The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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National Archives # 80-G-351904
| Tonnage | 7470 tons standard displacement |
| Dimensions | 505'5" by 58'6" by 20'2" 154.05m by 17.83m by 6.15m |
| Maximum speed | 25 knots |
| Complement | 550 |
| Aircraft | 510' (155.45m) flight deck 1 elevator 11 aircraft |
| Armament | 4 5.5"/50
guns 4x2 25mm/60 AA guns 3x4 13mm/76 machine guns |
| Machinery |
2-shaft Parsons geared turbines
(30,000 shp) 12 Kampon boilers |
| Bunkerage | 2695 tons fuel oil 940 tons coal 100,000 gallons (380,000 liters) aviation gasoline |
| Range |
8000 nautical miles (15,000 km) at 15 knots |
| Modification |
In
1942 the 5.5" guns were replaced with an additional 4x2 25mm
guns. In 1944 the the flight deck was extended to 593'2" (180.8m). In 1945 the antiaircraft armament was reduced to 6 25mm guns. |
The Hosho was
Japan's first aircraft
carrier, an oiler
converted in 1922 with the help of the British,
who at that time had a naval alliance with the Japanese. The ship
originally had a small island with folding funnels aft and two small
elevators to the hangar deck. After some experimentation, the Japanese
remodeled her as flush-deck carrier with a control station on a
platform off the flight deck and the funnels were permanently folded
over. The original lengthwise arresting gear were replaced with
transverse cables.
By the start of the Pacific War she had little remaining value as a combat unit, being rather slow, operating a very small air group, and having serious maintenance problems. The original complement of 20 aircraft was halved as carrier aircraft became larger and faster. She was used primarily for training by 1941, but she was assigned to 1 Fleet, the main Japanase battleship force, to provide reconnaissance, spotting, and some semblance of air cover during the Midway campaign. She somehow managed to survive the war.
References
Jentschura, Jung, and Mickel (1977)
CombinedFleet.com (accessed 15 January 2007)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007, 2009 by Kent G. Budge. Index
