This is the JS Izumo. You thought this is a what? No, the Japanese Navy is strictly a self-defense force and has no ships larger than a destroyer. This is a multi-purpose operation destroyer.
Posted on 02/03/2020 2:02:47 PM PST by Kid Shelleen
A Japanese destroyer left for the Gulf of Oman on Sunday amid simmering Middle East tension to guard sea lanes that supply nearly all the oil that powers the world’s third-biggest economy.
“Thousands of Japanese ships ply those waters every year including vessels carrying nine tenths of our oil. It is Japan’s lifeline,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the crew at Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo, before they cast off in a ceremony attended by 500 family members and representatives from the United States, European nations and Middle East.
Abe’s government has said it is prepared to authorize force to protect ships in danger, a controversial decision because Japan’s war-renouncing constitution forbids the use of military force in international disputes.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
does this mean we won’t be blowing up their refineries and selling more oil to Japan?
-————Not a FR foreign policy expert, or any other kind of expert.
Climb Mount Nitaka
Keep an eye on Russia.
““Thousands of Japanese ships ply those waters every year including vessels carrying nine tenths of our oil. It is Japan’s lifeline,”
They had the same reason why they went to war the last time. But hey, times change..
Since America is energy independent, it produces more than it needs for itself and its net exports are greater than its net imports, there is no longer any rational reason for America to bear the entire burden of keeping the Persian Gulf open to commerce and other nations will have to step up. It is just a fact.
There were state of the art DD, DE, PG and PGE docked there as far as the eye could see and more under construction. Destroyers, escorts and gunboats for those of you not familiar with naval lingo.
> They had the same reason why they went to war the last time. <
That’s true. I wonder if they can get Germany to help out again.
Sounds like “burden sharing” to me.
I read some time ago that Japan has more destroyers in the Pacific than the U.S.
I watched a speech given by Peter Zeihan on YouTube and he explained why this is happening. He call himself a geopolitical strategist. He also wrote a book if you’re interested called Absent Superpower. If you take Canada’s tar sand oil and America’s oil, we no longer need middle east oil. And in fact he says we no longer need to bribe an alliance of nations to help us fight the cold war. Thus we simply have no pressing national interest to make sure oil flows out from the Persian Gulf. And in a larger sense, we have no pressing need to safeguard the security of other countries at large. China, Japan, India and other SE Asian countries rely heavily on Middle East oil. And they will be patrolling the oceans to make sure Iran and Somali pirates don’t do stupid things.
It wouldn’t surprise me after what I saw a Kure. The U.S. Navy holds regular joint exercises with them. Not sure about the army, but we even have shared base arrangements with the MSDF (navy) and ASDF (air).
I suspect their grandfathers of the WWII IJN would be proud.
A glance at the IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy) in the pacific theater WW2, is powerful evidence of what kind of Navy Japan, an island nation, can put to sea.
It doesn’t surprise me in the least what you saw at Kure. The destroyer I was on, by the way, back in the 60’s, visited Kure...as I remember several times.
In my opinion, assuming Japan doesn’t decide to return to their hegemonic Naval ways of years past, the US couldn’t have a stronger Naval power as ally.
Perhaps, after the passage of so many years, Bushido has become a cultural artifact.
And if they just happen to snag a couple whales along the way, well that’s just a coincidence!
Not really.
It was both oil and steel.
And they were deep at war with China.
Little bit different.
Japan is telling the world that it has returned as a naval power. Watch closely for similar demonstrations soon of its return to being a military and aviation power.
The Japanese MSDF is the third largest navy in the world today, larger than the Royal Navy and Russia, larger than France and India. The only reason the other navies are considered more powerful is because they have nuclear arms. But there is reason to believe that Japan, like Israel, has a nuclear capability, they just keep it a secret, for geopolitical purposes. The Japanese MSDF has every type and class of sea going vessel and littoral ship the US navy has, including aircraft carriers and submarines. The Japanese have one of the finest air forces in the world. The Japanese miltary has every modern and up to date weapon system that the best navies, including China, currently have. The US economy generates 27% of the world’s industrial output. Japan generates about 11%. The United states and Japan alliance commands almost 40% of the world’s GDP and constitute a formidable fighting force arrayed against any foe. When you add the might of the other nations allied with the US, like the UK, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Australia, Israel, and many others, the “free world” would be very difficult for the Chinese and/or Russia, or any of the Moslem countries, to defeat.
President Trump has ushered in a golden age for the world in our lifetime.
This is the JS Izumo. You thought this is a what? No, the Japanese Navy is strictly a self-defense force and has no ships larger than a destroyer. This is a multi-purpose operation destroyer.
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