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| SS515 Jingei Launched in MHI's Kobe shipyard |
The Japan Maritime Self Defense Force ( JMSDF ) had launched its third Taigei-class submarine on 12 Oct 2022 at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Kobe shipyard. It was named the Jingei, meaning swift whale. This came almost one year since the launch of the second-in-class the Hakugei which means white whale.
The Taigei-class submarines are advanced designs with lithium-ion batteries instead of the tried and proven lead-acid batteries. In Japanese, taigei means " big whale ". It is now almost certain that the entire class will be named after whales.
This will be the second Japanese naval vessel to bear the name Jingei, the first being the Imperial Japanese Navy ( IJN ) submarine tender which was launched in 1922 and saw service in World War Two. In kanji ( Chinese characters ), Jingei would be written as 迅鯨. In hiragana it would be じんげい.
Since the IJN warships always had their names in kanji, in order to distinguish their modern warships from those of the IJN's WWII vessels, JMSDF deliberately avoids expressing the ship's name in kanji and officially uses the hiragana form instead.
According to the JMSDF ship naming convention, submarines would be named after maritime phenomenon, marine animals and auspicious creatures. The name jingei conjures a majestic whale, King of the Ocean, streaking through the waves at breakneck speeds ...
The Jingei will be commissioned around March 2024.
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| The Jingei is the 1330th ship built by the MHI Kobe shipyard. JMSDF |
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| The Jingei all dressed up for the launch and naming ceremony. JMSDF |
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| I name thee ... Jingei. JMSDF |
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SS515 Jingei ( じんげい ) name revealed. JMSDF
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| View from VIP stand with naming documents. JMSDF |
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| Sacred silver axe for launching the JS Jingei. JMSDF |
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| The Jingei is launched. JMSDF |
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| Ribbons flutter amidst the lively tune of the Gunkan March. JMSDF |
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