The Japanese patrol boat ''Mizuho'' is a PLH type

patrol vessels A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...

of the

Japan Coast Guard The is the coast guard responsible for the protection of the Geography of Japan#Composition, topography and geography, coastline of Japan under the oversight of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It consists of about ...

. She is only ship in her

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

: the construction of a second ship was planned originally, but has not been achieved as of 2020 due to the start of construction of the and ''Reimei'' class.

Design

Essentially, this ship is designed to be an enlarged version of the , with a

helicopter deck A helicopter deck (or helo deck) is a helicopter pad on the deck of a ship, usually located on the stern and always clear of obstacles that would prove hazardous to a helicopter landing. In the United States Navy, it is commonly and properly refe ...

and

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

as a successor to . As well as being a platform for helicopters, she also functions as a

depot ship A depot ship is an auxiliary ship used as a mobile or fixed base for submarines, destroyers, minesweepers, fast attack craft, landing craft, or other small ships with similarly limited space for maintenance equipment and crew dining, berthing an ...

: replenishing fuel, potable water and stores to small patrol crafts and resting their crew. And as a frontline command center, she also has excellent command and control functions. She is armed with one Bofors L/70 40 mm gun (Bofors 40 Mk4) and one JM61-RFS 20 mm gun, each controlled by an electro-optical director. The Sikorsky S-76D helicopters was supposed to be used as the shipboard helicopters, but in actual, the

Bell 412 The Bell 412 is a utility helicopter of the Huey family manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It is a development of the Bell 212, with the major difference being the composite four-blade main rotor. It is a twin-turbine helicopter that has been ...

helicopters were transferred directly from the PLH-21.

References

Bibliography

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External links

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海上保安廳大型直昇機巡視船
Patrol vessels of the Japan Coast Guard 2018 ships Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries {{Japan-mil-ship-stub