Japan, Navy: general information

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

Japan has always attracted close attention with its originality. Taking into account the geographical position, the development of the navy is of great importance in this island country.

General data

In total, a little over 45.5 thousand military and 3.7 thousand civilians serve in the Japanese fleet. Of these, 8,000 are part of naval aviation. 1,100 volunteers who left military service at the end of contracts or length of service are assigned as a permanent reserve. Around 12,000 people work for the Maritime Safety Authority (MSA).

As a small island state, Japan has a fairly powerful fleet. The Navy, a photo of individual units of which can be seen in the article, is armed with an impressive number of ships and submarines. Squadrons are made up of main-class warships, based mainly on the main naval base of Yokosuka.

• The squadron with escort ships includes four flotillas, where destroyers are assigned.
• 2 groups of submarines are included in the sub unit.
• The base of two minesweeper fleets, in addition to the Yokosuka base, is also the Kure naval base.
• Flotillas engaged in the protection of coastal waters are deployed at military bases: Yokosuka, Kure, Sasebo, Maizuru and Ominato. There are only five such divisions. This includes obsolete destroyers and frigates, landing ships, combat boats, support vessels.

Recruits are trained on training ships.

The Japanese Navy today has a total of 447 units of various types of ships and submarines. These are combat and patrol ships, boats and support vessels, located, as already noted, at the main naval bases - Yokosuka, Sasebo, Kure, and auxiliary - Maizuru, Ominato and Hanshin.

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force also maintains aircraft. These are aircraft - 190 units, and helicopters - 140 units. Of these, 86 R-3C Orion patrol and anti-submarine aircraft, as well as 79 SH-60J Seahawk helicopters.

Historical background

Until 1945, there was the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was disbanded when World War II ended and the Japanese islands came under occupation by the combined allied forces. Japan, whose Navy was re-established only in 1952, had the right to maintain it only as a self-defense force.

The Imperial Japanese Navy, which existed since 1869, actively proved itself in the Japanese-Chinese (1894-1895), Russian-Japanese (1904-1905), the First and Second World Wars.

Before the Second World War, Japan had the most powerful aircraft carrier on the planetfleet, consisting of 9 aircraft carriers, then there were only seven of them in the North American fleet, of which four were stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The displacement of the Japanese battleships of the Yamato class was the largest in the world. At the same time, Japan, whose Navy possessed the most modern Zero fighter for carrier-based aviation at that time, still lagged far behind the United States of America in terms of the number of battleships and other types of ships in the fleet, except for aircraft carriers. Japan's industrial capacity was also well below that of the US. In total, in 1941, Japan was armed with 10 battleships, 9 aircraft carriers, 35 cruisers, 103 destroyers and 74 submarines. Accordingly, the US and British Air Forces and Navy were able to bring significantly more powerful forces against Japan in World War II.

The entire process of liquidation of the Japanese Imperial Navy after the defeat in the war was completed by 1947.

The tasks of the newly created fleet

Established as part of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, the Japanese Navy was designed to:

• to conduct combat operations with enemy ship and air groups to gain dominant influence in the sea and ocean areas off the coast of Japan;
• to block the strait zones in the Sea of Okhotsk, the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan;
• conduct amphibious operations and provide support to ground units in the coastal direction;
• protect sea communications, defend naval bases, bases, ports and coasts.

On peaceful daysThe ships of the Japanese Navy guard state territorial waters, maintain a favorable operational regime in the thousand-mile ocean zone and carry out patrol duty, together with the Maritime Security Administration.

Features of the Japanese Navy

The Japanese constitution today prohibits self-defense forces from possessing units of offensive weapons equipment (aircraft carriers, cruise missiles, etc.). At the same time, the framework established by the results of the war for the military-political elite of the country is becoming tight.

The presence of territorial disputes with such neighboring states as Russia and China provoke the Japanese to create a full-fledged navy, which would be equipped with all modern weapons. Of course, this fact is given maximum disguise by the Japanese leadership.

Today, the ship composition and armament of the Japanese Navy is clearly being intensively increased and updated. Modern weapons systems are being introduced, either made in North America or unified with those in service with the US Navy.

Japan: Navy (composition)

The head of the Japanese naval forces is the commander, who is also the chief of staff, with the rank of admiral.

Structurally, the Japanese Navy consists of a headquarters, a fleet, five military maritime regions, an aviation training command, as well as formations, units and institutions under central control. The location of the headquarters is the administrative complex inthe capital of the state, where the command posts of other branches of the armed forces and the Ministry of Defense are also located.

In total, the staff of the headquarters has 700 employees, of which about six hundred are officers and admirals.

