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).

For other ships with the same name, see Japanese ship Ashigara.

Ashigara (DDG-178) in 2015
History
Japan
Name:	Ashigara (DDG-178)
Namesake:	Mount Ashigara
Ordered:	2003
Builder:	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nagasaki, Nagasaki
Laid down:	April 6, 2005
Launched:	August 30, 2006
Commissioned:	13 March 2008
Homeport:	Sasebo
Identification:	MMSI number: 431999689
Status:	In Service
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]

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.

External links

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

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