THE IZUMO IS THE LARGEST
JAPANESE WAR SHIP SINCE WWII
 JSDF HELICOPTER CARRIER IZUMO Photo JMSDF |
American Admiralty Books Safety & Privacy Policies
The IZUMO is a 19,500 ton helicopter carrier. It no doubt is also capable of handling a few Short take off/ vertical landing type fighter aircraft but technically is not an "aircraft carrier" in the conventional sense. The ship is intended to patrol Japanese waters vice project power over seas. The ship is toe dancing on the limits of the Japanese constitutional self limits on military organization and equipage to self defense. The Japanese Defense Ministry maintains that the big ship is meant to deter "Grey situations" frankly a thinly disguised reference to Chinese overt violations of Japan's sovereign waters in an attempt to force cession of Japan's southern most inhabited islands. While the ship clearly has capabilities or at least potentials beyond anti submarine warfare the primary reason for her construction was anti submarine warfare. In May of 2013 "Unidentified submarines (probably Chinese) were identified beneath waters near Okinawa within the watery territory of Kagoshima prefecture. The Japanese constitution poses limitations on Japan's Maritime Self defense Force when responding to such intrusions where no shots are fired. THE IZUMO is 814 feet in length and officially designated a helicopter carrier. It can carry 470 personnel, a maximum of nine helicopters, and is capable of carrying the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft.The IZUMO is the largest war ship Japan has commissioned since World War II. Their constitution has been reinterpreted recently to allow Japan to aid nations in defense under limited circumstances and Japan is presently lending assistance to the Philippines which is also being subjected to aggressive Chinese naval behavior. The Dragon (China) observing the IZUMO and growing Japanese / Philippine cooperation is not a happy camper.
Japanese Navy Band in Nanking, China 1937 (PD)
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