BRP Mariano Alvarez (ex USS Cyclone) photos

[Adroth]

Photos of how PS 38 (ex USS Cyclone) was transported. I guess it does pay to re-visit the PN site every now and then. (http://www.navy.mil.ph/gallery/ships/index.html)











Nice to show people on the boat for a change, to be able to gauge the boat's size

[philippinestoday]

dba the US stopped manufacturing these class of vessel?? cn the country acquire the rights to manufacture it for its own military??

[Adroth]

dba the US stopped manufacturing these class of vessel?? cn the country acquire the rights to manufacture it for its own military??

If they gave us the rights, then theoritically we can. I don't think a production agreement came with the donation though.

[philippinestoday]

If they gave us the rights, then theoritically we can. I don't think a production agreement came with the donation though.

does our military attaches or the government as a whole think of donation in a deeper level??  as a means of opportunity in other areas...mainly, economics, sustainability, training, and trade?
i mean, if a donation is given, especially military hardware, we can't just rely on those actual donated units...but they should have asked atleast if technology transfer or manufacturing rights are possible? if money is involve, how much would it be? trade talks can be implmented inconjunction with donations..

[Aogin]

Another interesting quote from Wikipedia.

Decommissioning and Transfer

As good a design as it is, the Cyclone had barely gone into service in the mid-1990s when the Special Operations Command rejected them as too big for commando missions, and the regular surface Navy dismissed them as too small for any of its missions. The Navy began looking for ways to phase out the Cyclone and her sister ships, so on 28 February, 2000, the Cyclone was decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list.

It was then transferred to the United States Coast Guard the next day, being re-commissioned as the USCGC Cyclone (WPC 1). The Coast Guard lacked an effective vessel sized between its 110' patrol cutter and the 210' Medium Endurance Cutter, so there was considerable interest in Cyclone at first. However, her high operating costs were prohibitive and thus she sat largely inactive.

[edit] Donated

Cyclone was eventually given to the Philippine Navy on 8 March, 2004, as part of a $115 million US military aid package to the Philippines, in an effort to bolster interdiction and counterterrorism capabilities. She was rechristened BRP Mariano Alvarez (PS 38), in honor of a revolutionary general in the Philippine war of independence against Spain.