Japanese troops fired two Type-88 surface-to-ship missiles from the coast of northwestern Luzon on May 5, sinking a decommissioned Philippine Navy corvette that had once fought against Japan in the Pacific War. The missiles, fired from Culili Point in Paoay, Ilocos Norte, struck the BRP Quezon (PS-70) approximately 50 miles offshore, sending the 82-year-old vessel to the bottom of the South China Sea. The ship, which as USS Vigilance had conducted anti-submarine patrols near Okinawa, was sent to the bottom by the nation she once helped defeat. The live-fire was the centerpiece of this year’s Balikatan exercise, the annual joint military drill between the Philippines and the United States, which runs through May 8.
U.S. Marine Corps video by Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Pruett
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi observed the launch from stands overlooking the dunes at Culili Point. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. watched remotely from military headquarters in Quezon City, according to news reports.
The missiles were launched by the 1st Surface-to-Ship Missile Regiment, 1st Artillery Brigade, JGSDF, deployed from Kitachitose Garrison in Hokkaido. The regiment is one of the JGSDF’s primary coastal defense units, trained to operate in the northern straits separating Japan from Russia. Its deployment to the Philippines represents the furthest the unit has operated from its home garrison in a live-fire context.
The BRP Quezon (PS-70) had a longer operational history than most of the personnel who watched her go down. She began life as USS Vigilance (AM-324), an Auk-class minesweeper commissioned by the U.S. Navy in 1944. During World War II she screened transport convoys between Pearl Harbor and the Marshall Islands and conducted escort duties between Guam, Peleliu, and Ulithi, before moving on to minesweeping and anti-submarine patrols near Okinawa.
She was transferred to the Philippine Navy in August 1967, renamed BRP Quezon in honor of Manuel Quezon, the first President of the Philippine Commonwealth, and reclassified as a patrol corvette. She served as one of the Navy’s principal surface combatants through the late Cold War period. A mid-1990s refit at Cavite Naval Dockyard, followed by a 1996 overhaul by American contractor Hatch & Kirk, extended her service life with re-manufactured EMD 645C diesel engines and updated safety systems, though her anti-submarine equipment was removed due to obsolescence and lack of spare parts.
She was decommissioned on March 1, 2021, at Heracleo Alano Naval Base in Sangley Point, Cavite, after 77 years of combined service — 53 of them under the Philippine flag. At the time she was among the oldest active warships in the world. The Philippine Navy cited modernization priorities in retiring her, part of a broader transition toward platforms such as the Jose Rizal-class frigates acquired from Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea.
She had been held in reserve since decommissioning, awaiting a final assignment. Tuesday was it.
For more information, hit the Source below