IJN Ships -- Some Less Well-Known Photos

[designeraccd]

Here is a previously unseen view of, supposedly, the ZUIKAKU! No idea where or when, but the flight deck shape seem correct based on a known high view of her, so??? DFO

[Brian James]

Admiral Nagumo's Fleet pictured from Fleet Carrier Akagi, gathered at Starling Bay on March 26th 1942..ships astern are Soryu, Hiryu, Hiei, Kirishima, Haruna, Kongo, Zuikaku and Shokaku.

[designeraccd]

Here are two dark photos of SORYU delivering aircraft to Shandong, China in March, 1939. DFO

[Brian James]

C Type Class Escort Ship (Kaibōkan) CD-17 pictured on completion in Tokyo Bay on April 10th 1944....CD-17 was laid down at Nippon Kokan K. K. at their Tsurumi Shipyard on December 15th 1943, launched on February 26th 1944, and completed and commissioned on April 13th 1944. During the war CD-17 was mostly busy on escort duties.
On January 12th 1945, off Cape St. Jacques in the South China Sea CD-17 was attacked by aircraft from the USS Lexington, USS Hancock and USS Hornet which were part of Vice Admiral John S. McCain, Sr.'s Task Force 38 that had entered the South China Sea to raid Japanese shipping. She received three torpedo hits and sank at 0952,159 crewman including 12 officers were killed.

[designeraccd]

Two views of old gunboat AKAGI; unlike most of IJN she survived WW2........... Akagi was removed the navy list on 1 April 1911, and after being demilitarized, was sold as a transport in March 1912 to the Kawasaki Kisen Corporation as Akagi Maru. She was again sold in 1921 to the Amagasaki Steamship Lines, and sank in 1945 during a typhoon. She was raised, and placed into service again, only to be sunk by a naval mine in the Seto Inland Sea off of Okayama Prefecture in January 1946. Raised once more and repaired, she was placed back into service, until she was finally scrapped at Osaka in 1953

Specs (from Wiki):

Name Akagi
Ordered 1885
Builder Onohama Shipyards
Laid down 20 July 1886
Launched 7 August 1888
Commissioned 20 August 1890
Stricken 1 April 1911
Fate sold 1912; scrapped 1953
General characteristics
Class and type Maya-class gunboat
Displacement 622 long tons (632 t)
Length 51.0 m (167.3 ft)
Beam 8.2 m (26 ft 11 in)
Draught 2.95 m (9 ft 8 in)
Propulsion
reciprocating steam engine
2 shafts, 2 boilers
963 hp (718 kW)
Speed 10.0 knots (11.5 mph; 18.5 km/h)
Range 74.4 tons coal
Complement 111
Armament
4 × 120 mm (4.7 in) Krupp L/22 breech-loading gun
2 × quadruple 1-inch Nordenfelt guns
Service record
Operations:
Battle of the Yalu River (1894)
Boxer Rebellion
Siege of Port Arthur

DFO

[Brian James]

Lead Ship, Second Class Destroyer Momo pictured at Sasebo Naval Arsenal on April 17th 1917.....She was transferred to the then Japanese Puppet State of Manchuria on May 1st 1937, as Hai Wei; Returned to IJN, on June 29th 1942, and re-named Kashi, sunk by air attack off Okinawa, October 10th 1944.

[designeraccd]

25 mm AAs on ? CA in 1943. Note the twin 5" AA in background........ DFO

[Brian James]

Submarine Tender Tsurugizaki pictured at Ariake Bay on April 24th 1939...she was converted before the Pacific War into Aircraft Carrier Shōhō. Completed in early 1942, she supported the invasion forces in Operation MO, the invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea, and was sunk by American Carrier aircraft on her first combat operation during the Battle of the Coral Sea on May 7th. Shōhō was the first Japanese Aircraft Carrier to be sunk during World War II.

[Brian James]

Pre-Dreadnought Battleship Asahi pictured preparing to depart Portsmouth for Japan in 1900...She was laid down on August 1st 1898 at Clydebank, Scotland, by the Clydebank Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. Shipyards and completed by John Brown & Company, which purchased the firm before Asahi was completed. She was launched on March 13th 1899 and completed on July 31st 1900. Her completion was delayed by about three months when her bottom plating required repairs after running aground off Southsea following sea trials. She departed England, after repairs in Portsmouth, on the day of her completion, and arrived at Yokosuka, on October 23rd 1900. Asahi became flagship of the Standing Fleet on May 22nd 1901 and was assigned to the 1st Battleship Division of the 1st Fleet when the Combined Fleet was re-formed on December 28th 1903...She participated in every major naval battle of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 and was lightly damaged during the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the Battle of Tsushima. Asahi saw no combat during World War I, although she participated in the Siberian Intervention in 1918.
Reclassified as a Coastal Defence Ship in 1921, Asahi was disarmed two years later to meet the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty, after which she served as a Training and Submarine Depot Ship. She was modified into a Submarine Salvage and Rescue Ship before being placed in reserve in 1928. Asahi was recommissioned in late 1937, after the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and used to transport Japanese troops. In 1938, she was converted into a Repair Ship and based first at Japanese-occupied Shanghai, China, and then Cam Ranh Bay, French Indochina, from late 1938 to 1941. She was transferred to occupied Singapore in early 1942 to repair a damaged Light Cruiser and ordered to return home in May. She was sunk en route by the American Submarine USS Salmon, sixteen men were killed in the attack; the ship's captain and 582 crewmen were rescued.

[Brian James]

Fleet Carrier Hiryū pictured on sea trials off Tateyama on April 28th 1939..Generally regarded as the only ship of her Class, she was built to a modified Sōryū design. Her aircraft supported the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in mid-1940. She took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Wake Island. During the first few months of the Pacific War, she supported the conquest of the Dutch East Indies in January 1942. The following month, her aircraft bombed Darwin, Australia, and continued to assist in the Dutch East Indies campaign. In April, Hiryū's aircraft helped sink two British Heavy Cruisers and several merchant ships during the Indian Ocean Raid.
After a brief refit, Hiryū and three other Fleet Carriers of the First Air Fleet (Kido Butai) participated in the Battle of Midway in June 1942. After bombarding American forces on the atoll, the Carriers were attacked by aircraft from Midway and the Carriers USS Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown. Dive bombers from Yorktown and Enterprise crippled Hiryū and set her afire. She was scuttled the following day after it became clear that she could not be salvaged. The loss of Hiryū and three other IJN Carriers at Midway was a crucial strategic defeat for Japan and contributed significantly to the Allies' ultimate victory in the Pacific.