JDS Amatsukaze (DDG-163)

JDS Amatsukaze (DDG-163)
History
Japan
Name:	Amatsukaze
Builder:	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Laid down:	29 November 1962
Launched:	5 October 1963
Commissioned:	15 February 1965
Decommissioned:	29 November 1995
Homeport:	Yokosuka (1965-1986), Maizuru (1986-1995)
Nickname(s):	Jet coaster
General characteristics
Type:	Guided missile destroyer
Displacement:	3,050 long tons (3,099 t) standard 4,000 long tons (4,064 t) full load
Length:	131.0 m (429 ft 9 in) overall
Beam:	13.4 m (44 ft 0 in)
Draft:	4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
Propulsion:	2 × IHI/GE reaction steam turbines 2 × IHI Model FWD2 water tube boilers 60,000 shp (45 MW), 2 shafts
Speed:	33 knots (38 mph; 61 km/h)
Complement:	290
Sensors and processing systems:	SPS-29 air-search radar SPS-39 3D radar SPG-51 fire-control radar SQS-4 search sonar SQR-8 attack sonar
Electronic warfare & decoys:	NOLR-1B intercept
Armament:	4 × 3"/50 caliber Mk.22 guns 1 × Mk.13 missile launcher (40 Tartar missiles) 2 × Mk.15 Hedgehog ASW mortar 2 × ASW torpedo racks

JDS Amatsukaze (DDG-163) was a guided missile destroyer (DDG) of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), and the only ship of her class. She was the first Japanese surface combatant equipped with surface-to-air missiles. She was launched on 5 October 1963 and decommissioned in 1995.

Amatsukaze was planned as the DDG variant of the preceding Akizuki-class anti-aircraft destroyers, mounting the American Tartar Guided Missile Fire Control System weapon system. However, the Tartar system turned out to be larger than expected, so Amatsukaze's design was altered completely, with an enlarged hull and with a shelter-deck design based on that of the Isuzu class and uprated steam turbines.

Amatsukaze was one of the earliest foreign ships equipped with the American Tartar system. (The other is the French Kersaint-class DDG). Because of the financial burden of this expensive weapon system, the other equipment aboard Amatsukaze was almost the same as that of the Ayanami class at first, but the JMSDF applied a spiral model to Amatsukaze, allowing continual updating of her equipment as described in the following table.

The Tartar weapon system made a strong positive impression on the JMSDF, but it was too expensive for the JMSDF to be able to afford another Tartar-equipped DDG at once. As a result, the JMSDF had to wait 10 years to build another DDG, the first Tachikaze-class destroyer.

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