The is a class of

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 ...

serving with 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). This warship is the slightly modified class of second-generation, general-purpose destroyers of the JMSDF.

Background

Since FY1991, the JMSDF started construction of the second-generation, , . These destroyers are generally satisfactory for the fleet, but there is some discontent. From FY1998 onwards, a slightly modified version that corrected these dissatisfaction points was to be built: ''Takanami'' class.

Design

The hull design is generally based on the one of the ''Murasame'' class. However, the weapons mounted are different, and as a result, the internal structure has also been changed. The large

lattice mast Lattice masts, or cage masts, or basket masts, are a type of observation mast common on United States Navy major warships in the early 20th century. They are a type of hyperboloid structure, whose weight-saving design was invented by the Russian ...

affected the stealthiness of the ''Murasame'' class, so in ''Takanami'' class, it was planned to change to two small masts, but that was not implemented. Although their displacement become slightly increased, there was no change to their main engines, as it was not a big difference that had little effect on the performance of the ship.

Equipment

The combat system was slightly improved. The combat direction system is similar to the ''Murasame'' class in the first three ships, but in the fourth ship,

workstation A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...

s were changed to AN/UYQ-70, and in the fifth ship, it corresponded to the communication in

Link 16 Link 16 is a military tactical data link network used by NATO and nations allowed by the MIDS International Program Office (IPO). Its specification is part of the family of Tactical Data Links. With Link 16, military aircraft as well as ship ...

Radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

s are the same as those of ''Murasame'' class,

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

s are also small revision type. In terms of weaponry, instead of the 3-inch gun that has been adopted by conventional destroyers, a larger Oto Melara 127 mm gun was introduced. Although

vertical launching system A vertical launching system (VLS) is an advanced system for holding and firing missiles on mobile naval platforms, such as surface ships and submarines. Each vertical launch system consists of a number of ''cells'', which can hold one or mor ...

s were divided into two places in the ''Murasame'' class, 16-cell Mk 41 for VL-ASROC on the bow deck and 16-cell Mk 48 for

Sea Sparrow RIM-7 Sea Sparrow is a U.S. ship-borne short-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon system, primarily intended for defense against anti-ship missiles. The system was developed in the early 1960s from the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile as a ...

(later replaced with

Evolved Sea Sparrow 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 ...

) on the middle deck, they are compiled in one place, 32-cell Mk 41 on the bow deck in this class.

Ships in the class

References

Books

Article

* * * * *

External links

GlobalSecurity.org; JMSDF DD Takanami Class

Naval Technology.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Takanami-class Destroyer Destroyer classes