JS ''Kongō'' (DDG-173) is a

guided missile destroyer A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers who have a prim ...

in 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). ''Kongō'' is the third Japanese naval vessel named after

Mount Kongō is a mountain in the Kawachi region of Osaka Prefecture, Kansai, Japan. It is near Mount Yamato Katsuragi. The mountain has lent its name to a series of naval ships and ship classes: the Imperial Japanese Navy's 1877 ironclad ''Kongō''; ...

. She was laid down by

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Mo ...

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

on 8 May 1990. The launching ceremony took place on 26 September 1991 and she was commissioned on 25 March 1993. She was the first ship outside of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to feature the

Aegis combat system The Aegis Combat System is an American integrated naval weapons system developed by the Missile and Surface Radar Division of RCA, and it is now produced by Lockheed Martin. Initially used by the United States Navy, Aegis is now used also by t ...

and its ballistic missile defense capability.

Operational history

''Kongō'' was laid down on 8 May 1990 at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard's Yaijima Plant as a 7200-ton destroyer planned in 1988 based on the medium-term defense improvement plan. She was launched on 26 September 1991 and commissioned on 25 March 1993. Overall, The construction cost was 122.3 billion

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

. As the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

, she was the only one in her class not to have the ORQ-1 helicopter data link installed at the time of commissioning, which was installed later along with the antenna of

Link 16 Link 16 is a military tactical data link network used by NATO and nations allowed by the MIDS International Program Office (IPO). Its specification is part of the family of Tactical Data Links. With Link 16, military aircraft as well as ship ...

. From 26 November 1993 to 21 February 1994 she was dispatched to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

for the Aegis System Equipment Qualification Test (SQT). Later that year, she participated in

RIMPAC RIMPAC, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, is the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise. RIMPAC is held biennially during June and July of even-numbered years from Honolulu, Hawaii, with the exception of 2020 where it was held i ...

between 23 June and 6 July, also around Hawaii. She also participated in RIMPAC 2000, accompanied by a large JMSDF fleet consisting of the destroyers ''Kurama'', ''Shimakaze'', ''Murasame'', ''Harusame'', '' Yūdachi'', '' Kirisame'', ''Asagiri'', as well as the supply ship ''Hamana'' and submarine ''Natusushio''. During the exercise ''Kongō'' successfully intercepted 3 simulated missiles and an

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

with her SM-2

Surface-to-air missiles A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

. She was deployed to the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

between 17 May and 19 September 2004 in response to the passing of the "Act on Special Measures Against Terrorism", alongside the ''Ariake'' and ''Hamana''. In November 2006 she was dry-docked at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard for inspection and modified to carry the SM-3 block IA, which was completed by March 2007 and inspections finished by August. On 15 October of the same year, she was stationed near Hawaii for the purpose of MD system testing, and succeeded in tracking two targets during an interception test with the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

Ticonderoga-class cruiser The ''Ticonderoga'' class of guided-missile cruisers is a class of warships in the United States Navy, first ordered and authorized in the 1978 fiscal year. The class uses passive electronically scanned array, passive phased-array radar and wa ...

USS ''Lake Erie'' on 6 November. On 15 November, she succeeded in tracking a separated target during ballistic missile target tracking training. In December 2007, Japan conducted a successful test of the SM-3 block IA against a ballistic missile aboard ''Kongō''. This was the first time a Japanese ship was selected to launch the interceptor missile during a test of the

Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System (Aegis BMD or ABMD), also known as ''Sea-Based Midcourse'', is a United States Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency program developed to provide missile defense against short to intermediate- ...

. In previous tests they provided tracking and communications. In 2012, ''Kongō'', along with ''Chōkai'' and ''Myōkō'' were deployed in cooperation with the US Navy in preparation for the Democratic Republic of Korea to test the

Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2 Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2 or Gwangmyeongseong-3 ho 2-hogi (; English: Bright Star-3 Unit 2 or Lodestar-3 Unit 2) is the first satellite successfully launched from North Korea, an Earth observation spacecraft that was launched on 12 December 2012 ...

. However, the ships were withdrawn after the satellite did not violate Japanese airspace. In April 2013 she was again sortied in response to the launching of a North Korean missile launch, returning to Sasebo on 30 June.

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

ミサイル警戒のイージス艦が帰港
. Accessed 30 April 2020. As of April 2020, ''Kongō'' is based in

Sasebo, Nagasaki is a Core cities of Japan, core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is also the second largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. On 1 June 2019, the city had an estimated population of 247,739 and a population de ...

Gallery

File:JDS Kongo (DDG-173) San Diego.jpg, JS ''Kongō'' in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

on 1 July 1994 File:DDG173 JDS Kongo.jpg, JS ''Kongō'' at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

on 15 October 2007 File:US Navy 071015-N-4965F-004 Operations Specialist Seaman Jerry Carpenter, assigned to USS Lake Erie (CG 70), performs line handlers for Japanese destroyer, JDS Kongo (DDG 173), as she moors at Naval Station Pearl Harbor.jpg File:US Navy 100723-N-3283P-153 JS Kongo (DDG 173) and JS Suzunami (DDG 114) are illuminated by friendship lights during a port visit to Sendai, Japan.jpg, JS ''Kongō'' and JS Suzunami at

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...

on 23 July 2010 File:JS Kongō at Garden Pier, Nagoya, -22 Aug. 2010 a.jpg, JS ''Kongō'' at

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

on 22 August 2010

References

External links

GlobalSecurity.org; JMSDF DDG ''Kongo'' Class
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kongo (DDG-173) Kongō-class destroyers 1991 ships Kongō