Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga

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Career

Ordered:
Laid down:	19 July 1920
Launched:	17 November 1921
Commissioned:	1 November 1929
Fate:	Sunk by US air attack at the battle of Midway, on 4 June 1942
Struck:	10 August 1942
General Characteristics
Displacement:	33,693 tons
Length:	260.7 metres (waterline)
Beam:	31.3 metres
Draught:	8.7 metres
Propulsion:	Kanpon geared turbines, 91,000 hp (67.9 MW), 4 shafts
Speed:	31.25 knots (57.88 km/h)
Range:	7,000 nmi. at 12 knots (13,000 km at 22 km/h)
Complement:	2,400
Armament:	Ten 8 inch (200 mm) guns, sixteen 5 inch (120 mm) guns, twenty-two 25 mm anti-aircraft guns
Aircraft:	91 (after reconstruction)

Kaga (Japanese: 加賀, the ancient Kaga Province, in present-day Ishikawa Prefecture) was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She took part in the battle of Pearl Harbor and was sunk at the battle of Midway on 4 June 1942.

Kaga began as a Tosa-class battleship, launched in 1921 at the Kawasaki Heavy Industries shipyard at Kobe. The constraints of the Washington Naval Treaty, 1922, meant that neither Kaga nor Tosa could be completed. When the aircraft carrier Amagi was destroyed, while still under construction, in an earthquake on 1 September 1923, it was decided to replace her with a carrier built on the hull of the incomplete Kaga.

During the 1930's the Kaga served in China, and was involved in the Shanghai Incident and during the early years of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

At the beginning of World War II the Kaga was commanded by Captain Okada Jisaku. Together with Akagi she formed Carrier Division 1 of the Strike Force for the attack on Pearl Harbor. On 7 December 1941 she launched two strikes against Oahu. In the first wave, 26 Kates targeted Arizona, Vestal, Tennessee, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Nevada, and 9 Zeros attacked the airbase at Hickam Field. In the second wave 26 Vals targeted Nevada, Maryland, and West Virginia.

In January 1942, together with Akagi, Kaga supported the invasion of Rabaul in the Bismarck Islands. On 9 February she hit a reef at Palau and took on water. After temporary repairs, she continued to the Timor Sea, where on 19 February 1942 she launched air strikes against Darwin, Australia, sinking nine ships, including USS Peary. In March 1942 Kaga covered the invasion of Java.

Kaga was unable to participate in the Indian Ocean raid in April because of the damage she had received in February. Instead she returned to Sasebo for repairs.

In May 1942, the Kaga sailed on her final mission. Her aircraft complement consisted of 30 Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighters, 23 Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers, and 30 Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers. [1] On 4 June 1942 Kaga launched air strikes against Midway before coming under air attack from American land- and carrier-based planes. At 10:22 she was hit by four 1000-pound (453.6kg) bombs from SBD Dauntless dive-bombers from USS Enterprise, setting off explosions and fires among the armed and fueled planes on her hangar deck. Captain Jisaku Okada was killed by a bomb that hit the bridge. The fires proved impossible to control and the order to abandon ship was given at about 14:00.

At 14:10 the submarine USS Nautilus hit Kaga with a torpedo but it was a dud and did not explode.

Kaga's crew were taken off by the destroyers Hagikaze and Maikaze and at 19:25 she exploded and sank after being scuttled by two Type 93 torpedoes.