BRP Gregorio del Pilar Offshore Patrol Vessel completes repairs at end of the month


According to information published by the Philippine News Agency on September 1, 2021, repairs on the BRP Gregorio Del Pilar, which was damaged after a grounding incident in 2018, are expected to be completed this month, a Philippine Navy (PN) official said.
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Russian Vyborg Shipyard laid the Purga ice class coastguard ship of project 23550 925 001 BRP Gregorio del Pilar Offshore Patrol Vessel (Picture source: The Daily Tribune)


One of the ship's two variable pitch propellers was damaged, along with its propeller hub, after its grounding off Hasa-Hasa Shoal in August 2018.

The PN earlier said difficulties in procuring parts and the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic have moved the completion of the repairs of the BRP Gregorio Del Pilar to the later part of 2021.

BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PS-15) is the lead ship of her class of offshore patrol vessels of the Philippine Navy. She is the second ship to be named after Gregorio del Pilar, a Filipino revolutionary general known for his role at the Battle of Tirad Pass.

Gregorio del Pilar is the first Philippine military vessel to employ the now-common shipboard application of aircraft gas turbine jet engines with the use of controllable pitch propellers and is equipped with two 18,000 horsepower (13,000 kW) Pratt & Whitney gas turbines that can propel the ship at speeds up to 28 knots (52 km/h). Gregorio del Pilar also has two 3,500 horsepower (2,600 kW) Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines, capable of driving the ship economically at 17 knots (31 km/h) for up to 14,400 nautical miles (26,700 km) without refuelling.

The Del Pilar-class offshore patrol frigate vessels currently in service with the Philippine Navy are three ships formerly belonging to the US Coast Guard's Hamilton-class high endurance cutters.