The new transport vessel, which has been named “Yoko”「ようこう」 (with pennant number 4101), entered the water in a ceremony held at Naikai Zosen’s Setoda shipyard in Onomichi City of Hiroshima Prefecture on the day. Yoko in Japanese means sunshine, thus conveying a wish for a safe voyage flooded with sunlight.
The LSV is about 120 meters long, has a draft of about 4 meters, and a standard displacement of about 3,500 tons. It will have a crew complement of about 40. Its transport capacity is one thousand and several hundred tons, and it can carry dozens of vehicles or dozens of 20-foot containers. It can attain a top speed of at least 15 knots (about 28.8km/h). The construction cost is about 5.4 billion yen($35.7 million). It can be equipped with a 12.7mm heavy machine gun.
Vehicles and supplies, etc. are loaded and unloaded through the side ramp on the starboard side. It can be equipped with a 12.7mm heavy machine gun.
The latest launch came just one month after Naikai Zosen launched the first landing craft utility (LCU) on order for the JGSDF. The LCU, which was named “Nihonbare”「 にほんばれ」 (with pennant number 4151), is about 80 meters long, has a draft of about 3 meters, and a standard displacement of about 2,400 tons.
Like private ferries, the Yoko is equipped with retractable ramps called “rampways” at the front and rear of the hull, allowing it to drive itself to load and unload vehicles and other items from the quay. It does not have the beaching ability of the previously launched Nihonbare, which can dock and undock on quays or sandy areas and load and unload vehicles and supplies directly from the bow ramp. But instead the Yoko has the ability to carry larger numbers of vehicles, containers, and equipment.
Japan is currently strengthening its transportation capabilities to deploy troops and transport fuel, ammunition, supplies, and vehicles to front-line bases, especially in the nation’s southwestern Nansei island chain, which spans about 1,200 km from Kagoshima to Okinawa, stretching southwest towards Taiwan. The chain includes the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, which are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan.
The Nansei Islands are located on the so-called first island chain facing China on the very front line.
To this end, the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo plans to establish a new Self-Defense Forces Maritime Transport Group (tentative name), a joint unit of the Ground, Maritime, and Air Self-Defense Forces, which will be established at the JMSDF Kure Base in March 2025. The initial number of members at the unit will be about 100, according the MoD.
Ten transport ships are due to be deployed with the unit by the end of March 2028. In particular, there will be four LCU vessels of the same type as the Nihonbare, two LSV vessels of the same type as the Yoko, and four maneuver support vessels (MSVs).
The Nihonbare and the Yoko will be deployed at the Kure base by March 2025.
“LSVs are ships that transport troops and supplies, and are larger ship compared to the LCUs launched last month. The acquisition of LSV will enable prompt and reliable transportation of troops and supplies in the southwestern islands etc, and will contribute to strengthening the island defense”
JGSDF on X
