JS ''Akebono'' (DD-108) is the eighth ship of s. She was commissioned on 19 March 2002.

Design

The hull design was completely renovated from first-generation destroyers. In addition to increasing the size in order to reduce the underwater radiation noise, both the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

and

hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

were inclined to reduce the

radar cross-section Radar cross-section (RCS), denoted σ, also called radar signature, is a measure of how detectable an object is by radar. A larger RCS indicates that an object is more easily detected. An object reflects a limited amount of radar energy b ...

. There is however no angled tripod mainmast like that of the American because of the heavy weather of the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

in winter. The aft was designed like a "mini- Oranda-zaka" as with the to avoid interference between helicopters and

mooring A mooring is any permanent structure to which a seaborne vessel (such as a boat, ship, or amphibious aircraft) may be secured. Examples include quays, wharfs, jetties, piers, anchor buoys, and mooring buoys. A ship is secured to a mooring to ...

devices. Destroyers built under the First Defense Build-up Plan, including the former , adopted a unique long

forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck (ship), deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is t ...

style called "Oranda-zaka". The engine arrangement is

COGAG Combined gas turbine and gas turbine (COGAG) is a type of propulsion system for ships using two gas turbines connected to a single propeller shaft. A gearbox and clutches allow either of the turbines to drive the shaft or both of them combined. Ma ...

as same as , but a pair of engines are updated to Spey SM1C. The remaining one pair were replaced with

LM2500 The General Electric LM2500 is an industrial and marine gas turbine produced by GE Aviation. The LM2500 is a derivative of the General Electric CF6 aircraft engine. As of 2004, the U.S. Navy and at least 29 other navies had used a total of more ...

versions, same as in the ''Kongō'' class.

Construction and career

''Akebono'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 29 October 1999 at

IHI Corporation , formerly known as is a Japanese engineering corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan that produces and offers ships, space launch vehicles, aircraft engines, marine diesel engines, gas turbines, gas engines, railway systems, turbocharge ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

as the 1997 plan and launched on 25 September 2000. The vessel was commissioned on 19 March 2002, and was incorporated into the 4th Escort Corps and deployed to

Kure is a city in the Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 208,024 in 106,616 households and a population density of 590 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . With a strong industrial and naval heritage, ...

. In June 2019, ''Akebono'' was dispatched to additionally participate in the 2019 Indo-Pacific dispatch training in which the vessels and were participating. The destroyer conducted joint training with the navies of each country in the Indo-Pacific region during the deployment. On 7 April 2024, ''Akebono'' conducted a joint patrol in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

with BRP Antonio Luna and BRP Valentin Diaz of the Philippine Navy, USS Mobile of the US Navy, and HMAS Warramunga of the Royal Australian Navy. This marked the first multinational patrol among the nations.

Gallery

File:US Navy 100706-N-6674H-001 he Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Murasame-class destroyer JS Akebono (DD 108) departs Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.jpg, JS ''Akebono'' leaving

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

on 6 July 2010. File:JS Akebono (DD-108) and USS Lake Erie (CG-70) in RIMPAC 2010, -14 Jul. 2010 a.jpg, JS ''Akebono'' and on 14 July 2010. File:JS Akebono (DD-108) RIMPAC 2010.jpg, JS ''Akebono'' underway on 14 July 2010. File:JS Akebono in RIMPAC 2010, -14 Jul. 2010 a.jpg, JS ''Akebono'' underway on 14 July 2010. File:DDH-181 Izumo＆DD-101 Murasame＆DD-108 Akebono.jpg, JS ''Akebono'', and on 26 July 2019.

Citations

References

* * * Saunders, Stephen. ''IHS Jane's Fighting Ships 2013-2014''. Jane's Information Group (2003). {{DEFAULTSORT:Akebono (DD-108) 2000 ships Murasame-class destroyers (1994) Ships built by IHI Corporation