Japan Commissions Tenth Soryu-Class Submarine

Published Mar 18, 2019 6:50 PM by The Maritime Executive

The Japan Maritime Self Defense Force commissioned its 10th Soryu-class attack submarine on Monday.

The submarine JS Shoryu was delivered by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, the shipbuilder's 28th submarine since World War II.

Soryu means blue dragon in Japanese and is named after the World War II aircraft carrier which was sunk during the Battle of Midway. Shoryu means soaring dragon in Japanese.

The 84-meter, 2,950-ton diesel-electric submarine carries 65 sailors and has a maximum speed of 20 knots. She will be home-ported in Kure.

Soryu-class submarines are Japan's largest and also Japan’s first to be fitted with air-independent propulsion so they can remain fully submerged for longer periods of time.

The 11th submarine, JS Oryu (phoenix dragon), was launched in October 2018 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. She is the first in the series to have lithium-ion batteries rather than lead-acid batteries. Lithium-ion batteries have almost double the electric storage capacity of traditional lead-acid batteries.