BRP Conrado Yap, a Philippine Navy corvette, detected a United States submarine submerged in the waters of Palawan in November 2019.
This was regarded as the first ever submarine detection in the 121-year history of the country’s naval warfare service.
“The BRP Conrado Yap was able to detect a submarine while it was travelling in Palawan. That was the first time that it happened to our Navy,” PN Flag-Officer-in-Command Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad said.
Empedrad said the crew manning the BRP Conrado Yap was on its way to Zamboanga for a “show the flag” mission, a naval event where a ship displays the flag of its country as an expression of patriotic pride, when it detected the American submarine.
Acquired from the Republic of Korea Navy on Aug. 5, 2019, the BRP Conrado Yap is the first modern corvette or small warship of the PN. It is also regarded as the Navy’s most heavily-armed unit at present.
It is equipped a variety of sonars and radars making it capable of anti-submarine warfare. Aside from that, it is also armed with a guided missile fire control system and a variety of armaments, enabling it to take down submarines if ever it detects one. (Martin Sadongdong)