Takanami class destroyer - The First Japanese destroyers of the 21st century

de_Radio_Demon · July 2, 2024, 3:25pm

Takanami class destroyer - The First Japanese destroyers of the 21st century

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Background & History

The Takanami class destroyers is a class of 5 destroyers built for the Japanese maritime self-defense force in 2000, the class consist of JS Takanami (DD-110), JS Ōnami (DD-111), JS Makinami (DD-112), JS Sazanami (DD-113), and JS Suzunami (DD-114), the names themselves were themed after waves with each ships name translating into a description or different type of wave. The class itself which began construction in 2000 actually originates back to the previous Murasame class of the 1990’s which was the JMSDF’s 2nd generation of general-purpose destroyers, the Takanami class which was approved in FY1998 was intended to address the design elements which were dissatisfying and were improvements.

The main changes to the design were the gun armament and the internal structure, the design as a result resembles their predecessors in many ways. The gun armament which previously consisted of 1 OTO Melara 76mm compact gun which had featured on the all of the previous general purpose destroyers classes of the JMSDF the class itself used a Otobreda 5-inch/54 (127mm) compact gun mount which previously only featured on the Kongo class guided missile destroyers though it would turn out this would be the last class of Japanese destroyer to use the Italian gun as all following classes of destroyers used a 5-inch/62 gun. Along with the change in gun armament the ship also changed the missile magazine locations as the Murasame class which introduced the use of VLS to the Japanese generally purpose destroyers had there missiles in 2 magazines with each VLS having 16 missile cells for a total of 32 however the systems were different as they used 2 different missiles specifically, the Takanami class retained the 32 missile capacity however the designers decided to have all the missiles in 1 VLS system leaving the ship with a single 32 cell VLS rather than 2 16 VLS cell VLS system and the system itself was capable of using both missiles as their predecessors used without the need of separate launchers. Other than the changes to the VLS and gun armament the remainder of the weapons onboard was the same as the last class though the anti ship missiles were moved to where the VLS for the SAM on the Murasame were present, the remaining armament consisted of Type 90 SSM-1B anti ship missiles in 2 Mark 141 quad mounts though the amount of missiles could vary as each missile could be removed from the mount since the mount was the same one used for the American Harpoon anti ship missile and the Type 90 SSM was similar to the harpoon, the ships had a close in weapon system consisting of 2 6-barreled 20mm Phalanx CIWS with one located near the VLS and the other residing over the helicopter hangar at the rear, the ships also had 6 Type 68/HOS-302A (Mk-32) 12.75 inch (324mm) torpedo tubes in 2 triple mounts, the ships also had the capability mount smaller caliber machine guns with the ship having 4 12.7mm machine guns in single mounts however these can be removed from the mounts when not in use.

The class itself would have the first 2 ships keels laid down in 2000 while the rest were laid down in 2001, 2002, and 2003 respectively with each ship launching the following year and another 2 years before they commissioned, despite the first 2 vessels which were laid down in different months with the first ship also launching first they would nearly commission on the same day as Takanami which entered service on March 12th, 2003 was joined by her sister Ōnami the very next day. The class itself so far have had relatively active careers with each vessel taking part in deployments overseas as a part of anti-piracy operations, both Takanami and Ōnami would also provide relief aid after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, due to the class being built in the early 2000’s each ship still acts as an active naval vessel of the JMSDF.