JS ''Amakusa'' is a ''Hiuchi''-class Auxiliary Multi-purpose Support (AMS) ship of the

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...

(JMSDF). The ship was built by

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

in Keihin and commissioned into service on 16 March 2004.Global Security
AMS Hiuchi Class, ship list
/ref> The primary mission of the ''Amakusa'' is to support training exercises of other ships, including shooting practice and torpedo launching practice.

Service

This ship was one of several in the JMSDF fleet participating in disaster relief after the

2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''El ...

. ''Akakusa'' was the second of two JMSDF ships which towed barges of fresh water from

Yokosuka is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 409,478, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city ...

to the

Fukushima I nuclear accidents The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 and ...

. The water was used to replace the seawater being used in cooling efforts at the plant. On 22 May 2022, the ''Amakusa'' conducted surveillance on a

PLAN A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. F ...

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

near

Miyako Island is the largest and the most populous island among the Miyako Islands of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Miyako Island is administered as part of the City of Miyakojima, which includes not only Miyako Island, but also five other populated islands ...

Notes

References

* Werth, Eric. (2007). ''Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World: Their Ships, Aircraft, and Systems.'' Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ;

External links

* * JMSDF
AMS-4303 あまくさ Amakusa
Hiuchi-class support ships 2003 ships {{Japan-mil-ship-stub