FACT CHECK: US military ship photo not taken in Palawan

Claim: A video shows a United States military ship patrolling the West Philippine Sea and Palawan.

The video alleged that the ship was sent by the United States to guard the area against China.  

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The YouTube video containing the claim has over 125,148 views, as of writing. 

Video from Indiana, US: The video, from which the clips used in the claim originated, was first posted by the United States Navy and was taken during the commissioning of the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Indianapolis (LCS 17) in Burns Harbor, Indiana, on October 26, 2019.

According to the US Navy website, the USS Indianapolis is part of Littoral Combat Ship Squadron 2 (LCSRON TWO), which is based in Mayport, Florida.

There are no announcements from the US Navy that it deployed the USS Indianapolis to the West Philippine Sea at the time the claim was posted on January 19, 2023. – Lorenz Pasion/Rappler.com

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