Japanese aircraft carrier Zuihō

Career
Zuihō during the battle of Cape Engaño on 25 October 1944.
Ordered:
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
Displacement:	14,200 tons (fully loaded)
Length:	217 m
Beam:	23 m
Draught:	6.6 m
Propulsion:	Geared steam turbines 52,000 hp (38,800 kW) 2 shafts
Speed:	28.2 knots (51.8 km/h)
Complement:	785
Armament:	8 × 127/40 mm in 4 twin mounts 2 sets (removed in 1934) 56 × 25 mm anti-aircraft guns
Aircraft:	~30

Zuihō (瑞鳳) was an aircraft carrier of the 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. Zuihō was sunk by American bombers during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Name

In Japanese, Zuihō means “fortunate phoenix”.

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. Lead the Support Fleet and did not engage American carriers directly. Her aircraft complement consisted of 12 Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighters and 11 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 arrive 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.

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

External links