Under the restriction of the treaty, the Japanese navy has taken some measures to rapidly increase the number of aircraft carriers. Among them, the so-called "aircraft carrier reserve ship" is that in the design of some warships, the demand that may be converted into aircraft carriers in the future is considered in advance to facilitate the future modification work. In addition, the Japanese military also participated in the design and construction of merchant ships in the form of investment, requisitioned a large number of these merchant ships in wartime, and modified them for service to enhance their aircraft carrier strength.
Because the construction of Japanese aircraft carriers was restricted by the Washington Convention, it was not paid as much attention and planning as battleships in the early days, so its pedigree was quite chaotic, but there were general rules to follow in naming. Early Japanese aircraft carriers were all named after special birds. Among them, the names of regular aircraft carriers include the words "dragon" or "crane", such as "dragon" and "Shoukaku". The names of aircraft carriers transformed from other warships all have the word "Phoenix", such as "Auspicious Phoenix", "Ruifeng" and "Dragon and Phoenix" (except Chicheng and Kaga, the original battleship name is directly used); The names of aircraft carriers transformed from civilian ships are "Eagle", such as "Great Eagle", "Cloud Eagle" and "Chongying". After 1943, the naming method of Japanese aircraft carriers changed again. In Japanese history, they were named after vassal countries or mountains: those with a displacement of more than 25,000 tons were named after countries, and those with a tonnage of15,000 ~ 25,000 tons were named after mountains, such as "Tiancheng", "Katsuragi" and "Gexi". As can be seen from the naming method, the Japanese navy's recognition of aircraft carriers is from early suspicion to late attention-in the initial naming method, there is a commonly used word at the end of each ship name, similar to the naming method of Japanese naval destroyers; However, the names of mountains and ancient countries adopted in the later period are obviously the usual naming methods for battleships. The direction of the warship is the Japanese favorite capital ship.
Fengxiang: a veteran and test ship of Japanese aircraft carrier
He is a veteran of the Japanese navy aircraft carrier. Before the ship started construction, Japan had modified a transport ship "Ruogong Maru" for seaplane carrying test. Fengxiang was listed as a "spy ship" at the beginning of its construction, and later became the first aircraft carrier of the navy. 192 10 started at Asano Nagaakira shipyard, 1922 was launched, and 12 was completed. The test displacement is 9494 tons, the speed is 25 knots, there are 4140mm guns, 2 80mm anti-aircraft guns and 550 officers and men.
Because the Japanese navy had no experience in building special aircraft carriers before the Fengxiang was built, many designs were still in the exploration stage, so the ship can be regarded as a test ship of Japanese aircraft carriers. In the original design, the take-off deck in the front section was inclined downward by 5 degrees, in order to facilitate the acceleration of aircraft take-off, and the three chimneys on the starboard side could be changed from vertical to horizontal when the aircraft took off; There is a crane specially designed for seaplane recovery in front of the ship island. It was not until 1923 that Fengxiang corrected these wrong designs one by one: the front flight deck was leveled, the ship island was demolished and the bridge under the flight deck was changed.
In the incident of/KLOC-0 invading China on February 5th, 932, Fengxiang's carrier-based attack aircraft confronted China fighter for the first time and won, which was also the first time that the Japanese navy used carrier-based aircraft to shoot down its opponent's air combat. 1937 After the July 7th Incident broke out, "Fengxiang" reappeared in the offshore of Qingdao, China, and then engaged in training tasks. In the Battle of Midway Island, Fengxiang was responsible for the main anti-submarine alert mission, carrying six planes and not directly participating in the first-line operations. 1944, the flight deck of Fengxiang was extended to 180.8 meters in order to carry new fighters. Because the length of the modified flight deck is too much longer than the captain, the seakeeping of the aircraft carrier is reduced and it is impossible to move in the ocean. However, Fengxiang, who is also a dark cloud, was able to escape the overwhelming attack of the US military because he reduced his activities. It survived until Japan was defeated and disintegrated in September 1946.
