Hyūga-class helicopter destroyer
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The is a class of helicopter carrier 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). Two - ''Hyūga'' and ''Ise'' - were built; upon completion the class were the largest ships built for the Japanese navy since the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. ''Hyūga'' was described in a
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
documentary as the "first Japanese aircraft carrier built since WWII". The ''Hyūga''s were followed by the larger , the first being commissioned in March 2015. The ''Izumo''s will replace the helicopter destroyers; the ''Hyūga''s were originally meant to replace the ''Shirane''s. The specifications of the ''Hyūga'' class are comparable to
light aircraft carrier A light aircraft carrier, or light fleet carrier, is an aircraft carrier that is smaller than the standard carriers of a navy. The precise definition of the type varies by country; light carriers typically have a complement of aircraft only one-h ...
s, such as the Italian and Spanish . Under the JMSDF's naming conventions, the ships are called ''goei-kan'' (護衛艦, lit. "escort ship") in Japanese and destroyer in English, as same as all the other combatant ships of JMSDF. During development, ''Hyūga'' and ''Ise'' were provisionally named "16DDH" and "18DDH" respectively. The numbers derived from the Japanese calendar, specifically the 16th year and 18th year of the Heisei reign (2004 and 2006), when the provisional name were given.


Design and specifications

The ''Hyūga''s are primarily anti-submarine warfare carriers operating
SH-60K SH6 may refer to: * State Highway 6 (New Zealand) * Texas State Highway 6 * Minnesota State Highway 6 See also * List of highways numbered 6 Route 6, or Highway 6, may refer to routes in the following countries: International * Asian Highw ...
anti-submarine helicopters. They also have enhanced command-and-control capabilities to serve as flagships. During peacetime, ''Hyūga''s and ships could operate together to conduct
military operations other than war Military operations other than war (MOOTW) focus on deterring war, resolving conflict, promoting peace, and supporting civil authorities in response to domestic crises. The phrase and acronym were coined by the United States military during the ...
, peacekeeping and relief operations. The ships are armed with a 16-cell VLS carrying the
Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile The RIM-162 Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM) is a development of the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missile used to protect ships from attacking missiles and aircraft. ESSM is designed to counter supersonic maneuvering anti-ship missiles. ESSM also has the ab ...
surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
, and Phalanx
close in weapon system A close-in weapon system (CIWS ) is a point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying short-range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted on a naval ship. Nearly all classes of l ...
for self-defense. They are also equipped with the ATECS command system and
FCS-3 FCS-3 is an integrated naval weapons system developed by the Ministry of Defense (Japan), Japanese Defense Ministry for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. This system is composed of fire-control system, weapon-direction and fire-control subsys ...
fire control with
active electronically scanned array An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is a type of phased array antenna, which is a computer-controlled array antenna in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the an ...
radar system. Globalsecurity.org suggests a maximum capacity of 18-24 H-60 class helicopters, or a smaller number of larger helicopters, even though the official complement was reported as three Mitsubishi H-60 and one
AgustaWestland AW101 The AgustaWestland AW101 is a medium-lift helicopter in military and civil use. First flown in 1987, it was developed by a joint venture between Westland Helicopters in the United Kingdom and Agusta in Italy in response to national requirement ...
helicopters, or three Mitsubishi H-60 and one Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters. The ships have also operated
JGSDF The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force ( ja, 陸上自衛隊, Rikujō Jieitai), , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service b ...
Fuji AH-64D Apache attack helicopters during joint amphibious exercises with the United States. It is speculated that future modifications may allow the operation of
VTOL A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust-vectoring fixed-win ...
/ STOVL
fixed-wing aircraft A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinc ...
, such as Harriers or F-35 Lightning II. In 2013, the USMC operated
V-22 Osprey The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-mission, tiltrotor military aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities. It is designed to combine the functionality of a convention ...
s on ''Hyūga'' during joint amphibious exercises. In 2016, MV-22 Ospreys operated off ''Hyūga'' in the participation of relief efforts following the Kumamoto earthquake.


Ships in the class

Construction of the first ship, JS ''Hyūga'', was started in 2006 and it was launched on 23 August 2007. The second was launched and named JS ''Ise'' on 21 August 2009. ''Hyūga'' was named after (present-day
Miyazaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,073,054 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 7,735 km2 (2,986 sq mi). Miyazaki Prefecture borders Ōita Prefecture to the north, Kuma ...
) on the east coast of
Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...
, and ''Ise'' after (present-day
Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...
). They inherited the names of the
battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
s and of the
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
. These two ships had been built during World War I and served in World War II. Following the
Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The U.S. Navy under Adm ...
, ''Hyūga'' and ''Ise'' were converted into a hybrid battleship/aircraft carriers in 1943 with the replacement of the aft gun turrets and barbettes by a small aircraft handling deck and hangar deck with which they could launch a squadron of Yokosuka D4Y dive-bombers and
Aichi E16A The Aichi E16A ''Zuiun'' (瑞雲 "Auspicious Cloud", Allied reporting name "Paul") was a two-seat reconnaissance seaplane operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Design and development The Aichi E16A originated from a 1939 s ...
seaplanes.; In November 2009, ''Hyūga'' participated in "Annualex 21G" joint naval exercise with the US aircraft carrier and other USN and JMSDF ships to maintain the interoperability between the two navies. On 11 March 2011, the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...
struck the northeast part of Japan. ''Hyūga'' immediately moved to off the coast of
Miyagi prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,305,596 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the nort ...
and started
search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
operations.防衛省・自衛隊:海上自衛隊の活動
Ministry of Defense
''Ise'', which went into service on 16 March, also will join aid delivery operation for refuge shelters. On 8 November 2013, Super-Typhoon ''Haiyan'' crossed the Visayas, Philippines. ''Ise'' joined the relief operation, using its helicopters to provide relief supplies to remote areas cut off by the storm.


Gallery

File:JS Hyūga (DDH-181) in formation with USS George Washington in the East China Sea after Keen Sword 2013, -16 Nov. 2012 a.jpg, and JS ''Hyūga'' File:US Navy 091117-N-6233H-098 The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter destroyer JS Hyuga (DDH 181) leads a formation of U.S. Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force sips during Annual Exercise (ANNUALEX 21G).jpg, On exercise with a US Navy File:SH-60K (8440) vliegt boven Hyūga tijdens oefening Dawn Blitz 2015, -4 september 2015 a.jpg, JS ''Hyūga'' operating
AH-64D The Boeing AH-64 Apache () is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night visi ...
and
SH-60K SH6 may refer to: * State Highway 6 (New Zealand) * Texas State Highway 6 * Minnesota State Highway 6 See also * List of highways numbered 6 Route 6, or Highway 6, may refer to routes in the following countries: International * Asian Highw ...
helicopters File:Hyuuga 01.JPG, ''Hyūga'' aircraft hangar File:Hyuuga 09.JPG, Aircraft elevator File:Hyu-ga kannkyou.JPG, Flight deck File:FCS-3 (DDH-182).jpg,
FCS-3 FCS-3 is an integrated naval weapons system developed by the Ministry of Defense (Japan), Japanese Defense Ministry for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. This system is composed of fire-control system, weapon-direction and fire-control subsys ...
File:JMSDF DDH 182 Ise.jpg, ''Ise'' in Kure File:DDH 182 Ise port side view.jpg, ''Ise'' port side view File:A U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 265, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit lands aboard the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) helicopter 131112-M-ZZ999-012.jpg, U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey


Notes


References

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External links


Hyuga Class helicopter destroyer

Japan Launches Carrier ... Sorta
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyuga Class Helicopter Destroyer Destroyer classes