The BRP Sierra Madre started life as a WWII-era US tank-landing ship and saw action in Vietnam before the Philippine military deliberately grounded it in the Spratly Islands in an effort to check China’s advance.

The BRP Sierra Madre started life as a WWII-era US tank-landing ship and saw action in Vietnam before the Philippine military deliberately grounded it in the Spratly Islands in an effort to check China’s advance.