Japanese aircraft carrier Katsuragi

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Katsuragi serving as a troop transport in 1946
Career (Japan)
Name:	Katsuragi
Operator:	Imperial Japanese Navy
Ordered:	May 2, 1942
Builder:	Kawasaki Heavy Industries Shipyard
Laid down:	October 15, 1942
Launched:	October 15, 1943
Completed:	October 3, 1944
Commissioned:	August 10, 1944
Homeport:	Kure Naval Base
Fate:	Used as a troopship, then scrapped after 1947.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Unryū class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	22,400 tons (standard) 22,800 tons (full load)
Length:	227.4 m
Beam:	27 m
Draught:	7.8 m
Propulsion:	Steam turbines 8 boilers 4 shafts 152,000 hp
Speed:	34 knots (63 km/h)
Range:	9,700 nmi. at 18 knots (18,000 km at 33 km/h)
Complement:	1,595
Armament:	6 × 5 in (127 mm) guns 51 × 25 mm anti-aircraft guns
Aircraft carried:	57(+8)

Katsuragi was a Unryū class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She did not commit to any significant action, and was lightly damaged in the raid by American carrier planes on Kure Naval Base, the main base of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

The ultimate expression of Japanese carrier construction during the Second World War was a group of vessels based on one design, generally an improved Sōryū and bearing a close resemblance to that ship, but with individual units differing in detail reflecting the changing circumstances as the conflict in the Pacific approached its conclusion. Unryū was ordered under the 1941 Program and was to be followed by a sister carrier, but the latter was cancelled in 1942 and a batch of seven authorized in its place, to be followed by a further eight featuring a slightly enlarged hull; in the event only five of the first follow-up group were laid down, two of which (in addition to the lead ship) were completed.

To ease construction, cruiser machinery was installed, but a shortage of parts led to Aso and Katsuragi receiving destroyer turbines, reducing power output by one-third and maximum speed by 2 knots. Machinery and magazines were protected by 1.8 inch and 5.9 inch (belt) and 1 inch and 2.2 inch (deck) armour respectively, and uptake, island, flight deck and armament followed the well-tried pattern although, unlike Sōryū (which had three), only two lifts were fitted. The Unryūs did not have armored flight decks, which is partially explained by the fact that they were not really envisaged as fleet carriers in the classical sense of the term: rather, they were to form the cores of anti-convoy strike groups, screened by heavy cruisers and not expected to bear the brunt of fleet actions, for which the armored carriers in prospect would be employed. Their light construction would not in any case have permitted the effective operation of large numbers of heavy strike aircraft (B7A, B6N) required to penetrate US carrier air defenses, although they were seen as suitable platforms for launching kamikaze attacks. She also ferried Ohkas to the bases in the Philippines.

Katsuragi survived the war, albeit damaged, and was used as a repatriation vessel post-war, finally being scrapped in 1947.

[edit] Commanding Officers

• Chief Equipping Officer - Capt. Masaharu Kawabata - 15 August 1944 - 15 October 1944
• Capt. Masaharu Kawabata - 15 October 1944 - 1 April 1945
• Capt. Shiro Hiratsuka - 1 April 1945 - 20 April 1945
• Capt. Toshio Miyazaki - 20 April 1945 - 15 August 1945

Kure Dockyard - 15 August 1945 - 2 October 1945

• Capt. Toshio Miyazaki - 2 October 1945 - April 1946

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