List of active Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ships

JMSDF ensign of Japan.

List of active ships of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is a list of ships in active service with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. The JMSDF is one of the world's largest navies and the second largest navy in Asia in terms of fleet tonnage.[1] As of 2024, the JMSDF operates a total of 155 vessels (including minor auxiliary vessels), including; four helicopter destroyers (or helicopter carriers), 36 destroyers, 5 frigates, six destroyer escorts (or frigates), 24 attack submarines, 30 mine countermeasure vessels, six patrol vessels, three landing ship tanks, 8 training vessels and a fleet of various auxiliary ships.[2][3]

As of 2013, a procurement list added to the current National Defense Program Guidelines (NDPG) has revealed that, among other things, an additional 48 escort vessels of various classes are planned to be added to the MSDF fleet in the 2020s.[4] In addition, as of 7 July 2013, it was being reported that plans were under way to procure two more Aegis equipped destroyers in order to bolster ongoing BMD efforts, the first to be contracted for in fiscal year 2015 and the other in fiscal year 2016.[5]

  1. ^ IISS 2010, Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force
  2. ^ "Escort ship". Archived from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  3. ^ "Submarine (vessels)". Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  4. ^ "EDITORIAL: Defense Ministry's 'shopping list' needs a radical review". AJW by The Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  5. ^ Japan eyes two new Aegis destroyers to counter N. Korea missile threat Archived 8 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine Japan Times, 7 July 2013