Naval Historical Center # NH 73059
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Tonnage |
36,500 tons |
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Dimensions |
855'3" by 102'9" by 28'7" 260.68m by 31.32m by 8.71m |
|
Maximum speed |
31.25 knots |
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Complement |
1630 |
| 817' (249.0m) flight deck 3 elevators 63 aircraft operational 91 aircraft total |
|
|
Armament |
6 8"/50
guns 6x2 4.7"/45 dual purpose guns 14x2 25mm/60 machine guns |
| 6" (152mm) belt 3.1" (79mm) hangar deck |
|
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Bunkerage |
5775 tons fuel oil 225,000 gallons (852,000 liters) gasoline |
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Range |
7100 nautical miles (13,200 km) at 16 knots |
The Akagi was laid down as a 41,000 ton battle cruiser, but under the terms of the Naval Disarmament Treaty of 1922 she was completed in the late 1920’s as an aircraft carrier. This explains her unusually heavy armor belt. Like her counterparts in the U.S. Navy, the Lexingtons, Akagi carried an 8” main battery on the theory that she would be used in a scouting role and might have to deal with enemy light surface combatants.
She was probably the most beloved ship of the Imperial Navy’s air arm, and served as flagship of the First Air Fleet under Nagumo until she was lost at the battle of Midway on 4 June 1942. According to a recent analysis, she succumbed to a single bomb that penetrated the center of her flight deck and exploded among torpedo bombers being refueled and rearmed in her hangar deck. (A second hit is usually mentioned in older histories, but this was in fact a very near miss astern.)
Akagi had a number of peculiarities. Originally build as a flush-deck carrier with 14 8" guns, she was reconstructed well before the war by removing her four twin 8" turrets and adding a small port island. This left her with six 8" guns in casemates below the flight deck. No other carrier except Hiryu had a port island.
References
CombinedFleet.com (accessed 2007-3-11)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2007 by Kent G. Budge. Index