BRP Cebu (PS28), the oldest fighting ship of the Philippine Navy (PN), has retired from the naval service.
Rear Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo, commander of the Philippine Fleet, presided over the decommissioning ceremony at the Captain Salvo Pier, Naval Base in Sangley Point, Cavite, recently.
The Navy said that BRP Cebu rendered 71 years of credible service to the PN and the maritime nation.
According to the Navy, the patrol ship BRP Cebu was originally built as USS PCE-881, which was a warship for the United States Navy during the World War II.
It was transferred to the Navy in July 1948 and renamed as RPS Cebu (E-28) after a Philippine province of the same name.
“BRP Cebu, along with other World War II-era ships of the PN, was considered as among the oldest active fighting ships in the world today,” said the Navy.
Its notable accomplishment was the conduct of search and rescue operations on the MV Princess of the Stars of Sulpicio Lines, which capsized off the coast of San Fernando, Romblon at the height of typhoon “Frank” (international name “Fengshen”) on June 22, 2008.
In his speech, Bacordo expressed sadness with the decommissioning of the country’s oldest fighting ship. (Martin A. Sadongdong)
