The ''Ayanami'' class was a
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...
class
Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to:
Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
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built for the
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
The , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy ( ...
(JMSDF) in the late 1950s. The primary purpose was
anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...
, so this class was classified as "DDK" (hunter-killer anti-submarine destroyer) unofficially.
Design
This class adopted a "long forecastle" design with inclined afterdeck called
"Holland Slope", named after the
scenic sloping street in
Nagasaki
, officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...
City.
Their
steam turbine
A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...
propulsion systems were similar to the ones of the , but they varied between each ship in the class as part of the JMSDF's attempt to find the best propulsion system for its future surface combatants.
The ''Ayanami'' class were the first JMSDF vessels equipped with six
3-inch/50 caliber Mark 22 guns with Mark 33 dual mounts and Mark 32 lightweight
torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
es with two Mark 2 over-the-side launchers.
3-inch guns were controlled by two Mark 63 GFCSs.
All seven vessels names had previously been borne by ships of the World War II-era and classes.
Notes
References
*
{{Combatant ship classes of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
Destroyer classes