BRP ''Cebu'' (PS-28) was a of the

Philippine Navy The Philippine Navy (PN) () is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It has an estimated strength of 24,500 active service personnel, including the 10,300-strong Philippine Marine Corps. It operates 91 combat ...

. She was originally built as USS ''PCE-881'', a for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and patrolled the Alaskan coast during that war. She was decommissioned from the U.S. Navy and transferred to the Philippine Navy in July 1948 and renamed RPS ''Cebu'' (E-28) after the Philippine province of the same name. The ship was decommissioned on 1 October 2019. Along with other World War II-era ships of the Philippine Navy, ''Cebu'' was considered one of the world's oldest fighting ships during her active service.

History

Commissioned in the US Navy as USS ''PCE-881'' in 1944, and patrolled the coast of Alaska during World War II. The ship was decommissioned after World War II. She was then transferred and commissioned into the Philippine Naval Patrol and was renamed RPS ''Cebu'' (E-28) in July 1948. She was carried on to the

in 1951, and in the 1960s she was renamed as RPS ''Cebu'' (PS-28) using a new ship naming and classification system. Again in June 1980 she was renamed BRP ''Cebu'' (PS-28) using a new localized prefix.''Philippine Navy Information Manual 1995 - Adoption of Pilipino Translation of "Bapor ng Republika ng Pilipinas"'' In 1992 the ship underwent major overhaul, weapons and radar systems refit, and upgrade of communications gear.Saunders, Stephen: ''Jane's Fighting Ships 107th Edition 2004-2005''. Jane's Information Group Ltd, 2004. BRP ''Cebu'' won the Philippine Navy "Ship of the Year" award for the year 2009. She was assigned with the Patrol Force of the Philippine Fleet, under the jurisdiction of Naval Forces Western Mindanao. She was decommissioned in a ceremony on 1 October 2019. In October 2022, the ship along with the BRP ''Rajah Humabon'' (PS-11) and BRP ''Sultan Kudarat'' (PS-22) was seen tilted over and submerged at the Naval Station Pascual Ledesma in

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite (; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region. On the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest of Manila, i ...

after the onslaught of Severe Tropical Storm Nalgae.

Notable operations

After the ship's construction and the crew's training was completed in Portland Oregon, it patrolled the coast of Alaska from the Aleutian Islands to the Bering Strait during World War II. The ship's commanding officer was Lieutenant Commander W.W. Adams. Between 19 and 22 March 1958, then RPS ''Cebu'' participated in the first bilateral exercise between the Philippine and US Navies dubbed ''Exercise "Bulwark One"''. It took part on the 3rd phase of the exercise off the waters of Corregidor and Caballo Islands. On 1968, during the height of the so-called 'Operation Merdeka', against the combined might of the Royal Navy and Royal Malaysian Navy ships, BRP Cebu stood her 'ground' to protect the maritime border of the Philippines and confronted the British-Malaysian warships raring to do a battle with her after learning that the Philippines is preparing to invade Sabah. The stand-off between the Philippine Navy and British-Malaysian Navy lasted for 10 tense hours giving the Philippine Navy patrol craft escort/corvette a victory for not yielding even an inch of the Philippine territory. As of 23 June 2008, she and her onboard medical team participated in the

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

of the MV ''Princess of the Stars'' of

Sulpicio Lines Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corporation (PSACC), formerly branded as Sulpicio Lines, Inc. (SLI, ), is a major shipping line in the Philippines. PSACC is one of the largest domestic shipping and container companies in the Philippines in terms o ...

, which capsized off the coast of San Fernando, Romblon at the height of

Typhoon Fengshen Typhoon Fengshen, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Frank, was the deadliest typhoon to hit the Philippines since Typhoon Durian in 2006. It was the sixth named storm and the fourth typhoon recognised by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). T ...

on 22 June 2008. BRP ''Cebu'' and have alternately secured the Southern Sulu Sea where the Baduria Well is located. She also provides security for the West Aquarius Oil Rig. In middle of May 2018, the BRP ''Cebu'' participated in the ''Third Combined Maritime Security Activity'' with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) along with the BRP General Mariano Alvarez (PS-38), BRP Anastacio Cacayorin (PS-381), BRP Dioscoro Papa (PG-381) and BRP Filipino Flojo (PG-386). The RAN sent the vessels

HMAS Albany (ACPB 86) HMAS ''Albany'' (ACPB 86), named for the city of Albany, Western Australia, is an Armidale-class patrol boat, ''Armidale''-class patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Design and construction The ''Armidale'' class patrol boats are l ...

