JS Enoshima on 29 November 2013
Class overview
NameEnoshima
Builders
Preceded byHarishima class
Succeeded byN/A
Built2009-2013
In commission2012-present
Planned3
Completed3
Active3
General characteristics
TypeMinesweeper
Displacement
Length57 m (187 ft 0 in)
Beam9.8 m (32 ft 2 in)
Depth4.4 m (14 ft 5 in)
Propulsion
Speed14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement48
Sensors and
processing systems
Armament1 × single JM61R-MS 20mm guns

The Enoshima class is a class of coastal minesweepers of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.[1]

Development

From the lessons learned from the 1991 dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to the Persian Gulf, the Maritime Self-Defense Force took the example of the Royal Navy's Sandown class minehunter, built after the 1994 plan, especially in order to improve its capabilities regarding mine clearance. However, while the Sandown class is basically a minesweeper that does not have minesweeping ability. The waters around Japan have many muddy seabeds that are not suitable for minesweeping, and abandonment of minesweeping ability is unacceptable. For this reason, the class is also given the ability to sweep with Australian-made DYAD-sensitive minesweepers, but due to magnetic management issues, it was decided that it would not be installed all the time but would be received from the mother ship at sea as needed. Operational restrictions were large, and mobility was also restricted.[2][3]

For this reason, it was built as a new type of minesweeper equipped with a domestic system that has the same performance as the overseas-made minesweeping system equipped in the Sugashima class, as well as realizing the installation of minesweepers on its own boat.[2]

Ships in the class

Pennant no. Name Builders Laid down Launched Commissioned Home port
MSC-604 Enoshima Universal Shipbuilding Corporation, Keihin 14 May 2009 25 October 2010 21 March 2012 Yokosuka
MSC-605 Chichijima 24 May 2010 24 November 2011 21 March 2013 Yokosuka
MSC-606 Hatsushima Japan Marine United, Yokohama 26 April 2012 6 December 2013 19 March 2015 Yokosuka

Citations

  1. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2021.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ a b Details of the new minesweeper Hirashima, Ships of the World. Vol. 694. Japan: Gaijinsha. August 2008. pp. 154–159.
  3. ^ Takahashi, Yoichi (May 2013). Mine Warships (Special Feature: Maritime Self-Defense Force's New Weapons)-(Notable New Weapons), Ships of the World. Vol. 778. Japan: Gaijinsha. pp. 92–97.
Categories