Lewin of Greenwich Naval History & Forum

Carrier Akagi pictured under construction at Kure Naval Arsenal on April 6th 1925.

Carrier Kaga pictured near completion at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on April 22nd 1929...She was commissioned on November 30th 1929.

Fleet Carrier Kaga pictured as she conducts air operations in the Bungo Channel on May 11th 1937; on deck are Nakajima A2N, Aichi D1A, and Mitsubishi B2M aircraft...Kaga's pivotal aerial system deployed above her downward facing smoke stacks.

These days in the age of computers, it's not often you see a pen and ink schematic...Fleet Carrier Akagi.

Fleet Carrier Kaga pictured under construction at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on August 20th 1927.

Fleet Carrier Kaga pictured on speed trials off Yokosuka on September 15th 1928.

Fleet Carrier Kaga pictured of Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on December 5th 1929.

Here a 7.9" gun is being installed in 1 of the twin turrets that KAGA carried as originally converted. DFO

Fleet Carrier Kaga preparing for Flight Ops, Bungo Channel on May 11th 1937, on deck are Nakajima A2N, Aichi D1A, and Mitsubishi B2M aircraft...She was sunk by Dive Bombers from USS Enterprise during the Battle of Midway on June 4th 1942. The Carrier's crew suffered 811 fatalities, mainly among the aircraft mechanics and armourers stationed on the hangar decks and the ship's engineers, many of whom were trapped below in the boiler and engine rooms by uncontrolled fires raging on the decks above them. Twenty-one of the ship's aviators were killed. Kaga's surviving crewmembers were restricted incommunicado to an airbase in Kyūshū for one to two months after returning to Japan, to help conceal word of the Midway defeat from the Japanese public. Many of the survivors were then transferred back to frontline units without being allowed to contact family. Some of the injured were quarantined in hospitals for almost a year. This was the highest mortality percentage of all the Japanese Carriers lost at Midway.

Fleet Carrier Kaga pictured undergoing post launch sea trials off Tateyama on September 15th 1928...She was sunk by dive bombers from USS Enterprise during the Battle of Midway on June 4th 1942.