Hateruma-class patrol vessel

Hateruma-class patrol vessel (はてるま型巡視船) is a class of PL type patrol vessels of the Japan Coast Guard. PL stands for "Patrol vessel Large", and the class name "Hateruma" is named after Hateruma-jima, the southernmost inhabited island of Japan.

Aiming at policing of Senkaku Islands, they can be floating base for smaller patrol crafts or helicopters, so they are called "拠点機能強化型巡視船", Patrol vessel, Sea-basing capability enhaunced.

Ships of this class are equipped with one single-mounted Mk44 Bushmaster II 30mm autocannon with laser-optical fire-control system. The 30mm-caliber autocannon is entirely new caliber for the JCG, and it give this class an increased firepower compared with usual 1,000 ton-class patrol vessels which has only one manually controlled 20mm vulcan. This gun system is more powerful than 20mm vulcan with the RFS (Remote Firing System: Remote weapon system associated with the simplified laser-optical Fire-control system) which is on board with recent PMs and PSs such as Tsurugi class, and more reasonable than Bofors 40 mm L/70 gun with the laser-optical FCS which is on board with High-speed, high-functionality PLs such as Hida class and Aso class.

This class has the helicopter deck wide enough to operate with Eurocopter EC225 helicopters to airlift supplies for small patrol crafts keeping Senkaku Islands under surveillance. And the broadband SATCOM system of this class can relay video data from helicopters to the ground station or the HQ of the JCG. This class is equipped with the LIDAR system to acquire targets with high accuracy, and at the same time, this system enables them to perform search and rescue mission more safely.

The JCG had intended to build a number of ships of this design for the successor of PL-101 Shiretoko-class, but this class may not suitable for SAR mission because of the insufficient low-speed mobility. So the construction project has switched to the PL-09 Kunigami-class, utilized variant of this class.

Shiretoko-class is the older 1,000 ton-class PLs, twenty-eight ships were built in late 1970s and early 1980s. It was recently announced that Japan plans to transfer 2 of the older Shiretoko class type patrol vessels to the Philippines Coast Guard later this year.

Ships in the class

 * PL61 Hateruma
 * Commissioned: 2008 April
 * Home port: Ishigaki, Okinawa


 * PL62 Ishigaki (ex. Hakata)
 * Commissioned: 2009 February
 * Home port: Ishigaki, Okinawa


 * PL63 Yonakuni
 * Commissioned: 2009 February
 * Home port: Ishigaki, Okinawa


 * PL64 Shimokita (ex. Motobu)
 * Commissioned: 2009 March
 * Home port: Naha, Okinawa


 * PL65 Shiretoko (ex. Kunigami)
 * Commissioned: 2009 March
 * Home port: Nakagusuku, Okinawa


 * PL66 Shikine
 * Commissioned:2009 October
 * Home port: Port of Yokohama


 * PL67 Amagi
 * Commissioned:2010 March
 * Home port: Shimoda, Shizuoka


 * PL68 Suzuka
 * Commissioned:2010 March
 * Home port: Owase, Mie


 * PL69 Koshiki
 * Commissioned:2010 March
 * Home port: Kagoshima