Oosumi class

   The so-called LPD/LSTs of the Japanese Oosumi class look remarkably like light aircraft carriers, the first to fly the rising sun naval emblem since 1945. With their stern docking wells and flight deck, the ships strongly resemble scaleddown US-type LHAs rather than the tank landing ships they purport to be. If this sounds like anachronistic paranoia, Japan's ability to maintain secrecy over its naval projects was an enduring feature of the first half of the 20th century.

   The Oosumi was approved in 1990 but not laid down until December 1995 in Mitsui's Tamano yard. Those of the initial drawings that were released showed a ship half the size of the one actually completed and resembling the Italian San Giorgio class. Launched in 1996 and commissioned in 1998, it was followed by the Shimokita from the same yard, and a third unit, the Kunisaki was built at Hitachi's Maizuru yard, and commissioned in 2003. A fourth unit planned.

   Designed for the movement of a full battalion of marines together with a tank company, the Oosumi class accords fully with the recent Japanese power-projection operations into the Indian Ocean as well as around the Pacific. Each ship's defensive armament is limited to a pair of Phalanx CIWS systems with a six-barrel rotary cannon, but the ships operate within a naval task force whose other ships provide primary protection.

   It is worth mentioning that in 2009 a larger, Hyuga class helicopter carrier entered service with Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces.