Philippine Navy personnel trains with counterparts in the inaugural ASEAN-US maritime exercise, which ran for 5 days and ended Friday, September 6. Courtesy of the Philippine Navy

Philippine Navy personnel trains with counterparts in the inaugural ASEAN-US maritime exercise, which ran for 5 days and ended Friday, September 6. Courtesy of the Philippine Navy

Philippine Navy personnel trains with counterparts in the inaugural ASEAN-US maritime exercise, which ran for 5 days and ended Friday, September 6. Courtesy of the Philippine Navy

Philippine Navy personnel trains with counterparts in the inaugural ASEAN-US maritime exercise, which ran for 5 days and ended Friday, September 6. Courtesy of the Philippine Navy

MANILA—Philippine Navy patrol ship BRP Ramon Alcaraz joined the US Navy and other Southeast Asian fleets in a maritime exercise among the countries, a first such joint activity.

The American and the Royal Thai navies organized the drills, which ran for 5 days and ended Friday, September 6.

The exercise started at Thailand’s Sattahip naval base then proceeded to Vietnam’s Gulf of Tonkin and Cape Cà Mau, before wrapping up in Singapore.

Capt. Hilarion Cesista, head of the Philippine contingent, said the national navy achieved its goal in the exercise.

"We were able to enhance our maritime operational capability to multilateral level thereby increasing our readiness and inter-operability while engaging our partner navies," he said.