MANILA - The Philippine Navy will have decommissioned or rendered out of service some 24 old ships that “have outlived their glory days” by mid-2021, its newly-installed chief said Monday.

“Ang unang gagawin diyan is to strip off all that is functioning,” said Rear Adm. Giovanni Bacordo, as he explained the process of salvaging the parts of old ships that can still be used.

("The first thing to be done there is to strip off all that is functioning."

“The guns will be removed, everything that is functioning will be removed, and will be turned over to other Navy ships," he added.

The process of decommissioning will leave the Navy’s present fleet to approximately 90 seaworthy vessels. But the quality of ships are far more important than quantity, according to Bacordo, who took the helm of the Navy on Monday.

“Don’t count by the number of bottoms, but rather the capabilities involved,” he said, adding that some old ships are no longer performing to Navy standards and only take away their resources for their maintenance.

“Ships that were designed for 24 knots are speeding at only 10 to 12 knots. It can no longer fulfill its designed mission. So rather than have so many bottoms, which have low speed, which can no longer sustain more than 10 days at sea, (better) to have lesser bottoms, which are capable of longer patrol hours and can speed up to the desired speed,” Bacordo said.

• PH Fleet commander Bacordo assumes top Navy post

After taking over the top Navy post, Bacordo said the organization must have a "modern mindset" to improve its capabilities.

"It is not the modern ships, tanks, aircraft that will bring the Philippine Navy to the modern era. It is the Philippine Navy personnel armed with the modern mindsets that will," he said.