二次世界大戰資料庫 (WW2DB)

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

This article refers to the entire No. 101/103-class; it is not about an individual vessel.

ww2dbaseIn Aug 1943, the Japanese Navy Technical Department completed a basic design of a new type of 900-ton amphibious assault ships. Because the Japanese Army's existing amphibious assault ships were not suitable for large scale production, the Army contributed raw materials to the Navy in the production of the Navy's new designs. Detailed design began in Sep 1943 at Kure Naval Arsenal in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The first keel was laid in Nov 1943, and the first ship was launched 90 days after the keel laying. The first batch of six ships was equipped with diesel engines; all six went to the Navy, who operated them under the designation No. 101-class SB (D). The second batch of 63 ships were equipped with Navy Technical Department's newly-designed turbine engines; the Navy operated them under the designation of No. 103-class SB (T) and the Army simply SB. The dimensions of the two batches were identical, although the different powerplant configurations meant that the first batch displaced more water (965 tons) than the second batch (884 tons). 33 ships of the second batch went to the Navy and 30 to the Army, but ultimately the Army returned 10 to the Navy due to the lack of experience with turbine engines while some of the remaining 20 were refitted with coal-fired boilers. They could each carry an example load of about 250 tons of freight, 120 infantrymen, 7 medium tanks, 14 light tanks, or the like. By 1945, production would expand to the Sasebo Naval Arsenal and shipbuilding facilities belonging to the firms Hitachi Zosen, Kawanami Kogyo, and Osaka Zosen. Most of the Navy's SB (D) and SB (T) ships were deployed during the defense of the Philippine Islands, during which they successfully delivered infantry and vehicles to the front, but 18 of them would be lost, either in action or in accidents, in this campaign. Both the Army and the Navy relocated their SB landing ships to the home islands by early 1945, and 9 of them survived through the end of the war. These survived remained in service with Japan, Republic of China, and Soviet Union (with ships given to the latter two nations as reparations) until 1955.

No. 101/103 級 登陸艦 互動地圖

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No. 101/103 級 登陸艦 Operational Timeline