April 01, 2008
April foolery moved below fold.
Named after the highest and most famous peak in Japan as well as Japans first true battleship,
the brand new Japanese "DDA" (Attack Destroyer?) JNS Fuji is
photographed by a US Navy aircraft off Yokouska while on machinery
trials.
Displacing 58,000 tons, the vessel, like Japans Helicopter Destroyers,
proves that Japanese nomenclature basically means nothing. The ship has
a level of ballistic protection not seen since World War 2. The most
striking visual feature is battery of 9x203mm 98 caliber guns which
can lob guided 500 pound shells "over 100km" at a reported rate of 6
rounds per barrel per minute. The weapons can reportedly also fire
standard Japanese ground self defense force 203 mm shells. While these
are lighter and have less range, this leverages the nations largest
artillery ammunition supplies to advantage.
The box launchers at the corners of the superstructure each carry 32 ESSM missiles for a total of 128. These missiles are the block 4 model which utilize the AMRAAM
active seeker, making them fire and forget missiles, ideal for coping
with saturation attacks. Reportedly the trainable launchers give a
considerable reduction in minimum range improving their point defense
capabilities while costing nothing in maximum range over the more usual
vertical launch system....this is a heavy and complex solution to the
problem, but with 58,000 tons to play with....why the hell not?
In addition to the ESSM there are 2x48 cell mk 41 vls
systems for Standard AA missiles and ASROC. Surprisingly, the vessel is
not fitted with AEGIS. Reportedly blast effects from the 203mm guns
rendered the phased array radars untenable. Still, with 9 directors and
the ability to keep 27 standard missiles in the air at once the ship
has a formidable AAA capability.
The vessel makes an interesting comparison to the USNs DD1000. The main guns are simply USN MK 7 16 inch guns relined to 8 ". This gives quite comparable range to the AGS system and cut down on development costs considerably (though it is a very
heavy weapon). The vessel is built to modified commercial (icebreaker)
standards which kept costs down. Stealth took a less crucial role in
the design of this vessel and the considerable flair of the bows should
keep the decks well dry in a seaway.
More here.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
06:51 AM
| Comments (4)
| Add Comment
Post contains 391 words, total size 3 kb.
Posted by: Will at Tue Apr 1 10:21:39 2008 (WnBa/)
Posted by: Wonderduck at Tue Apr 1 17:26:29 2008 (gwUM9)
Posted by: Bouff at Wed Apr 9 01:21:55 2008 (K3lFQ)
The ships you are talking about are Jean Bart and Richelieu. Ton for ton they were among the best battleships ever built. Richelieu had a very active and interesting career in WW2.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Apr 9 06:44:33 2008 (NsNzF)
69 queries taking 0.6786 seconds, 306 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
