Vidoe of the damages. Sorry only in Japanese.

 

 

any injured crew?  if so I trust they're ok.

JMSDF ship hit a Japanese fishing ship today. < link >

Fishing boat hits MSDF vessel anchored off Ehime, nobody hurt

 

 

But it's from Kyodo news, which is obviously biased. </sarcasm>

 

You need to try a little harder, Slowman, that one isn't even questionable.

At least we manage to agree on something, SlowMan.  The JMSDF calls the Kurama-class a DDH in the same way the US uses the term DDG--Destroyer, Guided Missile.  In this case, Destroyer, Helicopter.  It's a misnomer on the part of the Japanese in that many destroyers since the 1950s have carried helicopters, and most modern DDs carry at least two.  As you said, the 22DDH is a constitutional dodge to allow the Japanese to build carriers--what used to be called CVLs (Carrier, Aviation, Light)--while still technically calling them "destroyers" so they're staying within the letter of Japan's constitution, if not its spirit.  (Though personally, because of the growing threat of China, especially to the Ryukyus, I can understand why Japan is building carriers.  Given the glacial pace of Chinese carrier building, it's possible that the JMSDF will field a carrier before the PLAN.) 

 

The British did the same thing in the early 1980s to get around Parliament's distaste for carriers by calling the Illiustrious-class "through-deck cruisers," although anyone with eyes could see that they were carriers.

 

This brings up another question for you.  If Korea is now seeing Japan as its biggest threat, why isn't Korea building carriers?  Allow me to guess: Korea doesn't need them.  Most of Japan is already in range of ROKAF land-based air and a carrier wouldn't be very useful.  Of course, the reverse is true that most, if not all of South Korea is within range of JASDF land-based air...which brings up the follow-up question: if Japan regards Korea as its biggest threat, then what use are carriers when they can be sunk at the pier by F-15Ks?

 

I do realize that building carriers to fend off the Chinese and regarding Korea as the biggest threat to Japan are not mutually exclusive, but it is one of those things that makes you go "hmmm."

 

Another "hmm" moment is the article you just posted, Slow.  Here's the article, in full:

 

 

In fact, the headline reads that the fishing boat hit the JMSDF vessel, which is pretty damn well spelled out, yet you put it in that the JMSDF hit the fishing boat.  Either you 1) didn't read the article, which I doubt, 2) transposed the headline, which I'm pretty doubtful of or 3) purposely reversed it to make the Japanese look bad. 

 

 

And why would that be, considering that Russian Mistrals wouldn't have V/STOL fighters aboard (the Russians don't have any) and would only have helicopters?