The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force announced Thursday that it has added the newest JS Aki ocean surveillance ship to its fleet during the commissioning ceremony.
In a ceremony held at the Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding Co. shipyard in Tamano City officials welcomed the third 67 m-long vessels of the Hibiki-class of Ocean Surveillance Ship into service.
“She is the 3rd HIBIKI type and her name is from Aki-nada in the Seto Inland Sea,” the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) said in a Twitter post Friday.
Hibiki-class vessels have a beam of 30 meters (98 ft 5 in), a top speed of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph), and a standard range of 3,800 nautical miles (7,000 km; 4,400 mi).
The hull structure of Aki is a very characteristic one called Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH). This structure reduces the wave resistance by reducing the volume of the ship near the sea surface and increases the stability during navigation.
The ship, which has a full-load displacement of 3,048 tonnes, has an AN/UQQ-2 Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS), which is a very long-range active/passive sonar that can be deployed into the sea to collect various acoustic data.
