BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-8)
The BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-8) was an 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 the Vietnam War, two of which were acquired to supply spare parts for the other four. She and her three commissioned sister ships were the largest Philippine Navy combat ships of their time. History Construction and United States Navy service 1944-1946 Gregorio del Pilar was laid down in the United States by Lake Washington Shipyard at Houghton, Washington, as the Barnegat-class small seaplane tender USS Wachapreague (AVP-56), but was converted prior to completion into the motor torpedo boat tender . Commissioned into the U.S. Navy in May 1944, she served during World War II in the New Guinea campaign, the Philippines campaign, and the campaign in Borneo, and performed postwar service in Borneo. She was decommissioned in May 1946. United States Coast Guard service 1946-1972 In 1946, the U.S. Navy transferred Wachapreague to the United States Coast Guard, which commissioned her as the Coast Guard cutter . Reclassified as a high endurance cutter and redesignated WHEC-386 in 1966, McCulloch served for nearly 26 years, on patrol in ocean stations in the North Atlantic Ocean, reporting weather data and engaging in search-and-rescue and law-enforcement activities. Republic of Vietnam Navy service 1972-1975 Transferred to South Vietnam in 1972, she was commissioned as the patrol vessel . When South Vietnam collapsed at the end of the Vietnam War in late April 1975, Trần Bình Trọng fled to Subic Bay in the Philippines, packed with South Vietnamese refugees. On 22 May 1975 and 23 May 1975, a U.S. Coast Guard team inspected Ngô Quyền 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." Philippine Navy service 1977-1990 After Ngô Quyền had been cleaned and repaired, the United States formally transferred her to the Republic of the Philippines on 5 April 1976, and was commissioned into the Philippine Navy as frigate RPS Gregorio del Pilar (PF-8), on 7 February 1977. In June 1980, she was renamed BRP Gregorio del Pilar, and served in the Philippine Navy until she was decommissioned in June 1985. She was again recommissioned afterwards as BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-12), and due to the ship's poor condition she was finally decommissioned in April 1990. Gregorio del Pilar was discarded in July 1990 and probably sold as scrap. Technical details There were changes made to the Andrés Bonifacio class as compared to their original design during its service with the US Navy, US Coast Guard and the Republic of Vietnam Navy. The ships were passed to the Philippine Navy with fewer weapons on-board and old surface search radars, and these were