BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG) biggest and newest naval asset arrived yesterday in this city.
BRP Gabriela Silang is an 84-meter long offshore patrol vessel. It was launched at OCEA Shipbuilding at Les Sables-d’Olonne in France on July 17, 2019 and was formally commissioned to the PCG this April 13.
Commander Alberto Ferre, the ship’s commanding officer, said the they were deployed to Bacolod City due to an incoming typhoon.
“We are on standby,” said Ferre.
The BRP Gabriela Silang commissioning was just in time when the country was placed under enhanced community quarantine due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
From April up to this month, the PCG vessel was transporting locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and medical supplies.
The ship was briefly in Bacolod City back in May transporting Negrense LSIs, and delivering personal protective equipment for COVID-19 frontliners in Negros Occidental.
As to the ship’’s capabilities, its complement consists of 60 crew members and can last 22 days at sea without reprovisioning.
Ferre said the ship is also capable of handling rough weather as it is fully-equipped with stabilizers, which also make it fully capable of rescue operations during bad weather.
The ship can also sail at a top speed of 21 knots.
As for armaments, Ferre said the ship is currently unarmed, although the ship will receive its own weapon systems in the future./PN
