Japan unveils largest warship since World War II

ABC ^ | August 6, 2013 | ERIC TALMADGE

[JerseyanExile]

Japan on Tuesday unveiled its biggest warship since World War II, a huge flat-top destroyer that has raised eyebrows in China and elsewhere because it bears a strong resemblance to a conventional aircraft carrier.

The ship, which has a flight deck that is nearly 250 meters (820 feet) long, is designed to carry up to 14 helicopters. Japanese officials say it will be used in national defense — particularly in anti-submarine warfare and border-area surveillance missions — and to bolster the nation’s ability to transport personnel and supplies in response to large-scale natural disasters, like the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

Though the ship — dubbed “Izumo” — has been in the works since 2009, its unveiling comes as Japan and China are locked in a dispute over several small islands located between southern Japan and Taiwan. For months, ships from both countries have been conducting patrols around the isles, called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyutai in China.

The tensions over the islands, along with China’s heavy spending on defense and military modernization, have heightened calls in Japan for beefed-up naval and air forces. China recently began operating an aircraft carrier that it refurbished after purchasing from Russia, and is reportedly moving forward with the construction of another that is domestically built.

Though technically a destroyer, some experts believe the new Japanese ship could potentially be used in the future to launch fighter jets or other aircraft that have the ability to take off vertically. That would be a departure for Japan, which has one of the best-equipped and best-trained naval forces in the Pacific but which has not sought to build aircraft carriers of its own because of constitutional restrictions that limit its military forces to a defensive role.

[hosepipe]

Huh? Lots of carries don’t have catapults.

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What IF... the ship was MADE with an option for a future Catapult?.. All that needed is installation to existing infrastructure..?... You know as an UPGRADE.. about a month after launch.. Might already BE onboard in the hold... WAITING..

But the Japanese couldn’t really be THAT smart.. could they?
Be easy to cover catapult deck housings with deck plates.. who would know?

Same gambit with arresting cables for vehicle recovery..
Could easily be done..

[Army Air Corps]

FYI

[Oztrich Boy]

Isn’t the Rising Sun flag seen on the left side of the bow from WWII?

The Rising Sun has been the Japanese *hem* Maritime Self Defence Force * ensign for the last 60 years.

[x]

I didn’t know that. I thought they got rid of that flag after the war. Anything resembling it sets off protests in Korea.

[Rebelbase]

“Fire at will, Commander!”

Why does everybody hate Will?

[Osage Orange]

Ha!!

[hamboy]

It's more an assault ship than a destroyer.

[tanknetter]

Take a close look at the flight deck and the sides of the hull. Aircraft carriers, meaning jets, have discernable elevators in the flight deck, access to the hanger deck. Real modern carries have elevators on the port and starboard outboard edges of the flight deck. Also normally visible are the vast openings in the SIDES of the hanger deck, both port and starboard.

The determining factor for deck-edge elevators is usually whether the flight deck is the ship's strength deck, or if the strength deck is the hangar deck, with the flight deck mounted on top of it.

Cutting large holes in the side of a hull below the strength deck is generally a bad idea. Which is why many carriers have elevators in the center of their flight decks rather than at the edge.

But there's an engineering/design trick that the USN came up with that was incorporated into the supercarriers, allowing deck-edge elevators while also having the flight deck as the strength deck. Allegedly this design trick is still classified.

[GeronL]

Ask Jeff, he knows about these things.

[GeronL]

bump

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Japan unveils largest warship since World War II

Well then the Chinese shouldn't have any trouble hitting it with their bad-ass anti-ship missiles.

[GeronL]

F-35 Marine variant anyone?

[GeronL]

we need to encourage the South Koreans, Philippines and Taiwan to build up to counter the Chinese

[ROCKLOBSTER]

This may be just me, but the hull of the ship seems very smooth in contrast with the highly visible welding of other ships...Anyone?

Fiberglass.

[TalonDJ]

There is really no point. We don’t have catapults on similar function carriers. They need only buy some VTOL F35s and they are good to go. The more realistic question to ask is do they have a high temperature deck to handle them... and they DO! They must because V-22s need the same decking (their engine exhaust hits the deck at close range).

[hosepipe]

Good point... or an expandable Ramp in the front of the ship..
I’m surprised Japan has not done much more than they have..
BUT Japan is a place where they can actually hold “SECRETS”...
Maybe they have.... and it’s “SECRET”..