An escort ship, or kaibokan, (Japanese: "sea defence ship"), is the term used by the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 for a type of naval ship

Naval ship

A naval ship is a ship used for combat purposes, commonly by a navy. Naval ships are differentiated from civilian ships by construction and purpose...

 used by the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 for escort duty.

In the course of the war, the design was simplified and scaled down to permit larger numbers of vessels to be built quicker.

Classes

• Shimusu or Type A - dual purpose escorts or minesweeper.
• Etorofu modified Type A
• Mikura or Type "B",
• Ukuru
  Ukuru class escort ship
  The were a class of ships in the service of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.The Japanese called these ships Kaibōkan, "ocean defence ships" , a name used to denote a multi-purpose vessel....
  
   modified Type B
• Type C
• Type D

In addition two former Chinese light cruisers were used, renamed the Isojima and Yasojima.