Japanese Warship

While we were in Darwin, there were some naval military manouvers happening. There were ware ships there from India, Pakistan, Japan, Singapore, probably other countries and of course Australia. One day, our Japanese sailing friend Aki, heard the Japanese war ship on the VHF radio. Aki was in the Japanese air defense years ago (he is 70) and later hailed them and was invited aboard. He invited us and some others to go with him. We anchored next to the Japanese War Ship and took the dinghy over to a very long ladder/stairs that they lowered down to the water’s surface. Once aboard, we were invited into the officer’s mess by the commander and he explained all about the ship JS Samidare which was built in 2000. This was of course all in Japanese so Aki had to translate. Then we had a tour of the bridge and the deck where the fire power was explained to us. The ship was amazing.

The Japanese War Ship was rafted to the Australian war ship which was tied to the wharf. There was a ramp running between the two war ships so that the Japanese guys can walk through the Australian war ship to get to shore. I found this most fascinating since a month after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour, they dropped twice as many bombs on Darwin. I guess time does heal all wounds.