The fleet consists of:

• headquarters located at Yokosuka Naval Base;
• three commands - escort, submarine and aviation;
• minesweeper fleets;
• intelligence groups;
• experience-group;
• oceanographic units;
• special forces patrol squad.

The fleet has a little over a hundred warships. Here is a list of some items:

• diesel submarines - 16 pieces;
• destroyers - 44 pieces;
• frigates - 8 pieces;
• landing craft - 7 pcs.;
• minesweepers - about 39 pieces

The fleet is under the command of a vice admiral.

Structure of escort forces

The escort force, under the command of a vice admiral, is led by a headquarters stationed on the territory of the naval base in Yokosuka.

He has subordinates:

• flagship;
• four destroyer fleets based at Yokosuke, Sasebo, Kure and Maizuru;
• six separate divisions of destroyers or frigates;
• units with landing craft;
• supply transports;
• ships providing combat training;
• study group.

The flotillas are led by rear admirals, who are subordinate to the respective headquarters and 4 destroyers, united into divisions, divided into two types.

The division of the first type consists of:

• destroyer-helicopter carrier;
• guided weapons destroyer;
• two conventional destroyers.

The second type includes three ordinary destroyers and one with a guided missile charge.

In separate divisions there are from two to five courts. The location of the ships included in the frigates (destroyers) unit is one of the naval bases.

For ships included in the supply division, deployment at various bases is allowed.

Separate groups of landing ships are equipped with Osumi helicopter docks, which are located at the base of Kure. In addition, each division includes six boats with an air cushion and designed for landing.

The training group includes a headquarters located in Yokosuka and five training detachments disbanded at various bases.

Composition of submarine forces

The Commander of the Submarine Force holds the rank of Vice Admiral and is in charge of the following military units:

• headquartered at Yokosuke Base;
• two fleets with submarines located there and at the Kure base;
• a training center for submariners and a training division.

Each flotilla is under the command of a rear admiral, who also reports to all military personnel at headquarters, on a flagship submarine floating base ship, in two or threedivisions of submarines (each includes 3-4 submarines).

Structure of aviation forces

Air Command location is Atsugi Air Base.

Structurally, it consists of the following divisions:

• headquarters;
• seven aviation wings;
• three separate squadrons;
• three detachments: two aircraft maintenance and an air traffic control detachment;
• one mobile engineering company based at Hachinohe Air Base.

The Commander of the Air Force holds the rank of Vice Admiral. The chief of staff and commanders of the air wings are rear admirals.

Aviation wings consist of:

• headquarters;
• four squadrons: patrol, search and rescue, anti-submarine helicopter and electronic warfare units;
• engineering and aviation support and supply groups;
• airfield maintenance units.

31st Wing has a special detachment containing target unmanned aerial vehicles. An aviation squadron has from one to three aviation and technical detachments. Patrol air squadrons located in each air wing are armed with R-3C Orion base aircraft. Anti-submarine helicopter squadrons deploy SH-60 models. Search and rescue squadrons have up to three squadrons with UH-60J helicopters.

The structure of the minesweeper flotilla

The minesweeper flotilla is under the command of Rear Admiral. It consists of a headquarters, fourdivisions (three - basic and one - sea minesweepers), two floating bases of mine-sweeping ships and a mine-sweeping detachment. Each division includes two to three ships.

Structure of other groups

Experiment-group is commanded by rear admiral.

The composition of the unit is as follows:

• Yokosuka headquarters;
• ship division;
• three centers: the first - for the development and design of ships, the second - for control and communication systems, the third - a testing laboratory for ship weapons with a test site in Kagoshima.

In addition to the headquarters, the anti-submarine defense center, the meteorological support group and two coastal sonar stations, the ocean group also includes ships for hydrographic research, sonar observations and cable layers.

The intelligence group includes a headquarters and three departments (for collecting operational information, conducting information and analytical activities, reconnaissance by electronic means).

The Special Forces Patrol Unit has the following tasks:

• detain and inspect ships that violate territorial coastal boundaries;
• fight terrorist and sabotage groups;
• reconnaissance and sabotage activities.

Japanese Navy vs Russian Navy

Many experts are trying to make a comparative analysis of the Japanese and Russian fleets. This takes into account that Japan has about a hundred ships and is in second place in terms ofthe number of destroyers. In particular, there are two missile destroyers (10 thousand tons of displacement) and a helicopter carrier Izuto (27 thousand tons). Japan, whose Navy is peacekeeping, specializes in anti-submarine and air defense. The total displacement of the Japanese fleet is 405.8 thousand tons.

The Russian fleet with a displacement of 927,120 tons is armed with ships left over from the Soviet Union. The newest destroyer is twenty years old, the oldest is fifty years old, but all submarines have been modernized and equipped with modern military equipment. Unfortunately, more than half of the ship's composition is subject to modernization and replacement.