page_title: BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PS-15)
section_title: Philippine Navy (2011–present)
hierarchical_section_title: BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PS-15) / Service history / Philippine Navy (2011–present)
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. President Barack Obama aboard the BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-15) in Manila, Philippines on November 17, 2015.
context_page_description: 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. She was originally designated as "PF-15" from 2012 to mid-2016. Then the Navy adopted a new code designation system and she was redesignated as "FF-15". In February 2019, the Navy downgraded the status of the entire class from frigate to patrol ship and redesignated her to "PS-15".
  From 1967–2011, the ship was a Hamilton-class high endurance cutter of the United States Coast Guard, known as USCGC Hamilton. The U.S. decommissioned the cutter on 28 March 2011, and the Philippines acquired it under the Excess Defense Articles and the Foreign Assistance Act. It is one of three ex-US Coast Guard Hamilton-class cutters to serve the Philippine Navy.
context_section_description: Proposal to decommission USCGC Hamilton from the US Coast Guard was made for fiscal year 2011 budget, and the Philippines sent a formal letter of interest for its purchase. USCGC Hamilton was decommissioned on March 28, 2011, and transferred to the Philippine Navy as an excess defense article under the Foreign Assistance Act. The Philippines sent a team to conduct a thorough inspection of the ship in November 2010.
  The US Coast Guard removed some of the ship's equipment before its transfer to the Philippine Navy and plans to use those equipment as spare parts for the other US Coast Guard ships. Among those that were removed are the AN/SPS-40 air surface search radar, Phalanx CIWS, and two Mk.38 M242 Bushmaster 25 mm chain guns. In return, the US Coast Guard began procuring and installing the safe-to-sail navigation equipment, radar systems and additional electronics that the Philippines requested as part of its transfer support case. The Philippine Navy installed a 25 mm chain gun, two 20 mm guns, and six mounted 50-caliber guns as replacement for the equipment removed.
  The ship's transfer cost was pegged at Php450 million, while operation costs for two years was estimated at Php120 million. Funding came from Philippines' Department of Energy, considering that the vessel is projected to be deployed to secure oil platform and exploration activities in the Western and Southern Philippines.
  Training for the crew started in January 2011, when the US Coast Guard provided 10 weeks of combined dockside and underway training on USCGC Boutwell for the ship's prospective commanding officer, executive officer and crew.
  Gregorio del Pilar (PF-15) was formally transferred to the Philippines on May 13, 2011, at the transfer ceremony on Coast Guard Island. Captain Alberto A. Cruz became its first commanding officer.
  Its maiden voyage included a port visit to Hawaii and docking at Alameda, California to finish the remaining work, with around 13 separate contracting actions. Gregorio del Pilar conducted a test at the coast of California to measure the crew's capabilities and the ship's seaworthiness. Gregorio del Pilar made a port visit at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam which was the first time that a Philippine vessel docked at Pearl Harbor. She arrived on the Philippines on August 17, 2011 after port visit in Guam. Gregorio del Pilar arrived in Manila on August 21, 2011. The arrival ceremony was held on August 23, 2011, and minor improvements were done the following days.
  BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-15) was formally commissioned by the Philippine Navy on December 14, 2011, at Pier 13, Manila South Harbor. President Benigno Aquino III's elder sister, Ballsy Cruz, was the principal sponsor of the ship.
  President Aquino hoped that this, his first major military acquisition, would be a symbol of his administration's intention to strengthen and modernize the Philippine Navy and the Armed Forces, and to defend its territory and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea.
  BRP Gregorio del Pilar was involved in a standoff in 2012 at the Scarborough Shoal when it tried to apprehend eight Chinese fishing vessels in the island.
  BRP Gregorio del Pilar was also one of the naval vessels that the AFP Western Command sent to help in the searching efforts for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
  On November 17, 2015, United States President Barack Obama visited and toured the ship on the sidelines of the APEC Summit to highlight the United States' commitment to assist East Asian countries in maritime security, amidst the territorial disputes in the South China Sea. After touring the ship, he announced that a third Hamilton-class cutter similar to Gregorio del Pilar (USCGC Boutwell (WHEC-719)) and the research vessel RV Melville will be turned over to the Philippine Navy.
  Around mid-2016, the Philippine Navy started calling the ship in its new code designation FF-15, together with its sister ship BRP Ramon Alcaraz which was re-designated as FF-16, and the new BRP Andres Bonifacio designated as FF-17.
  On August 29, 2018, she ran aground at Hasa Hasa Sh
caption: U.S. President Barack Obama aboard the BRP Gregorio del Pilar, November 17, 2015
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