JDS ''Erimo'' (AMC-491) was a

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine, military aircraft or land vehicle deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for ins ...

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force The , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy ( ...

(JMSDF) in the mid-1950s.

Construction and career

''Erimo'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 10 December 1954 and launched on 12 July 1955 by

Uraga Dock Company was a major privately owned shipyard in Uraga, Japan, which built numerous warships for the Imperial Japanese Navy. History Uraga Dock Company was founded by Enomoto Takeaki in 1869. A shipyard had already existed in Uraga from the end of the ...

Uraga Shipyard. She was commissioned on 28 December 1955 and was homeported in

Yokosuka is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 373,797, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th-most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city i ...

under the Mine Warfare Force. She joined the Kure District Force on June 1, 1958. She joined the 1st Mine Warfare Force on May 1, 1960, in Kure. She joined the 2nd Mine Warfare Force on September 1, 1961, in

. She returned to the 1st Mine Warfare Force on March 15, 1969. On March 31, 1976, she was reclassified as an

auxiliary vessel An auxiliary ship is a naval ship designed to support combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliary ships are not primary combatant vessels, though they may have some limited combat capacity, usually for purposes of self-defense. Auxil ...

, her registration number was changed to YAS-69, and she became the mother ship of the Explosive Ordnance Corps belonging to the

Kure is a city in the Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 208,024 in 106,616 households and a population density of 590 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . With a strong industrial and naval heritage, ...

. When she was reclassified into an auxiliary vessel, she was equipped with a soft-ball submersible, and the mine-loading hoist and part of the minelaying rails were removed. In addition, the mine-mounted crane in the center was removed and replaced by a new diving instrument. She was decommissioned on March 27, 1982. Her mileage since her commissioning until removal was about 720,000 kilometers.

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erimo Ships built by Uraga Dock Company 1955 ships Mine warfare vessels of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Minelayers of Japan