Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force? |
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| Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force | |
|---|---|
| Personnel | |
| Sailors | 44,000 (1992 est.) |
| Strength | |
| Major Surface Combatants | 155 (1992 est.) |
| Fixed Wing Aircraft | 205 |
| Helicopters | 134 |
The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) is the maritime branch of the Japanese Self-Defense Force, tasked with the naval defense of Japan, and was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy after World War II. The force is based strictly on defensive armament, lacking the offensive weapons typically handled by naval forces of equivalent size. Currently, its main tasks are to maintain control of the nation's sea lanes and to patrol territorial waters. Recently it has also stepped up its participation in UN-led peace keeping operations (PKOs).
The ship prefix for JMSDF ships is JDS (JMSDF Defense Ship).
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History
Formation
Following the defeat of Japan during World War II, the Imperial Japanese Navy was dissolved. In the 1947 Constitution, Article 9 specified that "The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes." Over the years, the Japanese people have debated over whether this article allows for military forces to be kept for the purposes of self-defense, with the vast majority agreeing. Furthermore, due to the Cold War, Japan's greatest ally, the United States, was also agreeable to the Japanese government providing for a part of its own defense instead of fully relying on American forces. The JMSDF was then formed as the naval branch of the Japanese Self-Defense Force (JSDF) following the passage of the 1954 Self-Defense Forces Law.
Cold War
The first ships in the JMSDF were former US Navy destroyers, transfered to Japanese control in 1954. In 1956, the JMSDF received its first domestically produced destroyer since World War II, the Harukaze. Throughout the Cold War, due to the size and power of the Soviet Navy's submarine forces, the JMSDF was tasked primarily an anti-submarine role. It mainly used its large force of destroyers, frigates and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters for this.
Japanese Sailors aboard the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) training vessel JDS Kashima (TV 3508) stand in ranks after docking in Pearl Harbor.Post Cold War
Following the end of the Cold War, the role of the JMSDF has been vastly changed. Starting with a mission to Cambodia in 1993, it has been active in a number of United Nationsed peace keeping operations throughout Asia. In 1993, it commisioned its first Aegis destroyer, the DD173 Kongo. Following an increase in tensions with North Korea following the 1993 test of the Nodong-1 missile, the JMSDF has also stepped up its role in theater air defense of Japan. It has also been active in many joint naval exercises with the United States. During the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom, the JMSDF dispatched a number of its destroyers on a rotating schedule to the Indian Ocean in an escort role for allied vessels.
Organization
- Director-General of the Defense Agency
Escort Forces
Each Escort force is formed as an 8-8 fleet of 8 destroyers and 8 on-board helicopters, a modification of the old Japanese Navy fleet layouts of 8 battleships and 8 cruisers. Each fleet is composed of one helicopter destroyer (DDH) acting as a command ship, two guided-missile destroyers (DDG), and 5 standard or ASW destroyers (DD).
- First Escort Force - Yokosuka
- Second Escort Force - Sasebo
- Third Escort Force - Maizuru
- Fourth Escort Force - Kure
District Forces
Each district is home to a major JMSDF base and its supporting troops and staff. Furthermore, each district is home to one to two regional escort squadrons, composed of two to three destroyers or destroyer escorts (DE). The destroyers tend to be of older classes, mainly former escort force ships. The destroyer escorts, on the other hand, tend to be purpose built vessels. Each district also has a number of minesweeping ships.
Fleet Air Force
The Fleet Air Force is tasked with patrol, ASW and rescue tasks. It is composed primarily of 7 aviation groups. Prominent bases are maintained at Kanoya, Hachinohe, Atsugi, Naha, Tateyama, Oomura and Iwakuni. The Fleet Air Force is built up mainly with patrol aircraft such as the Lockheed P-3 Orion, rescue aircraft such as the US-1A and helicopters such as the SH-60J. In the JMSDF, helicopters deployed to each escort force are actually members of Fleet Air Force squadrons based on land.
Equipment
JMSDF ships docked at Pearl Harbor in RIMPAC 2002, ironically near ruins of the USS Arizona, destroyed by the Japanese navy in 1941. Left to right: JDS Kirishima, JDS Murasame, JDS Ikazuchi and JDS HamagiriThe classes of major combatant ships currently operated by the JMSDF include:
- 4 Kongo class destroyers - Aegisquipped, theater and fleet air defense
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- JDS Kongo (DD-173)
- JDS Kirishima (DD-174)
- JDS Myoko (DD-175)
- JDS Chokai (DD-176)
- 2 Haruna class destroyers - anti-submarine warfare (ASW)
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- JDS Haruna (DDH-141)
- JDS Hiei (DDH-142)
- 2 Shirane class destroyers - ASW
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- JDS Shirane (DDH-143)
- JDS Kurama (DDH-144)
- 2 Hatakaze class destroyers - ASW
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- JDS Hatakaze (DD-171)
- JDS Hatakaze (DD-172)
- 3 Tachikaze class destroyers - fleet air defense
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- JDS Tachikaze (DDG-168)
- JDS Asakaze (DDG-169)
- JDS Sawakaze (DDG-170)
- 1 Takanami class destroyer - multi-role - 8 ordered in 1998
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- JDS Takanami (D-110)
- 9 Murasame class destroyers - multi-role large frigate
- 8 Asagiri class destroyers - general purpose escort
- 11 Hatsuyuki class destroyer - general purpose escort
Other classes in service include the Takatsuki class destroyer, Chikugo class destroyer escort, Ishikari class destroyer escort, Yubari class destroyer escort, Abukuma class destroyer escort, Oyashio class submarine, Yushio class submarine, Harushio class submarine, and Yaeyama class minesweeper. The JMSDF is known in particular for its mineclearing capability. In August 2003, a new "helicopter destroyer" class was requested; the size of the class has most non-MSDF analysts referring to it as a "helicopter carrier", which is problematic as carriers are prohibited by the pacifist constitutions, which consider carriers to be an offensive weapon.
See also
External links
- Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (Japanese) (English)
- JMSDF overview at GlobalSecurity
- JMSDF equipment