JS Makinami

JS Makinami (まきなみ) is the third vessel of the Takanami class destroyers of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).

Makinami was authorized under the Medium-term Defense Buildup Plan of 1996, and was built by IHI Marine United shipyards in Yokohama. She was laid down on 17 July 2001, launched on 8 August 2002. She was commissioned into service on 18 March 2004. and was initially assigned to the JMSDF Escort Flotilla 2 based at Sasebo.

Service
Makinami, along with the fleet oiler Towada were assigned to the Indian Ocean in November 2006 to provide assistance in refueling anti-terrorist coalition forces in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. She returned to Japan in March 2007.

In November 2010, Makinami, along with the destroyer Satogiri, was dispatched to Aden, Yemen to participate in anti-piracy escort operations off the coast of Somalia. The destroyer was part of the sixth rotation of JMSDF vessels patrolling in this region. She undertook 28 sorties, returning to Japan on January 11, 2011. On 15 March 2011, she was reassigned to the JMSDF Escort Flotilla 3, based at Ōminato in Aomori Prefecture.

On 13 August 2012 Makinami was dispatched to Aden again, together with the destroyer Yugiri, to resume anti-piracy escort operations off the coast of Somalia. The context for this extended deployment off the Horn of Africa was the "Law on the Penalization of Acts of Piracy and Measures Against Acts of Piracy (Anti-Piracy Measures Law)". Approximately 2,000 merchant ships with ties to Japan, Japan-flagged or operated by Japanese firms pass through the busy shipping zone each year.

Makinami returned to Yokosuka on 11 February 2013 and remains assigned to the Third Squadron of the JMSDF Escort Flotilla 3.

In October 2013, Makinami participated in the International Fleet Review 2013 in Sydney, Australia.