JS Ashigara

JS Ashigara (DDG-178) is an Atago class guided missile destroyer in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). Ashigara was named for Mount Ashigara, and is the first Japanese ship to bear the prefix JS (Japanese Ship) instead of JDS (Japanese Defense Ship).

Ashigara (DDG-178) in 2015
History
Japan
Name:	JS Ashigara (あしがら)
Namesake:	Mount Ashigara
Ordered:	2003
Builder:	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Laid down:	6 April 2005
Launched:	30 August 2006
Commissioned:	13 March 2008
Homeport:	Sasebo
Identification:	MMSI number: 431999689 Pennant number: DDG-178
Status:	Active
General characteristics
Class and type:	Atago class destroyer
Displacement:	7700 tons standard 10,000+ tons full load
Length:	560 ft (170 m)
Beam:	68.9 ft (21.0 m)
Draft:	20.3 ft (6.2 m)
Propulsion:	4 Ishikawajima Harima/General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines; two shafts, 100,000 shaft horsepower (75 MW)
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h)
Range:	4,500 nautical miles at 20 knots (8,334 km at 37 km/h)
Complement:	300
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPY-1D(V)
Armament:	1 × 5 inch (127mm/L62) Mk-45 Mod 4 naval gun in a stealth-shaped mount. (Made by Japan Steel Works licensed from its original manufacturer). 2 × missile canister up to 8 Type 90 (SSM-1B) 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS 2 × Type 68 triple torpedo tubes (6 × Mk-46 or Type 73 torpedoes) 96-cell Mk-41 VLS: (64 at the bow / 32 cells at the stern aft) for a mix of: SM-2MR Standard Missile SM-3 Anti-Ballistic Missile RUM-139 Vertical Launch ASROC (Anti-Submarine)
Aircraft carried:	1 x SH-60K helicopter

She was laid down by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki, Nagasaki on April 6, 2005, launched on August 30, 2006; and was commissioned on 13 March 2008.

Service

This ship was one of several in the JMSDF fleet participating in disaster relief after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[1]

In late April 2017, the Ashigara along with the JS Samidare joined the US Navy's Carrier Strike Group 1 as the Strike Group moved into position off the Korean peninsula in response to escalating tensions between North Korea and the United States over the DPRK's nuclear weapons program.[2]

Ashigara and the JS Ise participated in the RIMPAC exercises in the waters around Hawaii on August 17-30, 2020.[3]

Notes

1. Seawaves,"Warships Supporting Earthquake in Japan" Archived 2011-03-23 at the Wayback Machine
2. "USS Carl Vinson Strike Group Sails Towards North Korea". Gung Ho Vids. 28 April 2017 – via YouTube.com.
3. "JS ISE (DDH 182) arrived at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii". Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force.

External links

Media related to JS Ashigara (DDG-178) at Wikimedia Commons

• http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/japan/7700ton.htm