Japan now has two big helicopter carrier ships as Kaga enters service

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The Maritime Self-Defence Force's newly-commissioned Kaga (front), at anchor in Yokohama, near Tokyo. Another escort vessel Izumo is seen above. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 2:52pm, 22 Mar 2017Updated: 10:37pm, 22 Mar 2017

Japan’s second big helicopter carrier, the Kaga, entered service on Wednesday, giving the nation’s military greater ability to deploy beyond its shores as it pushes back against China’s growing influence in Asia.

Accompanied by a military band, Maritime Self Defence Force commanders took possession of the 248 metre long vessel at the Japan Marine United shipyard in Yokohama near Tokyo, where it was docked next to its sister ship the Izumo.

“China is attempting to make changes in the South China Sea with bases and through acts that exert pressure is altering the status quo, raising security concerns among the international community,” Vice Minister of Defence Takayuki Kobayashi said at the ceremony attend by about 500 people.

Members of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force attend a handover ceremony for the helicopter carrier Kaga in Yokohama. Photo: Reuters

Japan’s two biggest warships since the second world war are potent symbols of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to give the military a bigger international role. They are designated as helicopter destroyers to keep within the bounds of a war-renouncing constitution that forbids possession of offensive weapons.

In its biggest show of naval power in foreign waters in more than 70 years, Japan plans to dispatch the Izumo in May on a three-month tour through the South China Sea, sources with knowledge of the plan told Reuters earlier.

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