The ''Murasame''-class destroyer was a

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

built for the

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...

(JMSDF) in the late 1950s as a successor to the destroyers. Like its predecessor, its main task was

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

, but its improved weaponry also enabled it to perform better in the

anti-air Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

role, so this class was classified as "DDA" (anti-air destroyer or all purpose destroyer) unofficially. Like its predecessor, the , this class adopted a "long forecastle" design with inclined afterdeck called "Holland Slope", named after the scenic sloping street in

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

City. The propulsion system was almost the same as the one of the . The sensor suite and weapon system was almost the same as the one of the latter batch of the ''Ayanami'' class, but three 5-inch/54 caliber Mark 16 guns (with Mark 39 single mounts) were added to extend effective range against air and surface threats in addition to four 3-inch/50 caliber Mark 22 guns (with Mark 33 dual mounts). The 5-inch guns were controlled by one Mark 57 GFCS, and the 3-inch guns were done by one Mark 63 controller. The main air-search radar was an OPS-1, the Japanese version of the American AN/SPS-6.

Ships

References

Destroyer classes {{Japan-mil-ship-stub