from defensenews.com: The Philippines said Wednesday it was repairing a crumbling ship serving as its lonely outpost in the disputed South China Sea as China deploys more vessels and builds new islands nearby.
This would ensure the rust-eaten World War II-vintage BRP Sierra Madre remains livable for a tiny unit of marines guarding Second Thomas Shoal, said Philippine Navy spokesman Col. Edgard Arevalo.
"Maintenance repair is being done to ensure the vessel's minimum habitability. We are morally and duty-bound to provide for our troops there," he told AFP.
The Philippine military deliberately grounded the 100-meter (328-foot) vessel atop the reefs in 1999 in a last-ditch effort to check the advance of China, which four years earlier occupied Philippine-claimed Mischief Reef some 40 kilometers (25 miles) away.
The disputed outcrops are located around 200 kilometers from the western Philippine island of Palawan and roughly 1,100 kilometers from the nearest major Chinese land mass.
The Philippines regularly rotates a group of around nine marines aboard the tank landing ship, which first saw service for the United States Navy in World War II. It was acquired by the Philippine Navy in the 1970s.
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