Shokaku-class aircraft carrier (2f/1m).
L/B/D:
844.8 × 85.3 × 29 (257.5m × 26m × 8.8m). Tons:
32,105 disp. Comp.:
1,660. Arm.:
84 aircraft; 16 × 5, 96 × 25mm. Armor:
8.6 belt, 6.8 deck. Mach.:
geared turbines, 160,000 shp, 4 shafts; 34.5 kts. Built:
Kawasaki Dockyard Co., Kobe, Japan; 1941.
Zuikaku, whose name means "lucky crane," saw more action than any other Japanese aircraft carrier of World War II. Under Captain Ichibei Yokokawa, she sailed as part of the First Air Fleet in the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. The carrier later saw action in the Java Sea, and took part in the April 1942 attack on Ceylon. On May 8, at the Battle of the Coral Sea, planes from Zuikaku and
Shokaku sank the aircraft carrier
USS Lexington and severely damaged
Yorktown (CV-5), but at the expense of so many planes that she could not take part in the Battle of Midway.
Following that crushing defeat in June 1942, Zuikaku was the largest remaining Japanese carrier, but she saw little action over the next two years. At the Battle of the Philippine Sea, on June 19, 1944, Zuikaku was hit by dive-bombers from USS Hornet (CV-12),
Yorktown (CV-10), and Bataan. Although she remained operational, that battle cost the Japanese nearly 405 of the 430 planes with which it had started the battle, as well as the carriers Shokaku and Taiho. Three months later, as the Japanese prepared their defense of the Philippines, Zuikaku sailed as the flagship of Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's Northern Group. Assigned to draw American forces north while the Center Force closed in a pincer around the American landing force in Leyte Gulf, Ozawa's force comprised eighteen ships, including three smaller carriers; but by the evening of October 24, he had only 29 planes. The next day, planes from Admiral William F. Halsey's Third Fleet discovered the force about 200 miles north by east of Cape Engaņo, the northeast tip of Luzon. The outcome was never in doubt, as Halsey had at his disposal 64 ships and 787 aircraft. Three torpedoes struck Zuikaku, and at 1310 she rolled over and sank in 19°20N, 125°51E. The Battle of Cape Engaņo also cost the Japanese carriers
Zuiho, Chitose, and Chiyoda, together with two destroyers and a cruiser. It was the end of the Japanese carrier force.
Morison, Two-Ocean War.
