See the rusting warship central to the Philippines' South China Sea claims that Beijing tries to keep from holding on
The BRP Sierra Madre has served three countries over seven decades and now stands as one of the last defenses against an encroaching Chinese Navy.
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- BRP Sierra Madre has been grounded near the Second Thomas Shoal for 24 years.
- The Second Thomas Shoal is a contested part of the South China Sea that both China and the Philippines claim.
- China has recently been seen using aggressive tactics against resupply ships headed to the Sierra Madre.
The ship BRP Sierra Madre, stagnant and slowly decaying, sits near the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea as an unlikely last defense for the Philippines against an encroaching Chinese claim on part of the strategic waterway.
The Sierra Madre gained national attention recently when the Chinese Coast Guard prevented a re-supply boat, filled with visiting journalists and members of the Philippine Navy, from reaching its intended destination.
Attempts to essentially blockade the decades-old rusting ship sometimes involve the Chinese Coast Guard and other vessels using water cannons, high-grade lasers, and even ramming boats and can last for hours at a time.
The World War II-era ship is an LST-542-class tank landing ship that served both the US and Vietnam before it was acquired by the Philippines. The dilapidated ship has been sitting near the Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands since 1999 and has recently been the subject of tension between China and the Philippines.
The Second Thomas Shoal is a reef within the disputed South China Sea, a resource-rich waterway home to important shipping lanes. China claims vast swaths of the ocean, but Beijing's claims to areas claimed by Manila were dismissed by an international tribunal, the results of which China firmly rejected.
As the ship, used to advance the Philippines' claims to territorial sovereignty, is on its last leg, holes have appeared in the hull, and tires are used to keep it afloat, the Philippine Navy worries China will come in and press its claim of the area as its own.
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The ship was built in 1944, and most of its missions involved running supplies between Eniwetok, Okinawa, Ie Shima, Ulithi, and Guam during World War II, earning the vessel a battle star during its service.
After World War II, the ship was decommissioned and put into a reserve status until it was needed for Vietnam. In Vietnam, it served as a base for the Mekong Delta Mobile Afloat Force as part of Operation "Game Warden."
The American vessel further distinguished itself in Vietnam, earning nine battle stars, and the crew "was awarded two Presidential Unit Citations for 'extraordinary heroism' and for performance that was 'superb in every phase of her diverse actions,'" according to the US Naval Institute.
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In 1970, under the Military Assistance Program, the Harnett County was officially transferred to South Vietnam and renamed RVNS My Tho.
During the fall of Saigon, the My Tho left Vietnam with roughly 3,000 refugees on board, never to return again.
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By the mid-1970s, as the My Tho was on the run, the Philippines recognized North Vietnam as the lawful government, which created a problem for the ship full of refugees.
North Vietnam wanted the ship back, but US Ambassador to the Philippines, William Sullivan, intervened, leveraging the provisions of the Military Assistance Program to bring the ship into US custody, at least on paper.
Sullivan then brokered an agreement with the Philippine government to allow the safe passage of refugees and the transfer of the ship.
And years later, BRP Sierra Madre would come to rest near the Second Thomas Shoal, where it sits today, at the heart of a heated territorial dispute.
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The area surrounding the Shoal is contested by many different countries.
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After China took control of Mischief Reef, another reef within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ), in the mid-1990s, the Philippine Navy purposefully grounded the Sierra Madre near the Second Thomas Shoal to stake a claim to the area.
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The men aboard the boat spend their days fishing, doing daily maintenance, and watching movies if the weather is bad. Most of their diet is from fish they catch, which is easier said than done.
Because this ship is so old, so are many of the tools onboard. The Marines aboard the ship have fashioned new fishing spears from bucket handles, wood, and some rubber.
Most of the men speak with their families once a week for five to ten minutes using a satellite phone that they keep dry and charged.
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Huge holes are visible on the bottom of the Sierra Madre, and tires are used as weights against the wind. Doors and windows have been replaced with wooden boards and aluminum sheets.
The large tank space below the deck where the men used to play basketball is now filled with water and trash.
In 2018, a study commissioned by the Philippine government to study the viability of the ship concluded that it only had two years left, yet it has surprisingly held on.
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Chinese vessels have also shone military-grade lasers at Philippine ships and even rammed its vessels.
In one recent engagement, 15 Chinese vessels surrounded a group of Philippine ships three times smaller than that of the Chinese force, according to the New York Times.
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China's 2023 national map identifies the shoal and most of the South China Sea as part of China, which rejected the findings and authority of the international arbitration tribunal.
China has spent years making supply runs difficult for the crew aboard the Sierra Madre. The latest tensions are a continuation of this pattern of behavior.
If the Sierra Madre were to fully decompose, there's concern that China would swoop in and take control of the Shoal.
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A Philippine task force recently claimed that China's coast guard "recklessly harassed, blocked and executed dangerous maneuvers in another attempt to illegally impede or obstruct a routine resupply and rotation mission," according to PBS.
China denies any wrongdoing and claims it merely followed Philippine ships in "accordance with the law."
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson put responsibility on the Philippines during a briefing in Beijing.
"China urges the Philippine side to immediately stop making trouble and provocation at sea and to tow away the illegal grounded vessel as soon as possible," the spokesperson said at the briefing.
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Earlier this month a US Naval plane monitored from above the a re-supply mission being carried out by the Philippines as Chinese Coast Guard ships encircled and chased the boats.
In a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the ambassador to Manila, MaryKay Carlson, recently stated: "The United States condemns the PRC's latest disruption of a legal Philippine resupply mission to Ayungin shoal, putting the lives of Filipino service members at risk."
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"We will protect our territory and sovereign rights at all cost," said Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, according to the AP .