Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi
Encyclopedia : J : JA : JAP : Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi
| |
| Career |
|
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 1920 |
| Laid down: | 7 December 1920 |
| Launched: | 22 April 1925 |
| Commissioned: | 27 March 1927 |
| Fate: | Damaged by US air attack at the battle of Midway, scuttled on 4 June 1942 |
| Struck: | 25 September 1942 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 33,800 tons (original); 42,000 tons (after reconstruction) |
| Length: | 855 ft 3 in (260.68 m) |
| Beam: | 102 ft 9 in (31.32 m) |
| Draught: | 28 ft 7 in (8.71 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam turbines, 19 boilers, 4 shafts, 133,000 hp (99.2 MW) |
| Speed: | 31 knots (57 km/h) |
| Range: | 8,200 nmi. at 12 knots (15200 km at 22 km/h) |
| Complement: | 2000 |
| Armament: | Ten (later six) 8 inch (200 mm) guns Twelve 4.7 inch (120 mm) guns Twenty-eight 25 mm anti-aircraft guns |
| Aircraft: | 61 (original) 91 (after reconstruction) |
The Akagi (Japanese: 赤城, meaning "red castle", a volcano in the Kanto region of Japan) was an aircraft carrier serving with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
Description
Akagi was laid down as an Amagi class battlecruiser at Kure, Japan. Under the constraints of the Washington Naval Treaty, 1922, she and her sisters were converted to aircraft carriers. Amagi was destroyed in an earthquake on 1st September 1923 and the remaining battlecruisers of the class, Atago and Takao, were cancelled in 1924. Akagi, the only remaining member of her class, was launched on 22 April 1925 and completed at Yokosuka Navy Yard as one of Japan's first two large aircraft carriers in on 27 March 1927. Akagi was massively reconstructed in 1935–1938 to include an unusual port-side island and a full length flight deck, and to increase her capacity from 61 to 91 aircraft.
History
Her first commander was Captain Isoroku Yamamoto, who later became the Chief of the Combined Fleet. She was active off China during the next few years as the flagship of Carrier Division 1. Akagi took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Indian Ocean raid, and was sunk on 5 June 1942 by planes of the United States Navy during the Battle of Midway.
Pearl Harbor
In World War II, under the command of Captain Hasegawa Kiichi, she was Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's flagship for the Striking Force for the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. She launched two waves of planes at Oahu. In the first wave 27 Kates targeted Maryland, Tennessee and West Virginia, Oklahoma, and California and 9 Zeros attacked the air base at Hickam Field. In the second wave, 18 Vals targeted Neosho, Shaw and Nevada.
In January 1942 Akagi supported the invasion of Rabaul in the Bismarck Islands. On 19 February 1942 she launched air strikes against Darwin, Australia, sinking nine ships, including USS Peary. In March 1942 Akagi covered the invasion of Java.
In early April 1942, under the command of Captain Aoki Taijiro, Akagi took part in the Indian Ocean raid. On 5 April 1942 she launched air strikes against Colombo, Ceylon, helping sink the cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire. On 9 April she struck at Trincomalee and sank Hermes and her escorts.
On 19 April 1942 she took part in the unsuccessful pursuit of the American carriers Hornet and Enterprise after they launched the Doolittle Raid.
Midway
On 25 May 1942 she set out with the Striking Force for the attack on Midway Island. On 4 June she launched an air strike against the island and was attacked by American land- and carrier-based planes. At 10:26 she was attacked by dive-bombers from USS Enterprise and hit by one bomb. This hit set off explosions among the armed and fueled planes on her hangar deck that were being prepared for an air strike against the American carriers. The burning aviation fuel proved impossible to control. The same attack produced two near misses, one of which, by virtue of exploding in the water alongside the stern area, caused the rudder to jam off-center after an evasive maneuver 20 minutes later.
At 10:46 Admiral Nagumo transferred his flag to Nagara. Akagi stopped dead in the water at 13:50 and her crew, except for Captain Aoki and damage-control personnel, was evacuated. She burned through the night but did not sink. On 5 June Yamamoto ordered her scuttled by torpedoes from the destroyers Arashio, Hagikaze, Maikaze, and Nowaki. She sank at 05:20 with the loss of 263 men. Compared to the other Japanese fleet carriers loss in the battle, she was the luckiest, suffering the least casualties.
Pop Culture references
The sci-fi series Star Trek referenced the Akagi in its [[Star Trek: The Next Generation]] and [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]] spin-off series by featuring a ship named for the Japanese ship - the Rigel-class U.S.S. Akagi NCC-62158. In its appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Akagi fought alongside the U.S.S. Hornet, which was intended to be an encouraging sentiment, as the historical U.S.S. Hornet fought against Akagi during World War II.
Ritsuko Akagi in the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion is named for the carrier.
See also
External links
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