They're calling it a helicopter destroyer, ostensibly for ASW and relief work. Should be MOST effective in the soft power kind of stuff that is good for diplomacy, although they'll want to dance gingerly at first, given the long memories people tend to have about Japanese troops in their islands, etc...
I had similar thoughts, Clark. Notice they insist it won't carry fighter jets, but conveniently don't mention mecha at all...
I"m with Anachronus. Like the Confederates said at Hampton Road describing the Monitor, "Looks like just a boring raft with a cheese-box on top." Beaver
I would have to disagree, a Nimitz class aircraft carrier is a very beautiful looking ship as well as beastly. Pick a modern sub class from the US and it is sexy..
The Nimitz class is pretty, but just about anything built past 1950 is too modern for my taste. The only modern ship I'm really interested in, is the Zumwalt-class destroyers that the US Navy is building. They're a little different looking than most warships. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zumwalt_class Beaver
Modern ships lack a lot of what many would call 'character' because they are trying to minimize the radar and IR signatures. I think it's a fine looking ship, aloth it's missing the Chrysanthemum crest on the bow...
+1 to what Tugboat said. I didn't exactly say she was pretty either. There are some more photos of her construction here: http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/011000.htm Beaver
I got to see the DDG1000 up close and personal on my vacation. So here's a couple of pictures just two weeks old. What's funny is that if you take away the superstructure, it's a skinny pre-dread hull with ram bow and tumblehome.
She's being built in Bath, right? That's not to far from me, it might be worth taking a trip down there.
Right - it's being built in Bath Iron Works. If you go there to check it out, it's worth your time to stop at the Maine Maritime Museum right down the street. In fact, they have tours of BIW but they fill up fast - get reservations. The best picture taking opportunity is from the river, and there is a tour for that.
They aren't allowed to put Chrysanthemums on them anymore, I'm pretty sure it's against their constitution. That's also why it's called a "helicopter destroyer" instead of "aircraft carrier". Destroyers are defensive weapons for killing evil submarines bent on cutting their supply lines. Aircraft carrier (or Amphibious Assault ship) is offensive, power projection and thus banned. It's semantics. It's the same reason we call Arleigh Burkes "destroyers" instead of "cruisers". Cruisers sound expensive to politicians, so the navy calls em destroyers instead, but compare the amount of firepower that a Burke has compared to a Tico, and tell me they aren't cruisers
