Japanese aircraft carrier Zuihō
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 Aircraft carrier Zuihō during the Battle of Cape Engaño on 25 October 1944. |
|
| Career (Japan) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Zuihō |
| Namesake: | Zuihō (瑞鳳, "fortunate phoenix"?) |
| Laid down: | 1934 |
| Launched: | December 1940 |
| Commissioned: | January 1941 |
| Fate: | Sunk by air attack in the Battle of Cape Engaño on 25 October 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Shōhō class aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | 14,200 tons (fully loaded) |
| Length: | 217 m (711 ft 11 in) |
| Beam: | 23 m (75 ft 5.5 in) |
| Draught: | 6.6 m (21 fr 8 in) |
| Propulsion: | Geared steam turbines 38,800 kW (52,000 hp) 2 shafts |
| Speed: | 51.8 km/h (28.2 kts) |
| Complement: | 785 |
| Armament: | 8 × 127 mm/40 cal. (5 in) guns (4×2) (removed in 1934) 56 × 25 mm anti-aircraft guns |
| Aircraft carried: | 30 |
The Zuihō (瑞鳳, "fortunate phoenix"?) was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was first laid down as the high-speed oiler Takasaki in 1934. As the Japanese became aware of the importance of carrier aviation the Takasaki was converted in January 1940 to the aircraft carrier Zuihō.
Zuihō was the sister ship of the Shōhō. Her aircraft complement consisted of 16 Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighters and 14 Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers. Zuihō was sunk by American bombers during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Contents |
[edit] History
- January, 1941: Commissioned into the Japanese fleet and assigned to Carrier Division 3 with the Hōshō
- December, 1941: Participates in the attack on the Philippine Islands
- January, 1942: Supported invasion of the Dutch East Indies
- June, 1942: Battle of Midway. Led the Support Fleet and did not engage American carriers directly. Her aircraft complement consisted of 16 Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighters and 14 Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers. [1]
- October, 1942: Assigned to First Carrier Division (with Shōkaku and Zuikaku) during the Battle of Santa Cruz. A bomber from the Enterprise disables the Flight deck of the Zuihō.
- January-February, 1943: Aids in evacuation of Guadalcanal along with Carriers Junyō and Zuikaku
- February, 1944: Participates in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
- 24 October 1944: Participates in Battle of Leyte Gulf along with the Carriers Chiyoda, Chitose and Zuikaku. During the Battle off Cape Engano, hits are scored on Zuihō's flight deck during an attack by a wave of American bombers. After repairing this damage, three more strike waves arrived to finally sink Zuihō. Carrying very few aircraft, she was sacrificed as a "decoy", to draw the American carrier fleet away from the Japanese main battleship fleet.
[edit] Commanding Officers
As Submarine Tender
- Chief Equipping Officer - Capt. Miki Otsuka - 7 October 1936 - 1 December 1936
- Chief Equipping Officer - Capt. Gonichiro Kakimoto - 1 December 1936 - 15 June 1937
- unknown - 15 June 1937 - 15 December 1938
- Chief Equipping Officer - Capt. Ryuji Nakazato - 15 December 1938 - unknown
- unknown - unknown - 24 April 1940
- Chief Equipping Officer - Capt. Matsuro Eguchi - 24 April 1940 - 15 October 1940
As CVL
- Chief Equipping Officer - Capt. Tameki Nomoto - 15 October 1940 - 27 December 1940
- Capt. Tameki Nomoto - 27 December 1940 - 20 September 1941
- Capt. Sueo Obayashi - 20 September 1941 - 5 December 1942
- Capt. Bunjiro Yamaguchi - 5 December 1942 - 5 July 1943
- Capt. Katsuji Hattori - 5 July 1943 - 15 February 1944
- Capt. Kuro Sugiura - 15 February 1944 - 25 October 1944
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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