Flashpoints

Vietnam: Japan’s Largest Aircraft Carrier Participates in Major Naval Exercise

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Flashpoints

Vietnam: Japan’s Largest Aircraft Carrier Participates in Major Naval Exercise

Japan’s largest warship is currently taking part in a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief drill in Vietnam.

Vietnam: Japan’s Largest Aircraft Carrier Participates in Major Naval Exercise
Credit: U.S. Pacific Fleet/Flickr

The Japan Maritime Self Defense Force’s (JMSDF) largest warship, the helicopter carrier JS Izumo, the lead vessel of the new 27,000-ton Izumo-class, arrived in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam on May 20 to participate in a major international naval exercise.

The Izumo-class helicopter carrier–euphemistically classified as a helicopter destroyer by the JMSDF to downplay the ship’s warfighting capabilities—, along with ships and personnel from Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, is taking part in this year’s U.S.-led Pacific Partnership (PP17) mission, the largest annual multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) preparedness exercise conducted in the Asia-Pacific region.

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