Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force minesweeper JS Ukushima (MSC-686) capsized on Monday following an engine room fire on Sunday with one crewmember missing from the incident. Meanwhile Japan’s Joint Staff Office (JSO) on Monday issued a release stating that a Russian Navy Yasen-class nuclear powered cruise missile submarine (SSGN) had been sighted operating near Japan’s waters for the first time.
Japanese media reports stated that Ukushima on Sunday at 9.40 a.m. reported to the Japan Coast Guard’s (JCG) 7th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters that the ship had a fire in the engine room. Ukushima was sailing in the East China Sea in an area 1.5 miles off Oshima Island off the coast of Fukuoka Prefecture on the main island of Kyushu.
Japan’s Kyodo News reported that minesweeper JS Toyoshima (MSC-685), which joined the coast guard in the fire-fighting and rescue operation, reported around 2 p.m. that the fire on the Ukushima was contained, but flared out of control later. The crew of Ukushima were taken off by Toyoshima by 3:45 p.m., but it was found that petty officer 3rd class Tatsunori Koga, who worked in the engine room, was missing.
Japanese media NHK’s Fukuoka’s branch posted on its X social media account a video showing the minesweeper ablaze at 7 p.m on Sunday night with a later video showing the ship’s capsized bow barely above water. The fire was only put out when the ship capsized a few minutes after midnight on Monday. Divers from the JCG are now searching the wreck for the missing crew member.
Ukushima was carrying out training in preparation before a large-scale JMSDF – U.S. Navy joint mine warfare exercise that begins on Saturday and concludes on Nov. 26. A JMSDF release on Nov. 5 stated that the exercise would involve a frigate, both Uraga class mine countermeasures vessels, two Awaji class minesweepers and 14 other minesweepers from the JMSDF and two U.S. Navy mine countermeasures vessels.
As per standard procedure, a JMSDF board of inquiry has been set up to look into the incident which is the second incident this year involving the JMSDF that resulted in a loss of life, in April, two JMSDF SH-60K helicopters collided in mid-air while conducting anti-submarine warfare training with all eight crew members killed in the incident.
On Monday the JSO issued a release stating that at 8 a.m. that day, Russian Navy destroyer RFS Marshal Shaposhnikov (543), missile range instrumentation ship RFS Marshal Krylov (331), a rescue tug and a Yasen class submarine were sighted sailing west in an area 49 miles northeast of Cape Soya on the main island of Hokkaido. The release added that subsequently the Russian ships sailed west through La Perouse Strait, which separates Hokkaido from the Russian island of Sakhalin.
A JMSDF P-3C Orion Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) from Fleet Air Wing 2 based at JMSDF Hachinohe Air Base on the main island of Honshu shadowed the Russian ships, according to the release which noted that this was the first time the JMSDF sighted a Yasen class submarine. The Russian Navy Pacific Fleet has two Yasen class SSGNs, RFS Novosibirsk (K-573) and RFS Krasnoyarsk (K-571) assigned to it.
Meanwhile in Indonesia on Sunday, Russian Navy submarine RFS Ufa (B-588) together with rescue tug Alatau left Surabaya, Java after arriving on Thursday last week for a port visit. Ufa is heading towards the Russian Navy Pacific Fleet’s submarine base at Kamchatka Naval Base, having been assigned to join the fleet, and is now likely transiting through the South China Sea. Meanwhile the Russian Navy Pacific Fleet’s surface action group comprising of corvettes RFS Gromkiy (335), RFS Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov (339) and RFS Rezkiy (343) and fleet oiler Pechenga wrapped up drills in the Java Sea with the Indonesian Navy and is likely now operating in the South China Sea.
