More photos of 16DDH now just one week from launching, at the same time she will be officaly christined with her name.  While that is still unknown to us it is clear that major fabrication is basically complete and all that remains is fitting out work which will probably last for 10 to 12 months as weapons systems, interior electronics, machinery and crew facilities are installed, from that point on most work will not be visible execpt for the instilation of weaponry and other topside fittings such as edge nets, life raft cans and boat davits.

Here we see that her island and stack tops are now fully painted.  Most importantly her forward phased arrays appear have been fitted and are protected from the elements by a coating of spray lat until they are ready to be painted later on.

This angle shows that her hull has recieved a second coat of paint and the tarp at center suggests that her name may well have been painted on and is hidden until her launching on the 23^rd.  The most notable change here is the movent of scaffolds and other equipment away from the hull as the launch date approaches.  The single biggest task facing the yard crew is the moving of the bridge lift of the Atago class DDG being built behind her.

Once again this view gives us an idea of the overall size of the ship and  basic layout sans weapons and deck fittings, she is big and long.  Once agian I must stress that the term destroyer is copletely incorrect fo this ship, I would class here as either a CVL or CVS, possibly a CVH*, but in no way is she a destroyer.

*The Japanese use the US Navy's ship designation system in which a CV is a multipurpose aircraft carrier (Super or fleet carrier**) CVL is a light carrier, CVS an antisubmarine carrier and CVH a helicopter carrier.  A CVN is simply a CV with a nuclear powerplant and a CVA is an attack carrier, a CVE is an escort carrier and finally a CVT is a training carrier.

**Super carriers displace 75,000+ tons and are from the Forrestal (Forrestal, Kitty Hawk, Enterprise, Kennedy and Nimitz classes)  class forward, while fleet carriers would be of the Midway, Essex or Ticonderoga class when operating as straight CVs but many of the Essex and Tico's ended their service lives as CVS carriers.

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 05:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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