JS Shirane

"Shirane" redirects here. For other uses, see Shirane (disambiguation).

JS Shirane (しらね, Shi-ra-ne) (DDH-143) was the lead ship of her class of destroyers in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).

JS Shirane underway in 2013
History
Japan
Name	Shirane (しらね)
Namesake	Mount Shirane
Ordered	1975
Builder	IHI, Tokyo
Laid down	25 February 1977
Launched	18 September 1978
Commissioned	17 March 1980
Decommissioned	25 March 2015
Homeport	Yokosuka (1980-2009) Maizuru (2009-2015)
Identification	MMSI number: 431999501 Pennant number: DDH-143
Fate	Scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type	Shirane-class destroyer
Displacement	5,200 long tons (5,300 t) standard; 7,500 long tons (7,600 t) full load
Length	159 m (522 ft)
Beam	17.5 m (57 ft)
Draft	5.3 m (17 ft)
Propulsion	2 × IHI boilers 850 psi (60 kg/cm², 5.9 MPa), 430 °C 2 × turbines 2 shafts 70,000 shp (52 MW)
Speed	31 knots (36 mph; 57 km/h)
Complement	350 20 staff
Armament	Sea Sparrow SAM launcher ASROC Mk 112 octuple launcher 2 × FMC 5"/54 caliber Mark 42 guns 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS 2 × Mark 32 triple torpedo tubes (Mk-46 torpedoes)
Aircraft carried	3 × SH-60J(K) anti-submarine helicopters

Construction and career

The vessel was laid down by Ishikawajima-Harima in Tokyo on February 25, 1977; launched on September 18, 1978; and commissioned on March 17, 1980.

In 2011, after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, she was used as a relief ship. In 2012, along with attending RIMPAC, she also attended Fleet Week, a United States naval tradition in which naval ships are showcased.^[1] On December 15, 2007, a fire broke out on board Shirane near the rudder house as she was anchored at Yokosuka. It took seven hours to extinguish and injured four crew members.^[2]

Shirane visited Baltimore on her way to New York City as part of Fleet Week 2012.^[3] She was open to visitors for a few days.^[4] she passed by the Freedom Tower as part of the ship parade in New York Harbor and the Hudson River on May 23, 2012.^[5] Shirane was one of three ships sent by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force to attend Exercise RIMPAC, along with JS Bungo and the destroyer JS Myōkō.^[6]

She was decommissioned on March 25, 2015, as the Shirane class was slowly being phased out by the newer Izumo-class helicopter destroyers.

Post-decommissioning

In November 2015, the Japanese Ministry of Defense announced that Shirane would be in a live-fire test against the XASM-3 supersonic anti-ship missile in 2016.^[7] After undergoing several tests in Wakasa Bay as a target for XASM-3 she was sold for scrapping on October 31 and dismantling began on the same day.^[8]