143 Anno XVIII - 2008 - Marina Militare

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the first DDH, JDS Haruna (DD 141), fifty-six
various surface units for a total of 48,000 tons,
60 aircraft and 33 ASW helicopters. At the same
time, funds were approved to implement training
and education, restructuring and upgrade of
facilities and bases, and improvements in
communication technologies. 31
The reversion of the Ryukyu Islands in 1972
with the resulting widening of the maritime
area to protect, the existence of a robust Soviet
naval threat, and Japan’s growing dependence
on imports of raw materials, reinforced the
position of the navy in national defence. As
the tenth JMSDF’s Chief of Maritime Staff,
Admiral Samejima Hirokazu, put it, Japan
lacked of primary resources and relied on
imports for its own survival and as the 1973
oil crisis had reminded to civilian and military
authorities alike, transport at sea was vital to the
archipelago’s security and to that extent, naval
defence was a core part of national military
capability. 32
It was on the backdrop of the significance of the
missions and of its expanding surface fleet that
the JMSDF started devoting greater attention
to its lifting capability. In particular, logistical
support to land operations in Hokkaido – one
of the likely areas considered for a potential
Soviet invasion – coupled with the expansion of
Japan’s defensive maritime perimeter, including
now a considerable number of off-shore islands,
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demanded more adequate platforms to cover the
distances within the archipelago. 33 In the context
of the third and especially of the fourth build-up
plans, funds were secured for the procurement
of the first domestic-built tank landing ship, the
1,550-ton Atsumi (LST-4101) and her two sister
ships, Motobu (LST-4102) and Nemuro (LST-
4103), commissioned in 1972, 1973 and 1977,
respectively. 34 These units were built along
with another class of three larger landing ships
featuring 2,000-ton displacement, Miura (LST-
4151), Ojika (LST-4152) and Satsuma (LST-
4153), the last one entering service in 1977. 35
With the two small 590-ton utility landing crafts
of the Yura (LCU-4171) class joining the fleet
in 1981, the JMSDF’s completed the core of an
amphibious capability designed primarily for
the purpose of defence from eventual Soviet
attempts of power projection in wartime whilst
critically assisting the Japanese population
in case of natural disasters during peacetime.
In 1976, Japanese priorities for naval defence
as they had emerged early in the 1970s were
formalised in the National Defence Programme
Outline (NDPO) 36 and in the 1978 Guidelines for
US-Japan Defence Cooperation. 37 Throughout
the same period and for the rest of the Cold
War, the expansion of Soviet naval power in
the region led the JMSDF to reaffirm sea lanes
defence as the cornerstone of its strategy, with the
service focusing on a qualitative improvement
of its ASW capabilities
and on the extension of
its range of operations up
to 1,000 nautical miles. 38
By contrast, the lifting
capabilities the JMSDF
had acquired to support
efforts against territorial
invasion was considered
perfectly adequate to
the task and remained
unaltered till the end of
the Cold War. In 1981, a
budget request for a third
unit of the Yura class was
denied and reportedly no
other keel for a landing
unit was laid down until
early in the 1990s.
In the 1980s, the JMSDF’s
fleet was no longer in the
precarious condition of
the previous decades. Its
build-up now aimed at
strengthening a fleet that
could secure vital sea lanes
and confront attempts of
Soviet maritime power
projection against Japan
from the sea as well as on land. It is with this