Two Japanese vessels visit Sabah

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Nakasuji (seated fourth left) and his officers with Teo (seated fifth left) and other guests on board Ikazuchi (DD-107).

Nakasuji (seated fourth left) and his officers with Teo (seated fifth left) and other guests on board Ikazuchi (DD-107).

KOTA KINABALU: Two Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) vessels made a three-day port call and replenishment at the Sepanggar Naval Base here yesterday.

The two generic vessels are Ikazuchi (DD-107) and Murasame (DD-101) of the Escort Division 1 of JMSDF that are involved in counter piracy enforcement operations.

Both vessels departed from Yokosuka, Japan on March 18 for a 27-day operations before ending its tour in Djibouti on April 13.

“After successfully completing our mission, we will be returning to Japan but not before making a port call at the Kota Kinabalu Naval Base of the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN),” said commander of the JMSDF, Captain Atsushi Nakasuji during a briefing to guests on board the Ikazuchi (DD-107).

Among those present were Minister of Special Tasks Datuk Teo Chee Kang, Minister of Youth and Sports Datuk Tawfiq Abu Bakar Titingan, State Assembly Deputy Speakers Datuk Johnny Mositun and Datuk Dr Johnson Tee, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Housing Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam and Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Pang Yuk Ming.

Nakasuji said the three-day visit, which began on August 17, is also to strengthen relationships between the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) and Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF).

There are four Japanese destroyers named after Ikazuchi, which means ‘Thunder’. The first was the Ikazuchi-class destroyer (1898), a class of six destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Russo-Japanese War.

The second was Akatsuki-class destroyer (1931) of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, while the third was the JDS Ikazuchi (DE-202), lead ship of the Ikazuchi-class destroyer escort, a class of two destroyer escorts of the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) from 1956–1977.

The latest is the Ikazuchi (DD-107), a Murasame-class destroyer (1994) of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force. It is equipped with Anti Air/Surface RADAR, CDS SONAR, Data Link and SATCOM.

CDR Kazuharu Hokazono is the commanding officer of Ikazuchi (DD-107).

The second JMSDF vessel that docked at the Sepanggar Naval Base is Murasame (DD-101) which is a third-generation destroyer in service with the JMSDF.

It is said that Murasame was a successor to the Asagiri class, and like its predecessor, it is mainly tasked with ASW and ASuW.

Commanding officer of Murasame (DD-101) is CDR Kenji Fuji.