"Chicheng": A famous ship with Yamamoto as the captain.
"Chicheng" was originally a "Tiancheng" class combat cruiser. The "Tiancheng" class is the product of the Japanese Navy's "Eighth Fleet" plan, and it is planned to build two ships, Tiancheng and Chicheng. "Chicheng" started construction at Wugang Naval Shipyard in 1920 and 65438+February. By 192 1, due to the influence of Washington convention, the "Tiancheng" class under construction is facing the fate of shutdown and disintegration. After some consideration, the Japanese navy decided to convert two "Tiancheng" class combat cruisers into aircraft carriers. 1923 the great kanto earthquake damaged tiancheng's keel on the berth, and finally only Chicheng appeared as an aircraft carrier. Because Japan only had the construction experience of the small aircraft carrier Fengxiang at that time, it took pains to design this aircraft carrier with a displacement nearly three times larger than Fengxiang.
Chicheng was restarted in June 1923, 1 1, launched in April 1925 and completed in March 1927. Its three-deck design is quite special: the top deck is the take-off and landing deck of aircraft; The second deck is called "turret deck" because there is a bridge and two 203 mm caliber main guns installed in pairs. The third floor is the aircraft take-off deck, which is 56.7 meters long and can carry 60 fighters (16 fighter, 16 reconnaissance plane and 28 attack aircraft). The test displacement is 34,364 tons and the speed is 3 1 knot.
1938, "Chicheng" underwent a major modification, dismantling the original turret deck and take-off deck, expanding the top deck to a flight deck, and increasing the number of carrier-based aircraft to 9 1 frame (16 fighters, 5 1 attack aircraft, and 24 dive bombers). The test displacement increased to 4 1.300 tons and the speed was 3 1.2 knots.
Akagi is one of the famous ships of the Japanese Navy. During the period of 1928~ 1929, Isoroku Yamamoto, a famous Japanese naval officer, served as the captain of the ship, which was also used as the flagship of the mobile forces when it attacked Pearl Harbor. Later, Chicheng also participated in the Java Sea War and the Battle of Midway Island. In the naval battle of midway, Chicheng was hit by two bombs dropped by American dive bombers, which caused a fire. The fire damaged the ammunition depot, and the chain explosion forced the crew of Chicheng to abandon the ship. Finally, Japan used its destroyer Noven to launch a torpedo to sink it.
"Kaga": The Great Kanto Earthquake enabled him to take over the post.
Although Kaga and Chicheng are not sister ships, their fates from birth to destruction are strikingly similar. The original design of "Kaga" belonging to "Tosa" class is also a battleship, and it is also the product of the "August 8th Fleet" plan. Just as it was about to disintegrate under the influence of the Washington Convention, Tiancheng was reimbursed by the Great Kanto Earthquake and Kaga was transformed into an aircraft carrier to replace it.
Kaga started construction at Kobe Shipyard in Kawasaki on 1920, and was launched in June of the following year. The aircraft carrier reconstruction project started in165438+2003 10/0, and was completed in March of 1928. Its shape is similar to Chicheng, and it is also a three-deck with a displacement of 33,693 tons and a speed of 27.5 knots, which can carry 60 planes.
1934, the "Kaga" was also greatly modified and completed one year later. The main purpose is to extend the flight deck. The number of carrier-based aircraft is increased to 90 (15 90 fighter, 45 89 attack aircraft and 30 94 dive bombers), the speed is increased to 28.3 knots, the displacement is increased to 4254 1 ton, and the endurance is improved.
"Kaga" has been paired with "Chicheng" and incorporated into the Japanese Navy 1 Air Force. Participated in all large-scale military operations in the war of aggression against China; The attack on Pearl Harbor was fruitful, and it also played an important role in the process of marching into Nanyang. 1942 during the battle of midway in June, it was attacked by American dive bombers, hit by three bombs, causing a fire and sinking a few hours later. 13 years into the army 1 aviation team was wiped out.
