Uwajima-class minesweeper

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

JS Nagashima
Class overview
Name	Uwajima
Builders	NKK, Keihin Hitachi, Kanagawa
Preceded by	Hatsushima class
Succeeded by	Sugashima class
Built	1989-1996
In commission	1990-2020
Planned	9
Completed	9
Retired	9
General characteristics
Type	Minesweeper
Displacement	490 t (480 long tons) standard 570 t (560 long tons) full load
Length	58 m (190 ft 3 in)
Beam	9.4 m (30 ft 10 in)
Draft	2.9 m (9 ft 6 in)
Depth	4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
Propulsion	2 × Mitsubishi 6NM-TA diesel electric engines 2 × shafts
Speed	14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement	45
Sensors & processing systems	OPS-39-Y surface-search radar ZQS-3-1 sonar
Armament	1 × single JM61R-MS 20mm guns

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	Decommissioned	Home port
MSC-672	Uwajima	Nippon Kokan, Keihin	18 May 1989	23 May 1990	19 December 1990	24 June 2010	Yokosuka
MSC-673	Ieshima	Hitachi Zosen Corporation, Kanagawa	12 May 1989	12 June 1990		16 May 2014	Yokosuka
MSC-674	Tsukishima		27 May 1991	23 July 1992	23 July 1993	21 March 2012	Yokosuka
MSC-675	Maejima		1 June 1992	10 June 1993	15 December 1993	27 March 2017	Yokosuka
MSC-676	Kumejima	Nippon Kokan, Keihin	17 February 1993	9 December 1993	12 December 1994	27 March 2018	Kure
MSC-677	Makishima	Hitachi Zosen Corporation, Kanagawa	12 May 1993	26 May 1993		2 April 2014	Kure
MSC-678	Tobishima	Nippon Kokan, Keihin	22 June 1993	30 August 1994	10 March 1995	12 May 2014	Kure
MSC-679	Yugeshima	Hitachi Zosen Corporation, Kanagawa	10 April 1995	24 May 1995	11 December 1996	1 October 2020	Kure
MSC-680	Nagashima	Nippon Kokan, Keihin	14 April 1995	30 May 1996	25 December 1996		Kure