JS ' (DDH-143) was 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 ...

of the her eponymous class of destroyer 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).

Construction and career

The vessel was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

Ishikawajima-Harima , formerly known as , is a Japanese engineering corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan that produces and offers ships, space launch vehicles, aircraft engines, marine diesel engines, gas turbines, gas engines, railway systems, turbocharg ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

on February 25, 1977; launched on September 18, 1978; and commissioned on March 17, 1980. In 2011, after the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

, she was used as a relief ship. In 2012, along with attending RIMPAC, she also attended

Fleet Week Fleet Week is a United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Coast Guard tradition in which active military ships recently deployed in overseas operations dock in a variety of major cities for one week. Once the ships dock, ...

, a United States naval tradition in which naval ships are showcased. On December 15, 2007, a fire broke out on board ''Shirane'' near the rudder house as she was anchored at

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 ...

. It took seven hours to extinguish and injured four crew members. ''Shirane'' visited

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

on her way to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

as part of

2012. She was open to visitors for a few days. she passed by the

Freedom Tower One World Trade Center (also known as One World Trade, One WTC, and formerly Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merr ...

as part of the ship parade in

New York Harbor New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...

and the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

on May 23, 2012. ''Shirane'' was one of three ships sent by the

to attend

Exercise 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 ...

, along with and the destroyer . She was decommissioned on March 25, 2015, as the ''Shirane'' class was slowly being phased out by the newer s.

Post-Decommission

In November 2015, the

Japanese Ministry of Defense The is an executive department of the Government of Japan responsible for preserving the peace and independence of Japan, and maintaining the country’s national security and the Japan Self-Defense Forces. The ministry is headed by the ...

announced that ''Shirane'' would be in a live-fire test against the

XASM-3 The ASM-3 is a Supersonic speed, supersonic anti-ship missile being developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to replace the Type 80 Air-to-Ship Missile, ASM-1 and Type 93 Air-to-Ship Missile, ASM-2 missiles. The major launch platform is the Mitsub ...

supersonic anti-ship missile in 2016.Japan to Test its New XASM-3 Supersonic Anti-Ship Missile Against Shirane-class Destroyer
- Navyrecognition.com, 16 November 2015 After undergoing several tests in Wakasa Bay as a target for XASM-3 she was sold for scrapping on October 31 and dismantling began on the same day.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shirane (DDG-143) Shirane-class destroyers Ships built by IHI Corporation 1978 ships