Kaibōkan


Kaibōkan or coastal defense ship is a type of naval ship used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II for escort duty and coastal defense. The term escort ship is used by the United States Navy to describe this category of Japanese ships.

Description

These ships were the Japanese equivalent to Allied destroyer escorts and frigates, all three types of warships being built as a less expensive anti-submarine warfare alternative to fleet destroyers. Kaibōkan had few counterparts among Japan's Axis allies: the 10 Kriegsmarine escort ships of the F-class, and Amiral Murgescu of the Romanian Navy.
In the course of the war, the design was simplified and scaled down to permit larger numbers of vessels to be built more quickly.

Old definition

Before the World War II, kaibōkan was the catchall name for various ships, from battleships to sloops, which had become obsolete.

Classes

(''Ishigaki'')

Same design with different engines; diesels for Type C and turbines for Type D. More than 120 were mass-produced during the war, employing modular design method.

Others

In addition, two former Chinese light cruisers were used, renamed Ioshima and Yasoshima.