and HMAS Glenelg (ACPB 96) for the exercise. In the latter part of May 2018, the BRP ''Cebu'' held a meeting with the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) ship, the KD ''Sri Tiga'' at the maritime border between

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and the Philippines to exchange intelligence information as part of the ''Trilateral Maritime Patrol Programme'' in the Eastern Security Zone (Esszone) of

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

Technical details

There are slight differences between the BRP ''Cebu'' as compared to some of her sister ships in the Philippine Navy, since her previous configuration was as an Escort-type ASW Patrol Craft ( PCE, ie, equipment more on being a combatant), while the others are configured as Rescue-oriented ASW Escort Patrol Craft ( PCER, ie, having more equipment to tend the wounded & such, like a small hospital ship), and as minesweepers ( ''Admirable'' class) ships.

Armaments

Originally, the ship was armed with:
''SuW-AAW'' *1 × Mk.26 76mm (3-inch) 50L DP (dual-purpose) cannon *3 × (twin-barrel) Mk.1 Bofors 40mm AA cannons *4 × Mk.10

Oerlikon 20 mm The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models employ ...

AA cannons (or in 1 × quad-barrel config ) ''ASW'' *1 ×

Hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction. The ...

antisubmarine mortar projector *4 ×

K-gun A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarines by detonating in the water near the target and subjecting it to a destructive hydraulic shock. Most depth charges use high explosives with a fuze set to det ...

depth charge projectors *2 × depth charge racks This configuration applies before its overhaul in the early 1990s. That config is what made her as a ''patrol corvette'' - an ASW vessel lower than a corvette. During its overhaul and refit in 1992, the

removed her old anti-submarine weapons and systems, and made some changes in the armament set-up. Some sources claim the loss of its three Bofors 40mm cannons during the 1992-1993 overhaul and refit period, but photo

on 2009 show the Bofors guns still present, although in singles instead of twins. Thus, armaments fitout to the ship are: * 1 × Mk.26 3-inch/50-caliber gun, 76mm (3") 50L DP cannon (fore) * 3 × (single-barrel)Bofors 40mm close-in anti-air rapid-firing lite cannons (aft) * 4 × Mk.10

close-in anti-air rapid-firing lite cannons (2 each on bridge wings) ''or only 3 cannons on this same source'' * 4 ×

M2 Browning The M2 machine gun or Browning .50-caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed near the end of World War I by John Browning. While similar to Browning's M1919 Browning machine gun, which was chambered ...

50cal (12.7mm) heavy machine guns (2 beside main bridge, 2 aft near the ship's end) 'added during that refit'' That above config made the ship lighter and ideal for surface patrols, but losing her limited anti-submarine warfare capability. She is then a ''gun-type corvette'' - an OPV more rugged, more heavily armed than the usual coastguard OPVs & other similar ones.

Electronics

Also during the refit the ship's SPS-21D surface search radar and

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

SPN-18 navigation radar was replaced by a

Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with Unite ...

AN/SPS-64(V)11 surface search and navigation radar system. Later modifications included the installation of long range and satellite communications systems, and GPS system standard to all Philippine Navy ships.

Machinery

The ship is powered by two GM 12-278A diesel engines, with a combined rating of around driving two

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

s. The main engines can propel the 914 tons (full load) ship to a maximum speed of around .''DLSU N-ROTC Office.'
Naming and Code Designation of PN Vessels
.

In popular culture

* BRP ''Cebu'' was the ship escorting a fictional Philippine Navy ''Whidbey Island''-class LSD BRP ''Cagayan de Oro'' during a mission to reclaim the Mischief Reef from the Chinese in the 1997 novel ''Dragon Strike - The Millennium War'' by

Humphrey Hawksley Humphrey Hawksley is an English journalist and author who has been a foreign correspondent for the BBC since the early 1980s. Education Hawksley was educated at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate in Kent, after which he joined the Merchant Navy to ...

and Simon Holberton. In the said novel, the mission failed as Chinese Su-27s sank the ''Cagayan de Oro'', and Chinese forces repulsed the attacks of the Philippine Marines to retake the reef. This resulted to the total withdrawal of the Philippines from the South China Sea war against China.Hawksley, Humphrey; Holberton, Simon (1997). Dragon Strike - The Millennium War

References

External links

Philippine Defense Forum

DLSU ROTC

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cebu (PS-28) PCE-842-class patrol craft Ships built in Portland, Oregon 1943 ships PCE-842-class patrol craft of the Philippine Navy Miguel Malvar-class corvettes Corvettes of the Philippines