.gif)
RVNS Ngo Quyen (HQ-17)
Encyclopedia
RVNS Ngo Quyen (HQ-17) was a South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
ese frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
of the Republic of Vietnam Navy
Republic of Vietnam Navy
The Republic of Vietnam Navy was the naval force of the former Republic of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats from France. After 1955 and the transfer of the armed forces to Vietnamese control, the fleet was supplied from the United States...
in commission from 1972 to 1975. She and her six sister ships were the largest South Vietnamese naval ships of their time. The ship is named after Ngo Quyen
Ngo Quyen
Ngô Quyền was a Vietnamese prefect and general during the Southern Han Dynasty occupation of Giao Châu in the Red River Valley in what is now northern Vietnam...
, who expelled Chinese forces in 938 and founded the first modern Vietnamese state.
Construction and United States Navy service 1944-1946
Ngo Quyen was laid down in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Lake Washington Shipyard
Lake Washington Shipyard
Lake Washington Shipyards was a shipyard in Houghton, Washington on the shore of Lake Washington. Today the shipyards are the site of the lakeside Carillon Point business park...
at Houghton
Houghton, Washington
Houghton is one of the lakeside neighborhoods of the city of Kirkland, Washington. Consisting mostly of upscale, single-family homes, Houghton overlooks Lake Washington and is one of the wealthier districts of the Eastside suburbs of Seattle. The village was named for Willard Houghton, a local...
, Washington, as the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
Barnegat-class
Barnegat class seaplane tender
|The Barnegat class was a large class of United States Navy small seaplane tenders built during World War II. Thirty were completed as seaplane tenders, four as motor torpedo boat tenders, and one as a catapult training ship.-Design:...
seaplane tender
Seaplane tender
A seaplane tender is a ship that provides facilities for operating seaplanes. These ships were the first aircraft carriers and appeared just before the First World War.-History:...
USS Wachapreague (AVP-56), but was converted during construction into the motor torpedo boat tender
Motor torpedo boat tender
Motor torpedo boat tender is a type of ship used by the U.S. Navy during World War II. The Motor torpedo boat tender's task was to act as a tender in remote areas for patrol boats and to provide the necessary fuel and provisions for the torpedo boats she was responsible for...
USS Wachapreague (AGP-8)
USS Wachapreague (AGP-8)
USS Wachapreague was a motor torpedo boat tender that served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946.-Construction and deployment:...
. Commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
in May 1944, she served in the New Guinea campaign
New Guinea campaign
The New Guinea campaign was one of the major military campaigns of World War II.Before the war, the island of New Guinea was split between:...
, the Philippines campaign
Philippines campaign
Philippines campaign may refer to various military campaigns that have been fought in the Philippine Islands, including:-Spanish colonial period :...
, and the campaign
Military campaign
In the military sciences, the term military campaign applies to large scale, long duration, significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of inter-related military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war...
in Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and performed postwar service in Borneo. She was decommissioned in May 1946 and placed in reserve.
United States Coast Guard service 1946-1972
The U.S. Navy transferred Wachapreague to the United States Coast GuardUnited States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
, which commissioned her in 1946 as the Casco-class
Casco class cutter
The Casco class was a large class of United States Coast Guard cutters in commission from the late 1940s through the late 1980s. They saw service as weather reporting ships in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans until the early 1970s, and some saw combat service during the Vietnam War.-Design:Between...
Coast Guard cutter
United States Coast Guard Cutter
Cutter is the term used by the United States Coast Guard for its commissioned vessels. A Cutter is or greater in length, has a permanently assigned crew, and has accommodations for the crew to live aboard...
USCGC Bering Strait (WAVP-386)
USCGC McCulloch (WAVP-386)
USCGC McCullough , later WHEC-386, was a Casco-class United States Coast Guard Cutter in service from 1946 to 1972. She was the fourth ship of the United States Revenue Cutter Service or United States Coast Guard to bear the name....
. Reclassified as a high endurance cutter
High endurance cutter
The designation of High endurance cutter was created in 1965 when the United States Coast Guard adopted its own designation system. High endurance cutters encompassed its largest cutters previously designated by the United States Navy as Coast Guard gunboats , Coast Guard destroyer escorts , and...
and redesignated WHEC-386 in 1966, she patrolled ocean stations in the North Atlantic Ocean, for nearly 26 years, reporting weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...
data and engaging in search-and-rescue and law-enforcement
Law enforcement agency
In North American English, a law enforcement agency is a government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.Outside North America, such organizations are called police services. In North America, some of these services are called police while others have other names In North American...
operations.
Acquisition and operations
After her antisubmarine warfare equipment had been removed, McCulloch was transferred to South VietnamSouth Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
on 21 June 1972 and was commissioned into the Republic of Vietnam Navy
Republic of Vietnam Navy
The Republic of Vietnam Navy was the naval force of the former Republic of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats from France. After 1955 and the transfer of the armed forces to Vietnamese control, the fleet was supplied from the United States...
as the frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
RVNS Ngo Quyen (HQ-17) By mid-July 1972, six other former Casco-class cutters had joined her in South Vietnamese service. They were the largest warships in the South Vietnamese inventory, and their 5-inch (127-millimeter) guns were South Vietnam's largest naval guns. Ngo Quyen and her sisters fought alongside U.S. Navy ships during the final years of the Vietnam War, patrolling the South Vietnamese coast and providing gunfire support to South Vietnamese forces ashore.
When South Vietnam collapsed at the end of the Vietnam War in late April 1975, Ngo Quyen became a ship without a country. She fled to Subic Bay
Subic Bay
Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S...
in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, packed with South Vietnamese refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s. On 22 May 1975 and 23 May 1975, a U.S. Coast Guard team inspected Ngo Quyen and five of her sister ships, which also had fled to the Philippines in April 1975. One of the inspectors noted: "These vessels brought in several hundred refugees and are generally rat-infested. They are in a filthy, deplorable condition. Below decks generally would compare with a garbage scow."
Acquisition by the Philippines
After Ngo Quyen had been cleaned and repaired, the United States formally transferred her to the Republic of the Philippines on 5 April 1976.Philippine Navy service 1976-1985
The ship was commissioned into the Philippine NavyPhilippine Navy
The Philippine Navy is the naval arm of the Armed Forces of the Philippines . Its official name in Filipino is Hukbong Dagat ng Pilipinas, literally, "Sea Force of the Philippines"....
as frigate BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-8)
BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-8)
The BRP Gregorio del Pilar was an Andres Bonifacio class frigate of the Philippine Navy in commission from 1977 to 1990. She was one of six ex-United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tenders/ex-United States Coast Guard Casco-class high endurance cutters received from the United States after...
on 7 February 1977, and was decommissioned in June 1985. She was again recommissioned as BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-12) around 1987, and was finally decommissioned on April 1990, discarded in July 1990, and probably scrapped.