Talk:Philippine Navy/Temp

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The Philippine Navy (PN) is the naval arm of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Its official name in Filipino is Hukbong Dagat ng Pilipinas.

The Philippine Navy is one of the oldest navies in Asia in terms of lineage, but also in terms of ship age and technology. Most of its dwindling number of major fighting ships are of World War II US Navy vintage, and are equipped with obsolete weapons systems.

1 Organization
- 1.1 Fleets
- 1.2 Marines
2 History
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Organization

The Philippine Navy is administered through the Department of National Defense (DND). Under the AFP structure, the Chief of Staff, AFP (CSAFP), a four-star, is the most senior military officer. The senior naval officer is the Flag Officer-in-Command (FOIC), usually with a rank of vice-admiral. He or she, along with his or her Air Force and Army counterparts, is junior only to the CSAFP. The FOIC is solely responsible for the administration and operational status of the Navy.

Currently the Navy establishment is actually composed of two commands, the Philippine Fleet and Philippine Marine Corps (PMC). The Philippine Fleet, or simply the "Fleet", is under the direct command of the FOIC while the Marine Corps is answerable to the Commanding General, PMC (CG-PMC). However, due to the fact that a large part of the Marine Corps' budget comes from the Navy, the FOIC retains much administrative control over the PMC.

With comparatively modern landing ships and a well disciplined but small marine corps, the Philippines should be well-placed to deal with illegal landings. A shortage of air-capable ships (currently there are just two) would suggest pre-emptive and administrative landings rather than opposed assaults against enemy-occupied installations. However, the navy does possess eight landing ships, each carrying two LCVPs, which could well be deployed in small-scale, pre-emptive landings. Six of these ships can each carry 16 MBTs. The basis for a potent amphibious force more likely to be used on home ground rather than overseas, except, perhaps, in the Spratly Islands.