"Dragon Boat": A Model of the Japanese Navy's Subsequent Small Aircraft Carrier
In the Japanese warship replenishment plan of 1924, it is planned to build 1 27000-ton aircraft carriers and three 10000-ton aircraft carriers. 1925, in order to replace the old "Ruogong Maru" seaplane carrier, there was a plan to build a "Dragon Boat", which was later changed from a seaplane carrier to an aircraft carrier.
The "Longrang" originally planned to have a displacement of 9,800 tons, using the hull of the "Julia" class heavy cruiser, with a speed of 30 knots and carrying about 24 aircraft. 1924, 1 1 year1month, "Dragon Boat" was launched in April of 193 1 year, and was subsequently towed to Yokosuga for outfitting. At this time, the military required the number of carrier-based aircraft to increase to 36, so the factory had to update the design and increase the hangar, which reduced the height of the gunwale and made the seakeeping worse. When it was completed in May, 1933, the test displacement was12,732 tons, 66,000 horsepower, the speed was 29 knots, the endurance was10,000 nautical miles (14 knots), there were 48 aircraft and 924 officers and men.
The shape of "Dragon Boat" has become a model for Japanese small aircraft carriers in the future, including all-pass flight deck, warship-free island and open-air bow deck, and the bridge is located below the front of the flight deck. However, in September of 1935, a famous "4th Fleet Incident" happened in the history of Japanese navy: "Dragon Boat" was hit by a typhoon during the exercise, and the bridge was washed away by the waves because the freeboard was too low. This incident has a far-reaching impact on the design of Japanese ships. Later, the "Dragon Boat" was docked and rebuilt. In addition to redesigning the bridge with improved seakeeping, a new deck was added to increase the freeboard height. After reconstruction, the displacement reached 12575 tons, but the speed was reduced to 28 knots.
When the Pacific War broke out, Dragon Boat was equipped with 18 96 fighter and 12 97 attack aircraft. It joined the aircraft carrier "Xiangfeng" and the requisitioned merchant ship "Chunri Maru" to form the 4th Air Force, and participated in the support operations of invading the Philippines and attacking dutch east indies. During the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Dragon Boat was responsible for attacking the Aleutian Islands. During the Second Solomon Sea War, Dragon Boat carried 24 Zero fighters and 9 97 attack aircraft. In the escort operation of the transport fleet, it was attacked by the carrier aircraft of the US aircraft carrier and sank.
"Black Dragon": The first aircraft carrier built according to the aircraft carrier standard.
"Black Dragon" is the first Japanese aircraft carrier designed and built according to aircraft carrier standards. Prior to this, most aircraft carriers were modified from other warships. The construction of the black dragon is also full of twists and turns. According to the Washington Convention, Japan could also build an aircraft carrier with a gross tonnage of 2 1000 tons, so two aircraft carriers with a gross tonnage of 1050 tons were originally designed. However, the navy requires to install five 203mm naval guns, 20 127mm anti-aircraft guns and 10000t aircraft carrier, which is unreasonable for10000t aircraft carrier. After entering the budget review stage, these requirements were reduced, and the number of self-defense weapons of the aircraft carrier was reduced to 5 guns 155mm and 16 guns127 mm.
1934, the famous "Friendship Crane Incident" happened in the Japanese Navy: two naval vessels of No.21,led by the flagship "Ryoda" light cruiser, conducted night training off the coast of Japan. When returning home, the sea wind speed reached 15 ~ 20m/s, and the wave height was 3 ~ 4m, resulting in the "Friendship Crane" mine. In retrospect, the reason for the capsizing of "Youhe" was that the center of gravity of the ship was too high, and almost all Japanese warships had this common problem to some extent. This is mainly because, under the constraints of the Washington Convention, in order to improve the combat effectiveness of a single ship as much as possible, too many weapons are blindly piled up on the ship. This incident and the aforementioned "Fourth Fleet Incident" had a great impact on the design of Japanese ships, and the military's design requirements for the Black Dragon became more reasonable.
