- YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) -- Japan on Tuesday unveiled its biggest warship since World War II, a huge flat-top destroyer that has raised eyebrows in China and elsewhere because it bears a strong resemblance to a conventional aircraft carrier.
The ship, which has a flight deck that is nearly 250 meters
(820 feet) long, is designed to carry up to 14 helicopters. Japanese officials
say it will be used in national defense — particularly in anti-submarine
warfare and border-area surveillance missions — and to bolster the nation's
ability to transport personnel and supplies in response to large-scale natural
disasters, like the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
Though the ship — dubbed "Izumo" — has been in the
works since 2009, its unveiling comes as Japan and China are locked in a
dispute over several small islands located between southern Japan and Taiwan.
For months, ships from both countries have been conducting patrols around the
isles, called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyutai in China.
The tensions over the islands, along with China's heavy
spending on defense and military modernization, have heightened calls in Japan
for beefed-up naval and air forces. China recently began operating an aircraft
carrier that it refurbished after purchasing from Russia, and is reportedly
moving forward with the construction of another that is domestically built.
Japan, China and Taiwan all claim the islands.
Though technically a destroyer, some experts believe the new
Japanese ship could potentially be used in the future to launch fighter jets or
other aircraft that have the ability to take off vertically. That would be a
departure for Japan, which has one of the best equipped and best trained naval
forces in the Pacific but which has not sought to build aircraft carriers of
its own because of constitutional restrictions that limit its military forces
to a defensive role.
Japan says it has no plans to use the ship in that manner.
The Izumo does not have catapults for launching fighters, nor
does it have a "ski-jump" ramp on its flight deck for fixed-wing
aircraft launches.
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