RVNS Ngo Quyen (HQ-17)

RVNS Ngo Quyen (HQ-17) This article assumes that the authoritative Jane's Fighting Ships 1973-1974, p. 592, is correct about the ship's lineage (i.e., that she was the former USS Wachapreague (AGP-8) and USCGC McCulloch (WAVP-386/WHEC-386) and was designated HQ-17 in South Vietnamese service. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS) (see http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w1/wachapreague.htm) and NavSource.org (see http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/43/4356.htm) agree with Jane's. The United States Coast Guard Historian's Office (see http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/McCulloch_1946.pdf) and the Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images (see http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-w/agp8.htm) also agree that Wachapreague/McCulloch became Ngo Quyen, but do not mention Ngo Quyen's "HQ" designation. However, confusion exists on these points in print and on the Web. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1982 Part II: The Warsaw Pact and Non-Aligned Nations, p. 369, agrees that Ngo Quyen was the former Wachapreague/McCulloch, but claims Ngo Quyen's designation in South Vietnamese service was HQ-6, a designation that Jane, p. 592, and NavSource.org (see http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/43/4336.htm) say was assigned to RVNS Tran Quoc Toan, which they say was the former USS Cook Inlet (AVP-36) and USCGC Cook Inlet (WAVP-384/WHEC-384). The Inventory of VNN's Battle Ships Part 2 (see Part 2 at http://www.vnafmamn.com/VNNavy_inventory.html), however, claims that Ngo Quyen (HQ-17) was the former USS Castle Rock (AVP-35) and USCGC Castle Rock (WAVP-383/WHEC-383), while the other sources (less DANFS, which does not mention Castle Rock's South Vietnamese career) all agree that Castle Rock became Tran Binh Trong (HQ-5) in South Vietnamese service (although NavSource.org in its entry for USS Chincoteague (AVP-24)/USS Chincoteague (WAVP-375/WHEC-375) at http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/43/4324.htm also says that it was Chincoteague that became Tran Binh Trong (HQ-05)). To complete the confusion, the Inventory of VNN's Battle Ships Part 1 (see Part 1 at http://www.vnafmamn.com/VNNavy_inventory.html) says that it was Wachapreague/McCulloch that became Tran Quoc Toan (HQ-06) in South Vietnamese service. was a South Vietnamese frigate of the Republic of Vietnam Navy in commission from 1972 to 1975. She and her six sister ships were the largest South Vietnamese naval ships of their time. The ship is named after Ngo Quyen, who expelled Chinese forces in 938 and founded the first modern Vietnamese state.

Construction and United States Navy service 1944-1946
Ngo Quyen was laid down in the United States by Lake Washington Shipyard at Houghton, Washington, as the United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender USS Wachapreague (AVP-56), but was converted during construction into the motor torpedo boat tender USS Wachapreague (AGP-8). Commissioned in May 1944, she served in the New Guinea campaign, the Philippines campaign, and the campaign in Borneo during World War II, and performed postwar service in Borneo. She was decommissioned in May 1946 and placed in reserve.

United States Coast Guard service 1946-1972
The U.S. Navy transferred Wachapreague to the United States Coast Guard, which commissioned her in 1946 as the Casco-class Coast Guard cutter USCGC Bering Strait (WAVP-386). Reclassified as a high endurance cutter and redesignated WHEC-386 in 1966, she patrolled ocean stations in the North Atlantic Ocean, for nearly 26 years, reporting weather data and engaging in search-and-rescue and law-enforcement operations.

Acquisition and operations
After her antisubmarine warfare equipment had been removed, McCulloch was transferred to South Vietnam on 21 June 1972 and was commissioned into the Republic of Vietnam Navy as the frigate RVNS Ngo Quyen (HQ-17) By mid-July 1972, six other former Casco-class cutters had joined her in South Vietnamese service. They were the largest warships in the South Vietnamese inventory, and their 5-inch (127-millimeter) guns were South Vietnam's largest naval guns. Ngo Quyen and her sisters fought alongside U.S. Navy ships during the final years of the Vietnam War, patrolling the South Vietnamese coast and providing gunfire support to South Vietnamese forces ashore.

When South Vietnam collapsed at the end of the Vietnam War in late April 1975, Ngo Quyen became a ship without a country. She 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 Ngo Quyen 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."

Acquisition by the Philippines
After Ngo Quyen had been cleaned and repaired, the United States formally transferred her to the Republic of the Philippines on 5 April 1976.

Philippine Navy service 1976-1985
The ship was commissioned into the Philippine Navy as frigate BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-8) This article assumes that the authoritative Jane's Fighting Ships 1980-1981, p. 370, is correct about Gregorio del Pilar's lineage (i.e., that she was the former USS Wachapreague (AGP-8), USCGC McCulloch (WAVP-386/WHEC-386), and RVNS Ngo Quyen (HQ-17). The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS) (see http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w1/wachapreague.htm), NavSource.org (see http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/43/4356.htm), the United States Coast Guard Historian's Office (see http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/McCulloch_1946.pdf), the Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images (see http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-w/agp8.htm), and Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1982 Part II: The Warsaw Pact and Non-Aligned Nations, p. 356, all agree with Jane's that Wachapreague/McCulloch became Ngo Quyen and then Gregorio del Pilar. However, confusion exists on these points on the Web. The Inventory of VNN's Battle Ships Part 2 (see Part 2 at http://www.vnafmamn.com/VNNavy_inventory.html) claims that Ngo Quyen (HQ-17) was the former USS Castle Rock (AVP-35) and USCGC Castle Rock (WAVP-383/WHEC-383), while the other sources (less DANFS, which does not mention Castle Rock's South Vietnamese career) all agree that Castle Rock became Tran Binh Trong (HQ-5) in South Vietnamese service (although NavSource.org in its entry for USS Chincoteague (AVP-24)/USS Chincoteague (WAVP-375/WHEC-375) at http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/43/4324.htm also says that it was Chincoteague that became Tran Binh Trong (HQ-05)). To complete the confusion, the Inventory of VNN's Battle Ships Part 1 (see Part 1 at http://www.vnafmamn.com/VNNavy_inventory.html) says that Wachapreague/McCulloch became Tran Quoc Toan (HQ-06) in South Vietnamese service and that Tran Quoc Toan became Gregorio del Pilar, while the Inventory of VNN's Battle Ships Part 2 (see Part 2 at http://www.vnafmamn.com/VNNavy_inventory.html) says that Ngo Quyen was the former Castle Rock and that Ngo Quyen went on to become the Philippine Navy's Francisco Dagohoy (PF-10). on 7 February 1977, and was decommissioned in June 1985. She was again recommissioned as BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-12) around 1987, and was finally decommissioned on April 1990, discarded in July 1990, and probably scrapped.