RVNS Tran Binh Trong (HQ-05)

RVNS Trần Bình Trọng (HQ-05) 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 Castle Rock (AVP-35) and USCGC Castle Rock (WAVP-383/WHEC-383) and was designated HQ-05 in South Vietnamese service. However, extensive confusion exists on these points in print and on the Web. The United States Coast Guard Historian's Office (see http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/CastleRock1948.asp) agrees that Tran Binh Trong was the former Castle Rock, but does not mention her South Vietnamese "HQ" designation. NavSource.org agrees with Jane's that Castle Rock became Tran Binh Trong (HQ-05) in its entry on Castle Rock (see http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/43/4335.htm) but in its entry on USS Chincoteague (AVP-24)/USCGC Chincoteague (WAVP-375/WHEC-375) (see http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/43/4324.htm) also states that it was Chincoteague that became Tran Binh Trong (HQ-05). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1982 Part II: The Warsaw Pact and Non-Aligned Nations, p. 369, agrees with Jane's and the Navsource.org Castle Rock entry that Tran Binh Trong was the former Castle Rock, but disagrees with the other sources by citing Tran Binh Trong's designation in South Vietnamese service as HQ-17, a designation that Jane, p. 592, the Inventory of VNN's Battle Ships Part 2 (see Part 2 at http://www.vnafmamn.com/VNNavy_inventory2.html), and NavSource.org (see http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/43/4356.htm) all say was assigned to RVNS Ngo Quyen. To complete the confusion, the Inventory of VNN's Battle Ships Part 1 (see Part 1 at http://www.vnafmamn.com/VNNavy_inventory.html) claims that Tran Binh Trong (HQ-05) was the former Chincoteague, agreeing with the NavSource.org Chincoteague entry but not with the other sources, and in its Part 2 (see Part 2 at http://www.vnafmamn.com/VNNavy_inventory2.html) contradicts all the other sources in whole or in part by stating that Castle Rock became Ngo Quyen (HQ-17). The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships entry for the ship (see http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c4/castle_rock.htm) apparently was written before the ship was transferred to South Vietnam and has not been updated, and therefore makes no mention at all of her South Vietnamese service. was a South Vietnamese frigate of the Republic of Vietnam Navy in commission from 1971 to 1975. She and her six sister ships were the largest South Vietnamese naval ships of their time.

Construction and United States Navy service 1944-1946
Trần Bình Trọng was built in the United States by Lake Washington Shipyard at Houghton, Washington, as the United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender USS Castle Rock (AVP-35). Commissioned in October 1944, Castle Rock served in the Central Pacific during and after World War II. She was decommissioned in August 1946 and placed in reserve.

United States Coast Guard service 1949-1971
In 1948, the U.S. Navy loaned Castle Rock to the United States Coast Guard, which commissioned her that year as the cutter USCGC Castle Rock (WAVP-383). She was later reclassified as a high endurance cutter and redesignated WHEC-383. While in Coast Guard service, her primary duty was to patrol ocean stations, reporting weather data and engaging in search-and-rescue and law-enforcement operations. She also performed combat duty in the Vietnam War for a few months in 1971.

Acquisition and operations
After her antisubmarine warfare equipment had been removed, Castle Rock was transferred to South Vietnam on 21 December 1971 and was commissioned into the Republic of Vietnam Navy as the frigate RVNS Trần Bình Trọng (HQ-05) By mid-1972, six other former Casco-class cutters also were 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. Tran Quang Khai 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.

The Battle of the Paracel Islands
Possession of the Paracel Islands had long been disputed between South Vietnam and the People's Republic of China. With South Vietnamese forces stationed on the islands drawing down because they were needed on the Vietnamese mainland in the war with North Vietnam, China took advantage of the situation to send forces to seize the islands.

On 16 January 1974, the South Vietnamese frigate RVNS Ly Thuong Kiet (HQ-16) spotted Chinese forces ashore on the islands. Both Ly Thuong Kiet and the Chinese ordered one another to withdraw, and neither side did. Reinforcements arrived for both sides over the next three days, including Trần Bình Trọng, which appeared on the scene on 18 January 1974 with the commander of the Republic of Vietnam Navy, Captain Hà Văn Ngạc, aboard.

By the morning of 19 January 1974, the Chinese had four corvettes and two submarine chasers at the Paracels, while the South Vietnamese had Trần Bình Trọng, Ly Thuong Kiet, frigate RVNS Trần Khánh Dư (HQ-4), and corvette RVNS Nhật Tảo (HQ-10) on the scene. Trần Bình Trọng landed South Vietnamese troops on Duncan Island (or Quang Hoa in Vietnamese), and they were driven off by Chinese gunfire. The South Vietnamese ships opened fire on the Chinese ships at 10:24 hours, and the 40-minute Battle of the Paracel Islands ensued. Not equipped or trained for open-ocean combat and outgunned, the South Vietnamese ships were forced to withdraw. Nhật Tảo was sunk, and the other three South Vietnamese ships all suffered damage; Chinese losses were more difficult to ascertain, but certainly most or all of them suffered damage and one or two may have sunk.

The Chinese seized the islands the next day, and they have remained under Chinese control ever since.

Flight to the Philippines
When South Vietnam collapsed at the end of the Vietnam War in late April 1975, Trần Bình Trọng 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 Trần Bình Trọng 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."

After Trần Bình Trọng 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 Francisco Dagohoy (PF-10) This article assumes that the authoritative Jane's Fighting Ships 1980-1981, p. 370, is correct about Francisco Dagohoy's lineage (i.e., that she was the former USS Castle Rock (AVP-35), USCGC Castle Rock (WAVP-383/WHEC-383), and RVNS Tran Binh Trong (HQ-05)). The United States Coast Guard Historian's Office (see http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/CastleRock1948.asp) and Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1982 Part II: The Warsaw Pact and Non-Aligned Nations, p. 356, agree with Jane's that Francisco Dagohoy was the former Castle Rock and Tran Binh Trong. However, extensive confusion exists on on the Web. NavSource.org in its entry for Castle Rock (see http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/43/4335.htm) also agrees with Jane's that Tran Binh Trong (HQ-05) became Francisco Dagohoy but in its entry for USS Chincoteague (AVP-24) and USCGC Chincoteague (WAVP-375/WHEC-375) (see http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/43/4324.htm) also states that it was Chincoteague that became Tran Binh Trong and Francisco Dagohoy. Meanwhile, the Inventory of VNN's Battle Ships Part 1 (see Part 1 at http://www.vnafmamn.com/VNNavy_inventory.html) claims that Tran Binh Trong was the former Chincoteague and became yet another Philippine Navy ship, Andres Bonifacio (PR-7), and in its Part 2 (see Part 2 at http://www.vnafmamn.com/VNNavy_inventory2.html) says that Castle Rock became an entirely different South Vietnamese ship, RVNS Ngo Quyen (HQ-17), before becoming Francisco Dagohoy. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships entries for Castle Rock (see http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c4/castle_rock.htm) and Chincoteague (see http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c8/chincoteague.htm) apparently were written before the ship was transferred to South Vietnam or the Philippines and has not been updated, and therefore make no mention at all of her South Vietnamese or Philippine Navy service. on 23 June 1979. She was decommissioned in June 1985, and was discarded in March 1993, probably scrapped.