Black Dragon started construction at Wugang Naval Shipyard in June of 1934+0 1 year, was launched in February of 1935, and was completed in February of 1937. The measured displacement was 18800 tons, 150.
After service, the ship was incorporated into the 2nd Air Force with the "Dragonfly", carrying 57 planes (2 1 Zero Fighter, 18 97 Attacker, 18 99 Dive Bomber), which once supported the Japanese aggression in Chinese mainland and Southeast Asia, and was one of the leading characters in the attack on Pearl Harbor. 1942 the battle of midway in June was the last scene of the black dragon's fighting career. The ship sank to the bottom of the sea under the attack of American aircraft carriers York City and Enterprise dive bombers, and only 385 of the 1 103 officers and men on board survived.
"Dragonfly": The torpedo committed suicide and the sailors were able to escape.
"Longfei" is a Black Dragon-class No.2 ship. It was started in Yokosuga Naval Shipyard in July, 1937+0 1 year, and was completed in July, 939. The test displacement is 20 165 tons, the speed is 34.6 knots, and the endurance is 7670 nautical miles (below 18 knots). It can carry 72 planes, 1 1 officers and men.
The biggest feature of the ship's shape is that the ship island is located in the center of the port side (the ship island of the aircraft carrier is generally arranged at the front end of the starboard side 1/3), so as to provide a long take-off runway for the carrier aircraft. The reason why the ship island is changed from starboard to port is because the center of starboard is behind the chimney, and the smoke from the chimney will affect the navigation operation and interfere with the landing of the plane. Also using this design is the modified gallop.
"Dragonfly" has been advancing and retreating with "Black Dragon" since its service. In the Battle of Midway Island, the ship survived the tragic disasters of Chicheng, Kaga and Black Dragon, and then under the command of Admiral Yamaguchi, the captain of the 2nd Air Force, the carrier aircraft was dispatched to attack the American aircraft carrier York City twice in a row, which caused heavy losses. Unexpectedly, six hours after the attack on the black dragon, the American plane came over the dragonfly again. The ship was hit by four bombs on the flight deck in front of the right side of the bridge, and the front elevator was blown up and flew to the upper shaft of the bridge, causing a fire. Abandoning the ship was announced at 0: 00 on the night of June 6, and 4 16 officers and men, including Yamaguchi Wenduo, died. It is worth mentioning that after the Japanese destroyer Cirrus was ordered to spin two torpedoes at Longfei, 70 Japanese sailors trapped in the bilge engine room of Longfei miraculously escaped from the gap after the torpedoes hit and exploded, and 34 people drifted at sea 15 days later were rescued by American ships.
1942 during the three days from June 4 to 6, the Japanese navy lost four first-line aircraft carriers, 332 planes and pilots. From then on, the Japanese navy began to turn from attack to defense until 1945 was defeated.
"Shoukaku" class: the darling of the heyday, the leader of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Shoukaku-class aircraft carriers include Shoukaku and Ruihe. 1936, Japan unilaterally withdrew from the London disarmament conference, and since then, the naval shipbuilding project has expanded like a runaway horse. "Shoukaku" class aircraft carrier was born under this background.
Shoukaku started construction at Yokosuga Naval Shipyard in February 1937, was launched in June/939, and was completed in August/941. Ruihe was built by Kawasaki Kobe Shipyard in May 1938, launched in October 1939 10, and completed in September 194 1 2008. The test displacement is 29,800 tons, and it can carry 84 planes, 1.660 officers and men. Both aircraft carriers belong to the 5th Air Force of 1 Air Force. They served in the heyday of the Japanese navy and participated in the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.
