The U.S. will upgrade a Philippine military base crucial for Manila’s South China Sea operations, including resupply missions to contested maritime features such as Second Thomas Shoal, by constructing a boat repair and maintenance facility.
Naval Detachment Oyster Bay, home to Philippine Navy patrol ships, gunboats, Marine fibreglass boats and resupply assets operating in the South China Sea, is slated to receive between $1 and $5 million in funding from Washington by June or July of this year to develop repair infrastructure to support “host nation vessels.”
According to a notice released by the U.S. government, the design-build project aims to construct a facility with a portable 5-ton gantry crane to move 24-foot watercraft and other conventional boats. The project also covers two multi-purpose rooms that could be used to host conferences or store equipment and additional work to fix Oyster Bay’s existing boat launch, which the bid described as too steep to properly accommodate watercraft.
Philippine government contracted civilian boats, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources offshore vessels and Coast Guard cutters have repeatedly been damaged by Chinese ramming and water cannon attacks in previous incidents. These attacks punctured holes, disabled navigational equipment and knocked out engine power on several vessels throughout 2023 and 2024.
Many of Manila’s operations in the South China Sea against Chinese claims in the region have been staged from the strategically positioned Naval Detachment Oyster Bay. Located on the western coast of Palawan, the base offers Philippine forces direct access to the contested waters compared to the long voyage from Puerto Princesa and other sites throughout the province. The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported in 2014 that Manila considered handing over the underdeveloped base to the U.S..
In 2020, Manila began constructing a large pier capable of docking the Philippine Navy’s landing vessels and subsequently bolstering the service’s logistical capabilities in the South China Sea. Ammunition bunkers and several Philippine Marine Corps assault boats appeared at Oyster Bay, according to satellite imagery taken between 2022 and 2024.
Media released during a visit by Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro last September revealed the presence of two Cyclone-class patrol ships, previously transferred from the U.S. Navy in 2023, at the base. Recent Philippine Fleet social media posts show that these two Cyclones, BRP Valentin Diaz (PS 177) and BRP Ladislao Diwa (PS 178), remain at Oyster Bay. Valentin Diaz sailed alongside American, Japanese and Australian warships during a joint patrol last November.
American-supplied unmanned surface vessels have operated from Naval Detachment Oyster Bay, according to a report from Defense Scoop. Washington previously supplied four T-12 MANTAS and one Devil Ray T-38 to aid Philippine Navy maritime domain awareness efforts against Chinese forces in the South China Sea.
Philippine forces have also received support from Task Force Ayungin, an American unit assigned to advise and train Manila’s maritime operations in the contested region. This unit was named after the Philippine name for Second Thomas Shoal, home to the beached World War II-era landing ship tank BRP Sierra Madre (LT-57) and the site of numerous confrontations and clashes with Chinese forces.
China Coast Guard personnel attacked forces from Naval Detachment Oyster Bay last year during a June incident in which a Philippine Navy SEAL lost his finger during a collision with a Chinese small boat. Manila and Beijing hashed out an agreement over the resupply of Philippine forces on Sierra Madre following that incident and have since maintained an incident-free record near Second Thomas Shoal.
The Oyster Bay project is the latest in a series of U.S.-funded defense infrastructure developments across the Philippine archipelago. Compared to other initiatives, which traditionally fell under the framework of the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, these projects fall outside of the nine agreed sites and are located closer to potential flashpoints in the South China Sea and Luzon Strait. Among these recent development projects is a large U.S. Navy storage facility slated to open next year at either the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone or Subic Bay.
