Why Izumo gave up Hyuga's VLS battery

Unlike Hyuga, the Izumo design omitted the sixteen-cell Mark 41 vertical-launch battery and retained only close-in defensive systems. That choice moved volume and mission emphasis away from organic missile firepower and toward the embarked air group, while making escorts more important to the ship's protection. A carrier-sized hull has cranes and working space that might make VLS replenishment more practical than it is on a smaller combatant, which makes the omission an interesting tradeoff rather than an automatic necessity. The placement of some close-in weapons beside the flight deck also raises the question of why they were not moved to corner sponsons during modification. The centerline and deck-edge aircraft lifts further show that the original arrangement balanced helicopter operations with constraints that a purpose-built fixed-wing carrier would solve differently.