat Salamat (PS-20)
Namesake: Magat Salamat is the Datu of Tondo in the late 16th century, and is one of the sons of Rajah Lakandula, a native ruler of Tondok (a large part of which is now Tondo, Manila) when the Spanish colonization of the Philippines began.
Operator: Philippine Navy
Commissioned: 1975
Reclassified: Patrol Corvette
Fate: in service with the Philippine Navy
General characteristics
Class and type: Miguel Malvar class
Type: Patrol Corvette
Displacement: 880.8 Tons (Full Load)
Length: 184.5 ft (56.2 m)
Beam: 33 ft (10 m)
Draft: 9.75 ft (2.97 m)
Propulsion: Main: 2 x GM 12-567ATL diesel engines
Auxiliary: 2 x GM 6-71 diesel engines with 100KW gen and 1 x GM 3-268A diesel engine with 60KW gen
Speed: 16 Knots (maximum),
Endurance: 5370 nmi
Complement: around 77
Armament: 1 x 3"/50 caliber gun (76 mm) Mk22
2 × Twin Bofors 40 mm gun
3 × 20 mm Oerlikon guns
4 x 12.7 mm 50 cal machine guns

The BRP Magat Salamat (PS-20) is one of several Miguel Malvar class of Patrol Corvettes in service with the Philippine Navy. She is formerly an ex-USN Fleet Minesweeper based on the Admirable class minesweeper hull that were produced during World War II, and is now classified as a corvette protecting the vast waters of the Philippines. Along with other ex-World War II veteran ships of the Philippine Navy, she is considered as one of the oldest active fighting ships in the world today.[1]


Contents

[edit] History

as USS Gayety (AM-239) circa 1945
as USS Gayety (AM-239) circa 1945

Commissioned in the US Navy as the USS Gayety (AM-239) in 1945, she was assigned in the Pacific theatre of operations, specifically around the Japanese home islands providing minefield sweeping and anti-submarine warfare patrols in the Ryukyus and off Okinawa. She suffered a near-miss from a 500-pound bomb and was damaged, although she was quickly put back to fighting shape. After the war she was decommissioned on June 1946 and placed under the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.

Gayety was recommissioned on 11 May 1951 as a training ship, and was again decommissioned on 1 March 1954, and re-entered Atlantic Reserve Fleet. As part of the reserves, she was reclassified as MSF-239 on 7 February 1955.[2]

as RVN Chi Lang II (HQ-08) circa 1962
as RVN Chi Lang II (HQ-08) circa 1962

She was then transferred to the Republic of Vietnam on 17 April 1962. She served the Vietnamese Navy as RVN Chi Lang II (HQ-08) up until her escape to the Philippines in 1975, together with other South Vietnamese Navy ships and their respective crew.

She was commissioned into the Philippine Navy and was renamed RPS (now BRP) Magat Salamat (PS-20). She is currently assigned with the Patrol Force of the Philippine Fleet.[3]

[edit] Technical details

Originally the ship was armed with one 3"/50 caliber dual purpose gun, two twin Bofors 40 mm guns, 1 Hedgehog depth charge projector, four depth charge projectiles (K-guns) and two depth charge tracks.[4]

The same configuration applies up until the late 1980s when the Philippine Navy removed most of its old anti-submarine weapons and systems, and added three 20 mm Oerlikon guns and four 12.7 mm general purpose machine guns were placed, making it lighter and ideal for surface patrols, but losing its limited anti-submarine warfare capability.

The ship is originally powered by two Cooper Bessemer GSB-8 diesel engines, but was replaced by two GM 12-567ATL diesel engines similar to her sister ships, with a combined rating of around 1,710 bhp driving two propellers. The main engines can propel the 880.8 tons (full load) ship to a maximum speed of around 16 knots (30 km/h).[5]

There are slight difference between the BRP Magat Salamat as compared to her sister ships in the Philippine Navy, since her previous configuaration was as minesweeper, while the others are configured as Patrol Craft Escorts. One of the obvious difference include the weapons compliment.

[edit] Gallery

[edit] References

  1. ^ Armed Forces of the Philippines Order of Battle. Philippine Navy.
  2. ^ Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Gayety page.
  3. ^ NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive. Gayety (MSF 239) ex-AM-239.
  4. ^ NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive. Gayety (MSF 239) ex-AM-239.
  5. ^ DLSU N-ROTC Office. Naming and Code Designation of PN Vessels.

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Miguel Malvar class corvette