Topic: New Japanese Carrier

[CDN Aviator]

I would like THIS DDH in Canadian use!

The Japanese calling it a destroyer is like the Brits calling theirs a "through-deck cruiser". The words "aicraft carrier" is not politicaly acceptable in some circles.

[Thucydides]

Interesting video of the JMSDF's newest destroyer DDH 181 Hyūga, although it reminds me or something else:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJXhm421tqI

[Ex-Dragoon]

Nations redesignate warships all the time to suit their own purposes and with a public that is rabidly anti military as Japan's, one can see the reasoning behind the new type of flattop destroyer....

[tomahawk6]

I like the design and feel it should be copied by the USN. It would enhance ASW capabilities when a carrier wasnt present. Although I would like to see a larger design to better accommodate the JSF.

[S.M.A.]

Edited: Thanks to the Mods for the thread merge

[Thucydides]

Manning issues aside, ships of that design could fulfill several roles for us, including ASW, amphibious assault and flagship (with a command and control suite installed).

Just as "Frigates" are now almost the size of WWI era light cruisers, a pocket aircraft carrier may be the best means to fulfill the role of a "Torpedo Boat Destroyer" in this era.

[Thucydides]

It seems the design is very versatile, and the Japanese Navy wants an even larger one:

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200911230073.html

New helicopter destroyer to widen MSDF range

BY TAKATERU DOI

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2009/11/23

The Maritime Self-Defense Force plans to build a helicopter destroyer--the largest ship in the fleet--to counter China's naval buildup and improve responses for contingencies.

The planned helicopter destroyer will have a length of 248 meters, a displacement of 19,500 tons and a capability to transport up to 14 helicopters, 4,000 people and 50 trucks. It would also be able to refuel other ships.

To the untrained eye, the helicopter destroyer looks like an aircraft carrier, which has raised questions that it could violate Japan's pacifist Constitution.

The Defense Ministry has scoffed at such suggestions, saying the ship is necessary for Japan's defense.

"Helicopters are needed to seek out and keep an eye on submarines as well as to patrol surface ships from as far away as possible outside the range of enemy missiles," a ministry official said. "For those reasons, a large destroyer that can carry many helicopters is necessary."

A request for the helicopter destroyer was first made for the fiscal 2010 budget when the Liberal Democratic Party was in control of government.

After Yukio Hatoyama became prime minister in September, new budget requests were submitted in October--including 118.1 billion yen for the construction of a helicopter destroyer.

The ship would eventually replace the destroyer Shirane, which is scheduled to be decommissioned in fiscal 2014.

To allow up to five surveillance helicopters to land and take off simultaneously, the bridge of the new helicopter destroyer will be shifted to the starboard side to make room for an uninterrupted flight deck.

The Hyuga, the MSDF's latest helicopter destroyer, was commissioned last March. The ship has a length of 197 meters and a width of 33 meters.

The Hyuga is now the largest ship in the MSDF fleet, but the planned helicopter destroyer would have that title once it is completed.

The main component of the MSDF fleet is its four destroyer flotillas, each with eight destroyers and eight helicopters.

Those numbers were arrived at during the Cold War to counter Soviet submarines plying the waters around Japan.

However, in more recent years, the Chinese navy has been strengthening its sea-to-sea attack capabilities. Advanced Chinese destroyers carrying cruise missiles have been spotted near gas fields in the East China Sea.

Another reason for building the large helicopter destroyer is to respond to the expected increase in emergency assistance missions. Participation in international peacekeeping activities was upgraded to a primary task of the SDF, opening the path for more dispatches both in Japan and abroad.

Officers of the MSDF, which currently possesses 52 destroyers, said dispatches would become much more efficient because the new helicopter destroyer will be capable of performing as a transport and supply ship.

Not only will the helicopter destroyer be able to transport a large number of Ground SDF members and vehicles, but it could also provide fuel to other MSDF ships in its flotilla. That would eliminate the need for ships to drop anchor to refuel.

"Rather than constructing destroyers as destroyers and supply ships as supply ships, building ships that have multiple functions would lead to more efficient use of the budget," a high-ranking officer explained. "One reason the ship is so large is because we have included a number of functions in it."

When Defense Ministry officials were explaining the budget request for the helicopter destroyer to reporters, a question was raised about its similarity to aircraft carriers.

As in the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq, aircraft carriers have been a main maritime base of attack for the U.S. military.

One reporter asked if ministry officials were considering having the helicopter destroyer travel beyond Japanese waters, which might contradict the exclusively defensive nature of the SDF.

A Defense Ministry official explained: "The ship would be a destroyer to transport personnel and supplies in response to major natural disasters in Japan and abroad as well as to carry aircraft necessary for continuous surveillance of waters around Japan.

"The ship will be incapable of having fighter jets land on and take-off from the deck, and we have no such intentions. It is not an offensive aircraft carrier."

Because of the constitutional ban in Article 9 on possessing "land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential," the government in 1988 issued a statement that said, "Because offensive aircraft carriers exceed the war potential needed for a minimum level of self-defense, possession of such ships is prohibited by the Constitution."

MSDF officials said that in line with the budget request for the helicopter destroyer, the decommissioning of four other destroyers in addition to the Shirane would be moved up and no replacement ships constructed.

The total number of destroyers possessed by the MSDF would decrease, but one high-ranking officer said, "We hope to gain the understanding of the public by not only constructing the necessary ships, but also showing that we are ready to decrease equipment that can be eliminated."(IHT/Asahi: November 23,2009)

Of course there is a danger that they are trying to wedge too many capabilities into one ship, building another Hyuga class hull with bunk spaces for embarked troops and using it as a dedicated assault carrier would make more sense to me (in Japanese service it would not be called an amphibious assault carrier, of course).  A hull that size without the large hanger spaces would make a good supply ship as well.

Costs and a declining cadre of military aged men and women are forces working against many dedicated hulls, so we shall see how this new ship works out.