"Shoukaku" was unable to take off and land due to being shot on deck in the Coral Sea naval battle, and then returned to Wugang for maintenance, so the 5th Air Force avoided the battle of midway and the fate of destruction. By the third Solomon Sea War, this class of ship had become the only main aircraft carrier in Japan, but due to the lack of skilled pilots, the carrier aircraft suffered heavy losses. 1942+00 In June, the South Pacific naval battle, the Xianghe was damaged again and had to return to Yokosuga for maintenance. 1In the Mariana naval battle in June, 944, the 5th Air Force attacked again. 19, "Shoukaku" was attacked by four torpedoes launched by the American submarine "lanyu", which caused the ammunition depot to explode and 1263 officers and men sank with the ship.
In the Mariana naval battle, the "Ruihe" was hit by a bomb, and then returned to Wugang to enter the dry dock for maintenance. 1944, 10 year1October 20th, the "Ruihe" entered the Battle of Leyte Bay and became the flagship of the Japanese Northern Army. On the 25th, the Ruihe was violently attacked by US carrier aircraft, each with seven torpedoes and seven bombs, and sank at Cape Ngano. 1700 soldiers, only 970 people were rescued.
"Xiangfeng" class: named submarine support ship, it is actually an aircraft carrier reserve ship.
Xiangfeng-class aircraft carriers include Xiangfeng and Ruifeng, whose predecessors were submarine-supported aircraft carriers "Kenzaki" and "Takasaki" respectively, and were listed as "carrier reserve ships" at the beginning of design. "Takasaki" 1939 was launched and the aircraft carrier was rebuilt immediately. /kloc-0 was completed in February, 1940 and renamed as "Ruifeng". "Kenzaki" was launched earlier than "Takasaki" at 1939 1, but it was not rebuilt until 194 1, and was completed at 1 in the same year, so it was renamed as "Xiangfeng".
Because it is an "aircraft carrier reserve ship", the "Kenzaki" set up a hangar and elevator when it acted as a submarine support ship. Except for chimneys, masts and disproportionate bridges, the top deck is almost empty. The modified "Xiangfeng" has a displacement of13100t, a speed of 28 knots and an endurance of 7800 nautical miles (18 knots). The ship can carry six zero fighters, 12 97 attack aircraft and 10 99 dive bomber. 788 officers and men.
The first and last attack of Xiangfeng was in the Coral Sea. During the battle, "Xiangfeng" was hit by seven torpedoes and 13 bombs intensively attacked by American planes, and sank on May 7 1942. This is the first aircraft carrier that Japan lost in the Pacific War. In June 5438+0944+00, the "Ruifeng" was bombed by American planes at Cape Ngano, hitting two torpedoes and two plum bullets and then sinking.
Dragon and Phoenix: Chimneys are set on the deck to hide people's eyes and ears.
The predecessor of "Dragon and Phoenix" is the submarine supporting the mother ship "Giant Whale". Yokosuga started construction in August 1933 and completed in March 1934, with a displacement of 13048 tons. It is also listed as an "aircraft carrier reserve ship", so there are not many facilities in the cabin; The appearance is similar to that of "Kenzaki", with a flat top deck and no major buildings, except for a large and improper chimney set up to confuse western military observers.
The Great Whale is the flagship of the 6th Fleet 1 and the 2nd Diving Team. 194 1 At the end of the year, the "Giant Whale" began to transform its aircraft carrier. Completed in June 1942 1 1, renamed as "Longfeng". Displacement 15300 tons, speed 26.5 knots, endurance 8000 nautical miles (18 knots), 989 officers and men. Longfeng can carry 2 1 fighter and 9 attack planes.
Longfeng participated in the Mariana naval battle and returned to Japan after minor damage. Later, the flight deck was lengthened by 15 meters, which can carry new fighters. 1March, 945 19, the "Dragon and Phoenix" lost power when docked in Wugang, and was used as a floating air defense battery until Japan was defeated. After the war, "Dragon and Phoenix" was used to transport overseas Japanese prisoners of war and expatriates back to China, and finally 1946 broke up in April.
"Eagle" class: It can only be used for training and air transport missions.
"Eagle" class aircraft carriers include "Dog Eagle", "Cloud Eagle" and "Chongying". Before the Pacific War, the Japanese navy had a plan to subsidize private shipping companies to build large cruise ships in case they were requisitioned and transformed into aircraft carriers one day.
