
Officials Admit Japan's 'Helicopter Destroyers' Were Also Designed for Jets - IntronExon
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/18855/officials-admit-japans-helicopter-destroyers-were-also-designed-for-jets
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antiviral
When the Japanese start naming these carriers things like Kaga, Akagi, Hiryū,
and Sōryū, then it will really be time to worry :) (1)

But seriously, given all of the provocations by North Korea and China, this
should be expected and may even provide deterrence against others'
destabilizing moves in the region. The Japanese haven't displayed any
aggressive policies since 1945.

(1) Carriers of Battle Of Midway 1942
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Carrier_Division](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Carrier_Division))

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hrktb
> Kaga, Akagi, Hiryū, and Sōryū

Kaga and Akagi are classes of ships so there is and wil be a bunch of them.
Hiryu and Soryu were specific ships, hopefully these names stay with them.

It’s “funny” how all the army ship games and manga

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sdrothrock
To add to this, these names are fairly generic and do not actually have any
connotation of warlike-ness like, say, "Imperial Star Destroyer" or even
something like a traditional US/UK Navy name "Victory."

Kaga: A region of Japan

Akagi: A mountain in Japan (perhaps familiar to fans of Initial D)

Souryuu: lit. "Blue Dragon"

Hiryuu: lit. "Flying Dragon" \-- really a modified Souryuu, named with the
"dragon" (ryuu) suffix to show the relation to the Souryuu class.

The JMSDF also maintains several traditions from the Imperial Navy, such as
the songs, ensigns, and technical terminology. One of the most well-known
traditions that's been maintained across the two navies is the Japanese curry
lunch served every Friday (there are even ads on trains for it as a tourist
attraction).

IIRC the current naming system was also inherited from the Japanese navy, if
you were curious about why two of the ships you named are named after places.
Wikipedia has some more information on that:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Maritime_Self-
Defense_Fo...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Maritime_Self-
Defense_Force#Culture_and_naming_conventions)

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mc32
With N. Korea provoking them for decades, I'm surprised they have kept article
9 of their constitution.

It made sense to defang Japan in the post-war period, but unilateral
disarmament is foolhardy --and they know it given they have SDF as a
workaround the limitations... so given they are by no means foolish, why keep
on being somewhat hamstrung by article 9, specially given N. K's behavior?

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ldp01
If I understand correctly- the pacifism of article 9 is broadly popular and
part of their national identity now.

It is an inspiring idea to give up weapons, even if it hasn't worked in
practice.

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mc32
The idea is noble, certainly, but foolish in practice as evidenced by their
actually having armed forces disguised as self defence forces. Now, of course
to keep up appearances, it does hamstring them --but as further evidenced by
this "helicopter destroyer" it's more of appearances --it's like whaling but
calling the whaling "cetacean research" rather than just whaling.

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lostlogin
Most countries refer to their arms spending as ‘defense spending’. Japan seems
to go through further contortions but it’s not like everyone else is that
different.

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Synaesthesia
All this threatening and tensions and military buildup between the US, it’s
clients and China as well as Russia sure makes me nervous about the future.
Not to mention the recently announced movement of the doomsday clock to two
minutes before midnight by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

It would be terrible if the world were plunged into another catastrophe like
WW1 or WW2. Unfortunately the lessons from those wars seems to be leaders are
only to eager to start war to extend their power and prestige.

I’m sure nobody here wants war, it’s up to us to stop it!

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meddlepal
Terrible loss of life, but both of those wars were catalysts for major
technical and industrial breakthroughs... I'm curious if the tech advancements
of those wars outweigh the direct deaths.

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whatshisface
I hear this a lot, but it's silly on its face. What if the money was just put
directly in to research instead? If any government action leads to spin-off
technologies, I'd rather it be in the form of a space program than in the form
of a war that kills many of the _next_ generation's great scientists.

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Fomite
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies
in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who
are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the
hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense.
Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” ― Dwight
D. Eisenhower

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callesgg
Thinking of "the pentagon wars" the engineer that designed that thing for
helicopters and now when it is all done they announce yeah and also it should
be able to handle f-35's.

Featurecreap.

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dingaling
Reminds me of the Through-Deck Cruiser episode for the Royal Navy.

"Work on the design of the new cruiser continues. Our plans for its
development are not dependent on the outcome of the Harrier trials"

[http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1971/oct/21/throu...](http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1971/oct/21/through-
deck-cruisers)

Handily enough, when the RN was forced to decommission its big-deck carriers
in the mid-1970s the through-deck cruiser was outfitted for Sea Harriers and
became a light carrier...

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oldcynic
I would have thought they needed to rewrite their constitution _before_
building these, not a few years after!

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SllX
Japan's constitution bans war and sets a percentage of GDP limit on their
military, but it doesn't force them to forego having a military altogether.

Japan is also a very rich nation, still 3rd in the world by GDP I believe and
were only relatively recently overtaken by the PRC in that regard as they were
2nd in the world for a very long time. So even with a limit of 1% of national
GDP, that is a pretty large budget and they still rank among the big spenders
in terms of absolute dollars spent on their military every year.

Given they live under the American nuclear umbrella, and American treaty
obligations state that the US will come to Japan's aid should it be attacked,
the Japanese have focused their defense dollars around a Self Defense Force,
less blue water and more green water for their navy for example. Helicopter
carriers rather than large aircraft carriers because their focus is on anti-
submarine warfare, not force projection.

If their focus _had_ been on force projection and the restrictions in their
constitution didn't exist, then the PRC would most likely have been stymied
long ago trying to project power out into the South China Sea.

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Arn_Thor
to the surprise of exactly 0 people

