Wow-Japan Almost Ready to Launch a new Kaga

[Tojo72]

Pretty cool,they should've went with with Akagi

www.newsweek.com/japan-js-kaga-helicopter-destroyer-aircraft-carrier-upgrade-china-us-alliance-1888740

[stikpusher]

Kaga was commissioned in 2017! She just completed an upgrade to allow her to operate F-35Bs. Now her sister ship's name, Izumo, didn't ring any bells for WWII service. Looking her up, she was a training vessel during the war.

[dupes]

That's very interesting. Things are starting to get pretty hairy over in that neck of the woods.

[keavdog]

I don't see how a carrier is considered defensive.

[stikpusher]

Apr 11, 2024 16:59:44 GMT -5 keavdog said:

I don't see how a carrier is considered defensive.

It can help defend a nation's territory and EEZs... particularly that of an island nation such as Japan. Let's face it, in any fight with the Chicoms, the US now will need all the help it can get. Our navy is a shadow of what it was at the end of the Cold War, while China's has grown massively in both size and capability. They have one area of the world's oceans to worry about, while our commitments are world wide. And our "allies" are pretty reluctant to directly help out in areas such as the Red Sea or Arabian Sea. 

[tcoat]

Apr 11, 2024 16:59:44 GMT -5 keavdog said:

I don't see how a carrier is considered defensive.

It is just a floating airfield so can be used either way. The majority of Briton's WW2 carrier actions could be considered more defensive than anything since they spent most of their time protecting the North Atlantic or Malta.

[406 Silverado]

This is indeed pretty dang cool. I was wondering about the name Akagi as well but hey.....the Kaga name has some history as well.

[Real G]

I laughed sarcastically when the Izumo class was designated as a DDH.  Even an officer of the JSDF I was talking to said the classification was an outright misrepresentation.  The Japanese don't say "lie" you see.  But I have no problems with Japan having aircraft carriers, as I seriously doubt they will try to invade anyone any time soon.  Plus as others have said, they have a right to protect their shores and exclusive economic zones offshore.  Asia-Pacific politics are quite complicated these days.

At least is gives the ship modelers something new to build.  

[dukemaddog]

Apr 12, 2024 12:34:54 GMT -5 Real G said:

At least is gives the ship modelers something new to build.  

Which I cannot wait to do! I already built an Izumo already, this will be a great addition.

I'm still waiting for models of the newest Queen Elizabeth carrier an the Italian carrier Guisseppi Garibaldi! Come on people, let's get with it!

[Medicman71]

Well Japan has been contemplating reversing the "defensive" military thing recently because of China and North Korea.

[moramartht]

Now her sister ship's name, Izumo, didn't ring any bells for WWII service. Looking her up, she was a training vessel during the war.

Well, she was an old lady by then, having had a long career starting with the Russo-Japanese war and having been active in every Japanese conflict thereafter.  She was in the Mediterranean for part of WW1 and was involved heavily in the Sino-Japanese conflict.  At the outbreak of WW2 she was in Shanghai where she sank the gunboat HMS Peterel and forced the USS Wake to surrender, and then sailed to participate in the invasion of the Philippines.  She was a training ship from late 1943 and in March 1945 she had her 8-inch turrets replaced with 5-inch DP twin mounts on bandstands, along with added light AA, none of which mattered much when on 28th July 1945 she was attacked by U.S. carrier aircraft; as on a previous occasion they didn't manage to hit her but the shock of three near misses sprang the seams of her ancient Elswick-built hull causing her to flood and roll onto her side in shallow water (after the war she was refloated and scrapped).  In some ways the name is not inappropriate for an aircraft carrier, during the battle of Shanghai (August 1937) her E4N scout floatplane claimed to have shot down a Curtiss Hawk fighter, having shared claims for another, and a Northrop Gamma bomber, with Sendai's Nakajima a couple of days previously...

Cheers,

M