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History
JS Ashigara in May 2010
Japan
Name	Ashigara (あしがら)
Namesake	Mount Ashigara
Ordered	2003
Builder	Mitsubishi, Nagasaki
Laid down	6 April 2005
Launched	30 August 2006
Commissioned	13 March 2008
Homeport	Sasebo
Identification	MMSI number: 431999689 Pennant number: DDG-178
Status	Active
General characteristics
Class and type	Atago class destroyer
Displacement	7700 tons standard 10,000+ tons full load
Length	560 ft (170 m)
Beam	68.9 ft (21.0 m)
Draft	20.3 ft (6.2 m)
Propulsion	4 Ishikawajima Harima/General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines; two shafts, 100,000 shaft horsepower (75 MW)
Speed	30 knots (56 km/h)
Range	4,500 nautical miles at 20 knots (8,334 km at 37 km/h)
Complement	300
Sensors and processing systems	AN/SPY-1D(V)
Armament	1 × 5 inch (127mm/L62) Mk-45 Mod 4 naval gun in a stealth-shaped mount. (Made by Japan Steel Works licensed from its original manufacturer). 2 × missile canister up to 8 Type 90 (SSM-1B) 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS 2 × Type 68 triple torpedo tubes (6 × Mk-46 or Type 73 torpedoes) 96-cell Mk-41 VLS: (64 at the bow / 32 cells at the stern aft) for a mix of: SM-2MR Standard Missile SM-3 Anti-Ballistic Missile RUM-139 Vertical Launch ASROC (Anti-Submarine) RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow
Aircraft carried	1 x SH-60K helicopter

JS Ashigara (DDG-178) is an Atago-class guided missile destroyer in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). Ashigara was named for Mount Ashigara, and is the first Japanese ship to bear the prefix JS (Japanese Ship) instead of JDS (Japanese Defense Ship).

She was laid down by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki, Nagasaki on April 6, 2005, launched on August 30, 2006; and was commissioned on 13 March 2008.

Service

This ship was one of several in the JMSDF fleet participating in disaster relief after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.^[1]

In late April 2017, the Ashigara along with the JS Samidare joined the US Navy's Carrier Strike Group 1 as the Strike Group moved into position off the Korean peninsula in response to escalating tensions between North Korea and the United States over the DPRK's nuclear weapons program.^[2]

Ashigara and the JS Ise participated in the RIMPAC exercises in the waters around Hawaii on August 17-30, 2020.^[3]