The Hyuga and Izumo classes are officially described as helicopter destroyers. Izumo and Kaga, described here as 27,000-ton ships, were undergoing conversion for F-35B operations when this July 2023 stream was recorded. Hyuga and Ise are identified as the smaller 19,000-ton pair. The forecast is that successors could be built as aircraft carriers from the keel up, with construction possibly beginning during the 2020s. That remains a prediction based on the apparent pace of Japanese construction.
Notable Point · 3:21:46-3:23:58
Japan's helicopter destroyers as a path back to carriers
The Izumo-class F-35B conversion is placed within a progression from helicopter destroyers toward purpose-built Japanese carriers.