On Tuesday, May 21, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces commissioned the warship Yahagi, built at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) shipyard. According to Naval News, this is the fifth Mogami-class frigate designed for the Japanese Navy. A total of 12 such ships have been ordered.
According to official data, Yahagi has been accepted into the 14th Escort Division with headquarters at the Maizuru Naval Base in Kyoto Prefecture.
Commissioning of the Yahagi frigate, Japan
JMSDF
The Yahagi Frigate, Japan
JMSDF
Yahagi is named after the Yahagi-gawa River, which flows through Nagano, Gifu and Aichi prefectures in central Japan. The ship was laid down in June 2021 and launched the following summer.
The program for the construction of Mogami-type frigates (30FFM) is being implemented as a general contractor by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The lead frigate was laid down at the MHI shipyard in October 2019, launched in March 2021, and handed over to the customer in April 2022.
Mitsui E&S was engaged as a subcontractor to build the second frigate, Kumano. It was laid at the same time as the Mogami, but the construction took place faster, and in November 2020, the Kumano was launched. In fact, it was the first to be commissioned – in March 2022.
The third and fourth ships of the Mogami class were laid down at the MHI shipyard in July 2020 and launched in June and December 2021. They were transferred to the Japanese Navy in December 2022 and March 2023.
Initially, the Japanese navy planned to purchase 22 Mogami-class frigates, but now the program has been adjusted and the series will be limited to 12 ships. And 12 more frigates will be built according to a new project, the development of which is ongoing.
The total displacement of the Mogami–class frigate is about 5,500 tons, the length of the hull is 132.5 meters, the width is 16.3 meters. Equipped with a combined diesel-gas turbine power plant of the CODAG type, the ship develops a speed of over 30 knots. It is noted that for a ship with such a large displacement, the crew number is relatively low – 90 people. This was made possible due to the high level of automation on board.
The frigate is armed with a 127 mm Mk.45 artillery launcher from BAE Systems, a Mk.41 vertical launch rocket launcher, Type-17 anti-ship missiles with a range of up to 400 km, remotely controlled combat modules with 12.7mm machine guns, 324 mm Type-12 torpedoes and mines.
One multi-purpose helicopter will be able to be based on board, as well as various underwater drones for mine warfare.
