The current USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) is still in service:
Posted on 08/16/2013 10:23:59 AM PDT by ryan71
Japan launched a twenty-seven-thousand ton “destroyer” (the Izumo, DDH 183) on August 6th that looks exactly like an aircraft carrier. Actually it looks like an LPH (Landing Platform Helicopter) an amphibious ship type that first appeared in the 1950s. LPHs had no (or relatively few) landing craft but did carry a thousand or more troops who were moved ashore using the dozen or more helicopters carried. The first American LPH (the USS Iwo Jima) was an eighteen-thousand-four-hundred ton ship that entered service in 1961, and carried two-thousand troops and twenty-five helicopters. Until Izumo showed up, several nations operated LPHs, and Britain and South Korea still do. The U.S. retired its last LPHs in the 1990s, but still have a dozen similar ships that include landing craft (and a well deck in the rear to float them out of) as well as helicopters. A few other nations have small carriers that mostly operate helicopters but carry few, if any troops.
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
TORA TORA TORA
The current USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) is still in service:
This is a large vessel. it's listeed at 27,000 tons full load and only able to carry 11 helicopters. But the telling compatrison is when you pit t in scale next to one of our own similar Amphibious Assault Helicopter Carreers (which can also carry up to 20 Hatrriers or later, 20 F-35B Joint Strike Fighters).
Out USS Wasp Class is 40,500 tons, and can carry over 30 helicopters and aircraft. Here's how the two look from the same perspective and at the same scal:
JMSDF IZUMO - US NAVY WASP COMPARISON Clearly, this is a big ship with a lot more capability than is being indicated. And that's a good thing.
If they build a B-29 we have problems.
You gotta love the Japanese for their way with words.
“No, it’s not an aircraft carrier, it’s a destroyer with a flat deck and hangars for carrying aircraft, big difference!”
I see they put the island on the starboard side of the flight deck.
“If they build a B-29 we have problems.”
lol! That one caught me off guard. Nice.
Can’t wait to see the proposed cruiser Yamato.
Just part of the Japanese cruise industry. 90% of the rooms have a balcony view.
Especially with that new Wave-Motion gun !!!
Compared to European carriers....its a carrier.
But but but can’t the Japanese just depend on obama to stand by them should the political winds turn in an ugly direction???
The Izumo class has far cleaner lines, and I bet a much smaller RCS.
On a radar I bet it looks a lot more like a smallish trawler than a warship.
IIRC, the largest warships allowed for Japan’s navy are destroyers. So they have quite a few varieties of “destroyers”!
Corrections:
1) The largest LPH’s were the three converted Essex-class carriers (Boxer, LPH-4; Princeton, LPH-5; and Valley Forge, LPH-8) all at 888.5’.
2) They were also the largest at 27,000 tons.
Displacement should be 40,600 - NOT 27,000 tons.
Japan has built submarines with a hanger deck in the past.
Gator Navy ping....
And as for quality of workmanship
Made in Japan vs Made in China ?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.