KASHIMA

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Japanese navy ship squeezes under Tower Bridge and sails up the Thames

A 470ft-long Japanese navy ship has sailed up the Thames and into London. JDS Kashima, which is on port call in London until Wednesday afternoon, passed under Tower Bridge at 1pm today and moored alongside HMS Belfast. The ship is used for training Japanese sailors and is armed with a single Otobreda 76mm gun and two triple 324mm torpedo tube sets. It also carries four saluting cannons, holds a crew of 370 cadets and is powered by two Mitsubishi S16U-MTK diesel engines. The ship is a vessel of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, which was formed after the Japanese Imperial Navy was abolished in the wake of World War II. This the ship's first port call in London since 1902, when Britain and Japan forged the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Report with photos: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3717230/Open-gates-470-ft-Japanese-navy-ship-squeezes-Tower-Bridge-sails-Thames.html