Japan's coast guard wants to build a 30,000-ton megaship that would dwarf the China Coast Guard's gigantic Coast Guard 5901, currently the world's largest ship.
The Japan Coast Guard has earmarked $24 million in its next budget to start construction of a 200-meter-long patrol boat that is intended to carry out missions on a much larger scale than a typical coast guard vessel and has many of the features of a small-deck amphibious ship.
The giant “sea base” cutter has space to accommodate up to 1,000 people in the event of a natural disaster, space on deck for three helicopters for emergency response operations, and facilities for launching and recovering small boats. It has ample capacity to intervene in the event of a major earthquake or national defense emergency. It is also large enough to subdue confrontations with the China Coast Guard and illegal fishermen, although the Japan Coast Guard says the vessel will not be fitted with deck cannons and will not be used in the Senkaku Islands, where the agency has its most frequent encounters with Chinese forces.
Total construction costs are expected to be about $470 million, and if funding is secured, construction could begin as early as next year, with completion scheduled for 2029.
If built, the Japan Coast Guard would have the world's largest cutter, far surpassing the U.S. Coast Guard's Legend-class national security cutters, the Japan Coast Guard's Shikishima-class cutters, and the China Coast Guard's Shoto-class series (known overseas as “monster” cutters). However, if this new behemoth doesn't have cannons, it may not technically qualify as an “armed” cutter.