1937 in April, Japan began to implement the above plan. Passenger ships, cruise ships and cargo ships with a displacement of more than 6,000 tons and a speed of more than 19 knots will be "subsidized" by the government during the construction period. 1940, when the Japanese navy expanded rapidly, the cruise ship "Spring Maru" of Mitsubishi Nagasaki Factory was requisitioned by the Japanese army. At that time, the construction of the ship had been completed by about 30%. 194 1 In May, the ship was transferred to sasebo Naval Shipyard for reconstruction, completed in September of the same year and incorporated into the 5th Air Corps, and then incorporated into the 4th Air Corps. The test displacement is 20,000 tons, the speed is 2 1. 1 knot, the endurance is 8,500 nautical miles (18 knot), the flight deck is172m long and 23.5m wide, and there are 747 officers and men.
Because it is a merchant ship modified aircraft carrier, its performance is far less than that of a regular aircraft carrier. After its completion, it has never been used as an aircraft carrier, and it is mostly used for training and aircraft transportation tasks. It can only be regarded as an aircraft carrier. 1942 after the battle of midway, the first-line aircraft carrier of Japan's joint fleet suffered heavy losses, so the "Chunmaru" was renamed "Eagle" in August of 1942 and officially incorporated into the ranks of Japanese aircraft carriers. The sister ships of Chunri Maru include Bagan Maru and Xintian Maru. On the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbor, "Bagua Pill" was requisitioned by the military. 1942 was rebuilt at the beginning and completed in may of the same year. Renamed "Yunying". The renovation of Xintianwan was also completed in June of the same year165438+1October, and it was renamed as ghost.
The above three kinds of ships have high speed and the regular aircraft carrier is far away. They can only guard, escort or serve as transport platforms for transport convoys, and have never participated in more famous battles. The Eagle was sunk by an American submarine in the northwest waters of Luzon Island on August 1944. "Yunying" was sunk by an American submarine in the waters east of Dongsha Island on September1944+0/KLOC-0. On February 4th, 1943+65438, the "Chongying" was sunk by an American submarine in the waters east of Bazhang Island, Japan.
"Falcon" class: The overall performance is no less than that of a regular aircraft carrier.
Falcon-class aircraft carriers include Falcon and Flying Eagle, and their service backgrounds are similar to those of Eagle. In order to cope with the 1940 Tokyo Olympic Games, Japan's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications decided to build two six-wheeled large luxury venues. The Japanese military is willing to provide 60% subsidy, but it is required that the two cruise ships must meet the specifications of 2 10 meters long and 25 meters wide, with a speed of more than 24 knots and a drainage capacity of 26,600 to 27,000 tons, and can be converted into aircraft carriers within three months.
The launch of 1 "Tsuhara Maru" was started in March of 1939 at Mitsubishi Nagasaki Factory, and the second "Izumo Maru" was started at Kawasaki Kobe Shipyard on October 30th of the same year. 1940 10, the cruise ship decided to be transformed into an aircraft carrier and was acquired by the military before the construction work was completed. The "Hayabusa" class renovation project was carried out in a highly confidential situation. Shui Yuan Maru was completed in early May 1942, and was renamed Hayabusa in mid-July. "Izumo Maru" was completed at the end of July of the same year and named "Eagle". The test displacement is 27,500 tons, the waterline is 215.3m long and 26.7m wide, the flight deck is 210.3m long and 27.3m wide, the speed is 25.5 knots, and the endurance is12,565,438+.
The Hayabusa-class ship island is novel in design, and the chimney and the ship island are combined into one, and the chimney is inclined outward by 26 degrees to reduce smoke interference. Other Japanese aircraft carriers adopting this design are Taihō and the Ministry of Information. Although this class ship was transformed from a cruise ship, many wooden decorative cabins had to be dismantled for fire prevention, but the overall performance was enough to compete with the conventional aircraft carrier "Dragonfly", which was quite surprising.
