Shoho at anchor at Yokosuka, December 1941 |
|
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators: | Imperial Japanese Navy |
| In commission: | 30 September 1937– mid 1941 (as submarine tenders) 27 December 1940-25 October 1944 (as aircraft carriers) |
| Completed: | 2 |
| Lost: | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 11,262 long tons (11,443 t) standard 14,200 long tons (14,400 t) full load |
| Length: |
201.45 m (660.9 ft) waterline length |
| Beam: | 18.2 m (60 ft) at waterline |
| Draught: | 6.64 m (21.8 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 4 boilers 52,000 shp (39 MW) |
| Speed: | 28 kn (52 km/h; 32 mph) |
| Range: | 5,000 nmi (9,300 km) |
| Complement: | 785 |
| Armament: |
|
| Armor: | none |
| Aircraft carried: | 30 |
The Zuihō class (瑞鳳型) was a class of two light aircraft carriers operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Both ships were converted from Submarine tenders.
Contents |
In the mid 30's the Imperial Japanese Navy decided to build a class of two submarine tenders which in case of need could be converted to light aircraft carriers. The first ship, the Tsurugisaki was commissioned into service in 1939. The building of the second, the submarine tender Takasaki, was stopped soon after launch and it was decided to complete her as an aircraft carrier.[1] The ship was commissioned as Zuiho in December 1940. In 1941 the submarine tender Tsurugisaki was taken out of service, converted to an aircraft carrier too and commissioned into service as the Shoho.
| Name | Laid Down | Launched |
Commissioned |
Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zuihō (瑞鳳) | 20 June 1935 as oiler Takasaki | 19 June 1936 as oiler Takasaki (*1) | 27 December 1940 as aircraft carrier Zuihō | Lost during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944 |
| Shōhō (祥鳳) | 3 December 1934 as oiler Tsurugizaki | 1 June 1935 as oiler Tsurugizaki (*1) | 15 January 1939 as ST Tsurugizaki (*2) | Lost during the Battle of the Coral Sea, 7 May 1942 |
The Shoho was the first Japanese aircraft carrier to be sunk in the Pacific war. The Zuiho participated in the Battle of Santa Cruz and the Battle of the Philippine Sea and was finally sunk during the Battle of Cape Engano while acting as a decoy force.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||