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was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), the third to enter service, named after the former Kaga Province in present-day Ishikawa Prefecture. Originally intended to be one of two s, ''Kaga'' was converted under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty to an aircraft carrier as the replacement for the battlecruiser , which had been damaged during the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake. ''Kaga'' was rebuilt in 1933–35, increasing her top speed, improving her exhaust systems, and adapting her flight decks to more modern, heavier aircraft. The ship figured prominently in the development of the IJN's carrier striking force doctrine, which grouped carriers together to give greater mass and concentration to their air power. A revolutionary strategic concept at the time, the employment of the doctrine was crucial in enabling Japan to attain its initial strategic goals during the first six months of the Pacific War. ''Kaga''s aircraft first supported Japanese troops in China during the Shanghai Incident of 1932 and participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War in the late 1930s. With other carriers, she took part in the Pearl Harbor raid in December 1941 and the invasion of Rabaul in the Southwest Pacific in January 1942. The following month her aircraft participated in a combined carrier airstrike on Darwin, Australia, helping secure the conquest of the Dutch East Indies by Japanese forces. She missed the Indian Ocean raid in April as she had to return to Japan for permanent repairs after hitting a reef in February. Following repairs, ''Kaga'' rejoined the 1st Air Fleet for the Battle of Midway in June 1942. After bombarding American forces on Midway Atoll, ''Kaga'' and three other IJN carriers were attacked by American aircraft from Midway and the carriers , , and . Dive bombers from ''Enterprise'' severely damaged ''Kaga''; when it became obvious she could not be saved, she was scuttled by Japanese destroyers to prevent her from falling into enemy hands. The loss of four large attack carriers, including ''Kaga'' at Midway, was a crucial setback for Japan, and contributed significantly to Japan's ultimate defeat. In 1999, debris from ''Kaga'' including a large section of the hull was located on the ocean floor at coordinates at a depth in excess of ; northwest of Midway Island.〔Nauticos〕 The main part of the carrier's wreck has not been found. ==Design and construction== ''Kaga'' was laid down as a , and was launched on 17 November 1921 at the Kawasaki Heavy Industries shipyard in Kobe. On 5 February 1922 both ''Tosa''-class ships were canceled and scheduled to be scrapped under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.〔Gardiner and Gray, p. 232; Jentschura, p. 35〕 The Treaty authorized conversion of two battleship or battlecruiser hulls into aircraft carriers of up to standard displacement. The incomplete battlecruisers ''Amagi'' and were initially selected, but the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923 damaged ''Amagi''s hull beyond economically feasible repair, and ''Kaga'' was selected as her replacement. The formal decision to convert ''Kaga'' to an aircraft carrier was issued 13 December 1923, but no work took place until 1925 as new plans were drafted and earthquake damage to the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal was repaired. She was officially commissioned on 31 March 1928, but this signified only the beginning of sea trials. She joined the Combined Fleet (''Rengō Kantai'') on 30 November 1929 as the IJN's third carrier to enter service, after (1922) and ''Akagi'' (1927).〔Lengerer, p. 128〕 ''Kaga'' was completed with a length of overall. She had a beam of and a draft at full load of . She displaced at standard load, and at full load, nearly less than her designed displacement as a battleship.〔Lengerer, p. 129〕 Her complement totaled 1340 crewmembers.〔Jentschura, p. 42〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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