1942 In July, Falcon and Eagle were incorporated into the 2nd Air Force of the 3rd Fleet. One month after the battle of midway, due to the serious shortage of carrier aviation of the Japanese navy, they were adjusted from the second-line reserve forces to the first-line operations; 10 participated in the naval battle between Solomon Islands and Guadalcanal Island, and attacked the aircraft carriers American Enterprise and Hornet. When the US military attacked Saipan, there was also a record of attack.
1 On June 20th, 944, during the naval battle in Mariana, the Eagle was hit by1torpedo when it was behind their nested carrier aircraft. After the torpedo exploded, the aviation fuel depot was destroyed and the volatile oil and gas flooded the ship. Two hours later, oil and gas were detonated, followed by an uncontrollable fire. The strong explosion made the officers and men on board mistakenly think that the ship was hit by another torpedo. Shortly after the explosion, the eagle capsized and sank. It is worth noting that in this naval battle, three Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk after being attacked by torpedoes and detonated by oil and gas.
On the same day, Falcon was also hit by two bombs, and the damage was not serious. After the restoration, it directly undertook training and air transport tasks, and did not participate in the battle between Wright Bay and the US fleet, thus avoiding the fate of being hunted by the US military. 1944 65438+On February 9th, Falcon was hit by a torpedo launched by a U.S. submarine and was seriously damaged. However, because the ammunition depot and fuel depot were empty when laying mines, fortunately, the explosion did not follow the footsteps of the sister ship. The restored "Falcon Eagle" has been moored in sasebo Harbor, and it disintegrated in August 1946 after the war.
Condor: an air carrier converted from a German merchant ship.
Condor is also an aircraft carrier converted from merchant ships. But what is more special is that its predecessor was a German merchant ship "scharnhorst". The ship was built in Bremen, Germany in 1935. A regular cruise ship belonging to the Far East route of Germany Lode Shipping Company, with a displacement of 18 184 tons. When the second scheduled voyage docked in Japan, the European War broke out. Because the Atlantic Ocean is in the hands of Britain, I can't go home, so I can only stay in Kobe.
1942 was acquired by the Japanese army, and the aircraft carrier was modified in September of the same year. Due to the difficulty in obtaining the original data of the ship, the modification work progressed slowly until the spring of Wugang Naval Shipyard 1944. The test displacement is 20900 tons, waterline length 189.36 meters, width 25.6 meters, speed 24 knots, horsepower 26000, endurance 8000 nautical miles (18 knots), flight deck length 180 meters, width 245 meters, and 834 officers and men.
It can be seen from the speed that the ship is an air transport ship at best. 1 was incorporated into1maritime guard in July, 1944, and served as a fleet escort mission. 1944165438+1October 17, during a escort mission from Japan to Singapore, it was sunk by an American submarine in the waters west of Jeju Island in the Yellow Sea, ending its short five and a half months as an aircraft carrier.
Seahawk: From Passenger Ships, Pocket Aircraft Carriers to Training Target Ships
The predecessor of "Seahawk" is the passenger ship "Argentina Maru" owned by Osaka Shipping Company of Japan. 1939 was completed in Mitsubishi Nagasaki factory in May, and it was also a product supported by a large Japanese merchant ship. The original displacement is 12577 tons, 16600 horsepower, and the speed is 2 1.48 knots, which can carry 90 1 person. After the Battle of Midway Island,1942 65438+was refitted by 3D Nagasaki Factory in February, and was completed the following year, renamed as "Yinghai". Seahawk displacement16700t, waterline159.59m, flight deck160m, and width of 23m. It is the most pocket-sized aircraft carrier of Eagle. With the replacement of the 52,000-horsepower main engine, the "Yang Yan" class destroyer has a speed of 23 knots and a endurance of 7,000 nautical miles (18 knots), and can carry 587 officers and men. The speed of the ship is too slow, and it is only engaged in logistics tasks such as fleet escort and aircraft transportation, and has not been put into offline operations.
