Japan's Warship Passed Through Taiwan Strait Alone

choi

海上自衛隊の護衛艦が台湾海峡通過、単独では初めて. 朝日新聞, Mar 1, 2025.
https://www.asahi.com/articles/AST313VMCT31UTFK013M.html
("海上自衛隊の護衛艦「あきづき」が2月上旬、台湾海峡を通過していたことがわかった。昨年9月に海自護衛艦が初めて台湾海峡を通過した際は豪州とニュージーランド海軍艦艇も一緒だったが、単独での通過は今回が初めて。 * * * 1日、複数の政府関係者が明らかにした。 * * * 　「あきづき」は2月上旬、台湾海峡を北から南に通過。その後、南シナ海で日米豪比4カ国や米仏の空母打撃群との共同訓練に参加した。海自護衛艦の台湾海峡通過は、岸田政権下で行われた昨年9月の「さざなみ」に続き2例目")

my rough translation: Early in February [a month ago]. a Japanese destroyer Akizuki passed through Taiwan Strait from north to south, to attend naval drill at South China Sea with the United States, Australia and the Philippines 米豪比 as well as aircraft carriers of the United States and France. On [March] 1, several [Japan] government sources made this clear. This is the second example of passing through the Strait, but ALONE for the first time. Previously, last September Japanese warship named Sazanami for the first time passed through the Strait, but with warships of Australia and New Zealand.

Note:
(a) This warship is 護衛艦 destroyer あきづき
(b)
(i) Akizuki-class destroyer (2010)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akizuki-class_destroyer_(2010)
(table: Built  2009–2012, In commission  2012–present, Planned  4, Completed  4, Active  4: section 4 Ships in the class: Akizuki (Autumn Moon) [keel] Laid down  2009, Launched 2010, In commission  2012) )

The namesakes of the current Akizuki were Akizuki (1960: year of commission) and Akizuki (1941; sunk in October 1944 during a sea battle with the US) ).
(ii) The ja.wikipedia.org for this particular class of destroyers states "命名基準        ｢月｣に由来する命名" (my translation: the nomenclature is after the moon).
(A) Of note, the current and previous class (of 1960) is written in hiragana only (no kanji). The current class is identified as 護衛艦.
(B) Even though the 1941 class was also "destroyer" in English, it was (秋月型)駆逐艦 in kanji (naturally 護衛艦 and 駆逐艦 are pronounced in Japanese). Moreover, the ship name was written in kanji. The four ships in the current class also appeared in the 1941 class (altogether 13, including the lead ship of 秋月; the other three names that are used in the current class are: 照月 teruzuki, 涼月 Suzuzuki, and 冬月 fuyuzuki).

Kanji 秋, 月, 照 (meaning "shine") all have Japanese pronunciations here. The kanji 月 is pronounced differently, depending ots meaning (Japanese pronunciation tsuki for moon, softened to zuki when the kanji is not positioned first in the compound word), and Chinese pronunciation for month.)
(c) Sazanami (in commission 2005- ) is one of Takanami-class destroyers of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).

It is the same. The current class (plus its lead ship) is written in hiragana たかなみ (stil its namesake of World War II was 高波, in kanji), and Destroyer Sazanami rendered as さざなみ.

The current Sazanami has two namesakes: one in commission 1932-1944 (sunk in World War II) and the other 1899-1913, both of which were written in kanji 漣.