IJN
ShÅkaku Class
Dimensions
844.1' | 85.4' | 29.1'
Tons
25,675 (standard)
32,000 (full)
Crew
1,660
Armament
5 x 2x5" Guns
46 x 25mm MG
22 x 13.2mm MG
Aircraft: 85
September 25, 1941
Construction
Zuikaku means 'Happy Crane'. This carrier was a sister ship of Shokaku. The keel was laid down in 1938 at at Kobe and built by Kawasaki. . Commissioned in September 1941.
Wartime History
Took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Also, the attacks on Rabaul, the East Indies, and the Indian Ocean.
While covering an intended invasion of Port Moresby in May 1942, Zuikaku and Shokaku participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea. On 8 May, her planes helped disable USS Lexington (CV-2) and damage USS Yorktown (CV-5) but many planes were lost, depleating the carrier's air groups, forcing it to miss the Battle of Midway in June.
During second half of 1942, Zuikaku was involved in the Guadalcanal campaign, taking part in the carrier battles of the Eastern Solomons in August and Santa Cruz Islands in October.
During February 1943 Zuikaku aircraft flew from Rabaul. Also, during April 1943 her aircraft participated in Operation I-Go.
After the long lull in carrier actions that covered all of 1943 and the first part of 1944, Zuikaku participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, on 19-20 June 1944. That action, which cost Japan three more carriers, hundreds of planes and most of the rest of her trained carrier pilots, reduced her once-irresistable aircraft carrier fleet to a state of virtual impotence. Zuikaku was damaged in the battle, but was soon repaired.
Sinking History
In October 1944, Zuikaku led the remaining Japanese carriers in the role of "bait" to divert U.S. carrier planes away from the surface forces that were attempting to attack U.S. ships off Leyte, in the Philippines. This mission was successful, though it did not lead to Japanese victory in any component of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and it came at great cost to Zuikaku and her consorts, who had few planes embarked to defend themselves. In the resulting Battle off Cape Engano off north-east Luzon on October 25, 1944, the four Japanese carriers were repeatedly hit by U.S. carrier bombs and torpedoes. All of them, including Zuikaku, were sunk.