On March 1845, 19, the "Yinghai" was damaged by the US air strikes along the coast of Wujun Port, and was towed back to Befo Bay in the Seto Inland Sea as a training target ship. On July 24th of the same year, it ran aground after being attacked by British naval aviation in Bekhufu Bay until the end of the war, and it disintegrated in September 1946.
"Taihō": The suffocation of oil and gas makes its soul return to the sea.
This is the last large authentic aircraft carrier of the Japanese Navy. At that time, the Japanese navy urgently needed to expand the strength of the aircraft carrier to counter the US naval power in the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese Navy believes that the United States has five large aircraft carriers and will build two more, while Japan has only six first-class aircraft carriers (Chicheng, Kaga, Black Dragon, Longfei, Shoukaku and Ruihe), so it needs to build another Taihō to compete with it. The ship was built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. It was designed after the budget of 1939 was passed. 194 1 completed.
The design of the ship absorbed the experience and lessons gained from actual combat, but it also created new problems. For example, considering the weak air defense capability of the aircraft after dispatch, it is emphasized to strengthen protective armor. Due to the increase of armor weight, the number of aircraft has to be reduced. The original design displacement was 33,900 tons, but it was increased to 34,200 tons in order to increase fire fighting equipment and anti-aircraft machine gun seats; Because the armor of the flight deck is thickened, the weight is increased, and the center of gravity of the ship is increased, it is necessary to dismantle a hangar, but the freeboard height is reduced, so the closed bow with the flight deck is adopted. This is unprecedented in the design of Japanese aircraft carriers.
There are 6 1 carrier aircraft, including 19 squally fighters, 6 Cai Yun reconnaissance planes and 36 meteor attack planes. Because the hangar is full, 13 aircraft must be parked on the flight deck in the open air. The ship's speed is 33.3 knots, 160000 horsepower, endurance 10000 nautical miles (18 knots), the maximum test displacement is 34200 tons, the waterline is 253 meters long and 27.5 meters wide, the flight deck is 257.5 meters long and 30 meters wide, and there are 6550 officers and men.
Taihō was launched in April 1943 and completed in March 1944, belonging to 1 Mobile Fleet Air Force. Use "Shoukaku" and "Ruihe". 1 The mobile fleet has 9 aircraft carriers and 450 aircraft. At that time, there were 27 Zero Fighters, 18 Tianshan attack planes, 27 comets, 99 dive bombers and 3 reconnaissance planes on board, totaling 75.
1June, 944, the "Taihō" attacked for the first time, and it appeared in the Mariana naval battle in June1September. After the first wave of aircraft took off, the torpedo launched by the American submarine hit the bottom of the ship island, which caused the aviation fuel depot to crack and the volatile oil and gas flooded the entire hangar. Therefore, it is necessary to suspend the take-off operation of the second wave of aircraft and use the elevator to transport wood to fill the cracks in the fuel depot. Five hours after being shot, the crew who damaged the Dafeng made a fatal mistake: they started the ship's ventilation system to remove the oil and gas that had infiltrated the ship. As a result, the spark generated by the power system instantly ignited the oil and gas, and the explosion shock wave could not blow through the armor and flight deck of the two buildings, but caused a "muffled explosion" in the ship. The amazing explosion destroyed all the fragile structures on board, but Taihō was still floating at sea 1 hour before sinking. The ship suffered heavy casualties due to "suffocation", with more than 1000 casualties.
After the fall of Taihō, the Japanese immediately improved the ventilation of all aircraft carriers, but the sinking of the Dafeng can never make up for the blow to combat effectiveness and morale. From completion to sinking, Taihō has only three months and zero 12 days.
"Nobuka": It sank less than 20 hours after the first voyage.
Originally the third "Yamato" class super battleship, this ship started construction in May 1940. However, during the construction of Yokosuga Shipyard, due to the heavy losses of the aircraft carrier in the Battle of Midway, it was converted into an aircraft carrier midway. 1944165438+1completed on October 9th.