Akagi

Aircraft carrier. L/B/D: 855.2 × 102.7 × 28.6 (260.7m × 31.3m × 8.7m). Tons: 41,300 disp. Hull: steel. Comp.: 2,000. Arm.: 66 aircraft; 6 × 8, 12 × 4.7, 28 × 25mm. Armor: 10 belt. Mach.: geared turbines, 133,000 shp, 4 screws; 31 kts. Built: Kure Naval Dockyard, Kure, Japan; 1927.

Named for a mountain northwest of Tokyo, the Akagi was laid down in 1920 as one of four Amagi-class battlecruisers. These were abandoned in accordance with the Washington Naval Conference of 1922, but the hull of Akagi was kept and redesigned as an aircraft carrier, built without an island. (The original Akagi was to have received the same treatment but was destroyed in the 1922 earthquake and replaced by Kaga.) Akagi was reconfigured in 1935-38, the primary changes being the addition of a full-length flight deck and a small port-side superstructure, the only interruption to her otherwise plain profile.

Akagi saw service in China during the 1930s. In 1941 she was the flagship of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's First Air Fleet under Captain Kiichi Hasegawa. Training for the attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor began in September 1941. On November 26 a fleet of thirty ships including the carriers Akagi, Kaga Hiryu Soryu Shokaku and Zuikaku, and the battleships Hiei and Kirishima, departed from its staging area at Hitokappu Bay at Etorufu Islands (one of the Kurile Islands subsequently lost to the Soviet Union). The task force sailed east towards a point north of Hawaii before turning south. Shortly after 0600 on December 7, 1941, the first strike of 183 planes lifted from the decks of Akagi and the other carriers, then about 220 miles north of Oahu. Akagi's contribution included 15 dive bombers to attack battleship row, 12 torpedo planes to attack battleships, cruisers, and other ships in Pearl Harbor, and 10 fighters to attack Ford, Hickham, Kaneohe, and Wheeler airfields. Akagi's second wave, launched at 0705, consisted of 18 dive bombers and 9 fighters.

At 0753, the flight radioed "Tora, Tora, Tora" ("Tiger, Tiger, Tiger"), signaling that total surprise had been achieved. The destruction was appalling and included 2,403 U.S. dead (2,008 from the Navy alone) and 1,178 wounded. Shipping losses included the complete loss of the battleships Arizona California, Nevada, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, the minelayer Oglala, and the target ship Utah (formerly BB31). In addition, the battleships Maryland,Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, light cruisers Helena, Honolulu, and Raleigh, three destroyers, and four auxiliary craft were lightly damaged. Naval and Army aviation losses amounted to 239 of 447 planes. Japanese losses totaled 9 fighters, 15 bombers, 5 torpedo bombers, and 55 airmen out of 353 sorties flown.

On January 20, 1942, Nagumo's First Air Fleet, including Akagi,Kaga,Shokaku, and Zuikaku, carried out attacks in support of the Japanese landings at Rabaul, New Guinea, which fell three days later. In April, a force similar to the one that attacked Pearl Harbor, less Kaga, attacked Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), on April 5, and Trincomalee, on April 9. Although the Japanese sank the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and the County-class cruisers HMS Dorsetshire and Cornwall, from Admiral Sir James Somerville's British Far Eastern Force, it was a Pyrrhic victory. The loss of 59 aircraft forced Akagi and two other carriers back to Japan for planes and new pilots whose inexperience was sorely felt at Midway.

Akagi was once again Nagumo's flagship at the Battle of Midway, fought on June 4-5, 1942. For the first attack on Midway Island, which consisted of land-based targets and not ships, the planes were armed with bombs, but Nagumo took the precaution of having a second wave armed with torpedoes, in case the U.S. fleet appeared. At 0700, strike leader Lieutenant Commander Joichi Tomonaga reported the need for a second attack on Midway itself, and an attack by Midway-based planes five minutes later, though ineffectual, convinced Nagumo that Midway still needed attention. At 0715 he ordered the planes on Akagi and Kaga to be rearmed with bombs. At 0728, a reconnaissance plane reported a U.S. fleet 240 miles from Midway and at 0809 confirmed this as being five cruisers and five destroyers. At this point Nagumo ordered the second strike on Midway, only to learn eleven minutes later that "the enemy is accompanied by what appears to be a carrier." Nagumo's dilemma—whether to attack Midway, or the carrier (in fact there were three, USS Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown)—was compounded by the fact that there was probably a carrier-based strike on its way towards him, and only half of his planes were now equipped with torpedoes that he could not launch until he had recovered the first wave of Midway planes, which began landing at 0837. Rejecting the idea of sending torpedo planes from Hiryu and Soryu because there was no fighter cover available, he scheduled a full-fledged torpedo attack for 1030.

At a little past 0930, 15 torpedo bombers from Hornet made a desperate run at the Japanese fleet; none survived. Fourteen torpedo planes from Enterprise went in next (4 survived), followed by 17 from Yorktown (2 returned). The Japanese fleet remained unscathed. In preparation for the 1030 launch, the Japanese planes were lined up, fully armed, and fueled, when at about 1025 dive bombers from Enterprise and Yorktown struck from 18,000 feet. The torpedo attacks had forced the Japanese combat air patrol practically down to sea level, and they were not prepared for dive bombers. Within three minutes, Kaga,Akagi, and Soryu had been put out of operation. Nagumo transferred his flag to the light cruiser Nagara at about 1100, and at 0455, June 5, the still-burning hulk was torpedoed by the destroyers Noake and Arashi in position 30°30N, 179°40W, and she sank with the loss of more than 270 crew. The outcome at Midway turned the tide of the Pacific war decisively in favor of the United States.

Prange, At Dawn We Slept; Miracle at Midway. Stephen, Sea Battles in Close-Up.