09 April 2020

Japan's first Soryu-class submarine equipped with lithium-ion batteries arrives at home base

by Gabriel Dominguez

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s (JMSDF’s) first Soryu-class diesel-electric attack submarine (SSK) equipped with lithium-ion batteries, arrived at its home base in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, on 7 April.

The service announced that same day that the JS Oryu (also spelled Ouryu ), which had been inducted into the JMSDF’s Submarine Flotilla 1 in a ceremony held on 5 March in Hyogo Prefecture, will now “take on surveillance mission[s] around Japan”.

JS Oryu , the JMSDF’s first Soryu-class SSK equipped with lithium-ion batteries, arrived at its home base in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, on 7 April. (JMSDF)

Built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) at its facility in Kobe, the 84-m-long boat – with pennant number SS 511 – is the 11th submarine of the class and the sixth to be built by MHI, with the other five having been built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI). Oryu was laid down in March 2015 and launched in October 2018.

The total cost of acquiring the submarine amounted to about JPY66 billion (USD615 million), a JMSDF spokesperson told Jane’s on 5 March.

The launch comes after GS Yuasa, a Kyoto-based developer and manufacturer of battery systems, had announced in February 2017 that Japan would become the first country in the world to equip SSKs with lithium-ion batteries in place of lead-acid batteries.

At the time the company said the batteries, which store considerably more energy than the lead-acid batteries, would be mounted on the final two Soryu-class boats for the JMSDF: Oryu (SS 511) and Toryu (SS 512).

According to Jane’s Fighting Ships

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s (JMSDF’s) first Soryu-class diesel-electric attack submarine...

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