No doubt she will use her helos for that purpose. She is also a very powerful Command and control centerpiece.She is certainly a long way from the early destroyers of the WW1 era. I suppose it will perform one of the traditional destroyer functions of screening the fleet against submarine attack!
Tas
Imagine an extremely powerful SAG/Sea control force with these vessels. Seven vessels consisting of a Hyuga (one of these), a Kongo, an Atago, and two each of Takanami and Murasami DDGs. Add a couple of Osumis and you have a fairly powerful Amphibious assault group too.
Here's pictures of each:
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IMHO, the JMSDF is really stepping things up in the western Pacific. Soon they would be able to field two of these groups, either way (SAG/Sea Control or Amphibious Assault, and the launch of these new Hyuga carriers is making a large statement to that effect.