Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi

Type

Aircraft Carrier

Period

20th Century

Nation

Japan

Overview: Akagi was an Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier originally laid down as an Amagi-class battlecruiser but converted during construction to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty. She became the second carrier to enter IJN service and the first large "fleet" carrier, later serving as flagship of the First Air Fleet (Kido Butai) that spearheaded Japan's early Pacific War offensives. Specifications: As rebuilt in her 1935-38 reconstruction, the originally multi-tiered flight deck arrangement was consolidated into a single full-length flight deck with an island superstructure. She displaced roughly 34,364 tons, with an overall length near 261 meters, a beam of about 31 meters, a top speed around 31.5 knots, and carried approximately 88 aircraft with a crew of about 1,630. Service History: Akagi's air group first saw action supporting Japanese operations during the Second Sino-Japanese War, then led the Pearl Harbor strike in December 1941 as Kido Butai flagship, followed by the invasion of Rabaul, the Darwin raid, and the Indian Ocean raid where her aircraft helped sink British warships. At the Battle of Midway in June 1942, Akagi was struck by dive bombers from USS Enterprise, set ablaze, and ultimately scuttled by Japanese destroyer torpedoes on 5 June 1942. Notable Facts: Her conversion from a cancelled capital-ship hull to carrier configuration, and subsequent major reconstruction into a single-deck "island" carrier, makes her an interesting subject for modelers wanting to depict either her original three-tiered flight deck layout or her later, more iconic WWII-era profile. The wreck was located and surveyed on the seafloor near Midway in modern photogrammetric expeditions, providing additional visual reference for hull details.