A few minutes later, Shinano turned south, exposing her entire side to Archerfisha nearly ideal firing situation for a submarine. Laid down in May 1940 as the third of the Yamato-class battleships, Shinano's partially complete hull was ordered to be converted to an aircraft carrier following Japan's disastrous loss of four of its original six fleet carriers at the Battle of Midway in mid-1942. Suzuya and Kumano were considered to be a sub-class. The Midway atoll that gave the June 1942 battle its name is about 1,400 miles northwest of Hawaii. Akitsu Maru was a passenger liner taken over before completion by the Imperial Japanese Army, fitted with a flight deck but no hangar to simplify construction. He reported hearing air rushing through gaps in the watertight doors just minutes after the last torpedo hita sign that seawater was rapidly entering the ship, proving the doors were unseaworthy.[40]. The forward area of the hangar was dedicated to maintenance and storage facilities. WW2 Japanese Aircraft Carriers Japan, 1919-45. The first three were started in 1942, launched in 1943 and completed in 1944, Unryu and Amagi in August, and Katsuragi in October. Resting on her keel in nearly 18,000 feet of water roughly 1,300 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, the Akagi was unmistakable. IJN Junyo in 1942, Displacement: 24,140 t. standard -28 300 t. Full Load Worlds' first Amphibious Assault ships. The official designation of the submarine was Type Kaich submarine. [7] It was equipped with 15 transverse arrestor wires and three crash barriers that could stop a 7,500-kilogram (16,500lb) aircraft;[12] five of these wires were positioned further forward to allow the ship to land aircraft over the bow in case the aft portion of the flight deck was unusable. The third giant of carriers: [13], The ship's organic air group was intended to consist of 18 Mitsubishi A7M Repp (Allied reporting name "Sam") fighters (plus two in storage), 18 Aichi B7A Ryusei ("Grace") torpedo-dive bombers (plus two in storage), and 6 Nakajima C6N Saiun ("Myrt") reconnaissance aircraft (plus one in storage). Conversion work started at Sasebo in November and she had two lift servicing a single hangar. She was the same size and tonnage, took most of her features, but was extended one meter to carry extra fuel and fuel oil. Crude bombsights where installed and the six to ten bombs were just converted shells released through metal tubes installed either side of the fuselage. [26] The first hit towards the stern, flooding refrigerated storage compartments and one of the empty aviation gasoline storage tanks and killing many of the sleeping engineering personnel in the compartments above. Although larger than the latter, following the evolution of modern aircraft, she had two hangar decks served by three lifts. It was in this guise that both were pressed into service in 1939. She was present in Kure in March 1945, bombed and severely hit but remained afloat and eventually sunk in 1946. The first blasted the flight deck in front of the forward elevator, and the next two straddled the amidships elevator, completely wrecking the deck and spreading fire to gasoline tanks and munition storage rooms.. Out of service 1953. Eight minutes later, Archerfish turned east and submerged in preparation to attack. Top speed: 28.3 knots Dimensions: 176 m long, 18 m wide, 6.2 m draft

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