The latest Philippine Navy frigate built by Hyundai Heavy Industries(HHI) departed for the Philippines carrying masks and other quarantine supplies.
HHI announced today that it held a sail-off ceremony for the Philippine Navy’s latest 2,600-ton frigate, BRP Jose Rizal, and the ship set sail to Subic port in the Philippines on May 18.
The Republic of Korea Navy(ROKN) deployed ROKS Seong nam(PCC-775) to the ceremony to wish for a safe voyage of Jose Rizal.
The frigate with maximum speed of 25 knots features the Philippine Navy’s first operation of guided missiles and torpedoes.
HHI shipped quarantine supplies such as 20,000 masks, 180 bottles of disinfectants, 2,000 bottles of hand sanitizers and 300 packs of sanitizing wipes in the vessel as a token of returning gratitude for Philippines’ participation in the Korean War.
Also, HHI succeeded in delivering the vessel four months earlier than the originally scheduled delivery date in September, 2020 even with sever etravel restrictions imposed on personnel and materials due to spread of COVID-19.
A Senior Executive Vice President of HHI Nam Sang-hoon said, “We are honored to have demonstrated our excellent naval ship design and construction capabilities by delivering BRP Jose Rizal four months earlier.” He added, “We send quarantine supplies in hopes that the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the Philippines will slow down.”
Since the delivery of the first Korean-built frigate ROKS Ulsan in 1980, HHI has played a pivotal role in the modernization of ROK Navy designing major warships. And evidently it now expands its service to worldwide navies with advanced, affordable warships. HHI is expected to deliver HMNZS Aotearoa, a 26,000-ton logistics support vessel of the Royal New Zealand Navy, in June 2020.