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was a light aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Originally laid down as the submarine support ship ''Takasaki'', she was renamed and converted while under construction into an aircraft carrier. The ship was completed during the first year of World War II and participated in many operations. ''Zuihō'' played a secondary role in the Battle of Midway in mid-1942 and did not engage any American aircraft or ships during the battle. The ship participated in the Guadalcanal Campaign during the rest of 1942. She was lightly damaged during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during this campaign and covered the evacuation of Japanese forces from the island in early 1943 after repairs. Afterwards, her aircraft were disembarked several times in mid- to late-1943 and used from land bases in a number of battles in the South West Pacific. ''Zuihō'' participated in the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf battles in mid-1944. In this last battle, ''Zuihō'' mainly served as a decoy for the main striking forces and she was finally sunk by American aircraft fulfilling her task. In between engagements, the ship served as a ferry carrier and a training ship. ==Design and conversion== The submarine support ship ''Takasaki'' was laid down on 20 June 1935 at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal and was designed to be converted to either a fleet oiler or a light aircraft carrier as needed. She was launched on 19 June 1936 and began a lengthy conversion into a carrier while fitting-out. The ship was renamed ''Zuihō'' during the process which was not completed until 27 December 1940 when she was commissioned.〔 After her conversion, ''Zuihō'' had a length of overall. She had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced at standard load. As part of her conversion, her original diesel engines, which had given her a top speed of , were replaced by a pair of destroyer-type geared steam turbine sets with a total of , each driving one propeller. Steam was provided by four water-tube boilers and ''Zuihō'' now had a maximum speed of . The boilers exhausted through a single downturned starboard funnel and she carried of fuel oil that gave her a range of at a speed of .〔Jentschura, Jung and Mickel, p. 48〕 Her crew numbered 785 officers and men.〔Peattie, p. 242〕 ''Zuihō''s flight deck was long and had a maximum width of . The ship was designed with a single hangar long and wide.〔Brown, p. 22〕 The hangar was served by two octagonal centerline aircraft elevators. The forward elevator was in size and the smaller rear elevator measured . She had arresting gear with six cables, but she was not fitted with an aircraft catapult. ''Zuihō'' was a flush-deck design and lacked an island superstructure. She was designed to operate 30 aircraft.〔 The ship's primary armament consisted of eight 40-caliber 12.7 cm Type 89 anti-aircraft (AA) guns in twin mounts on sponsons along the sides of the hull. ''Zuihō'' was also initially equipped with four twin 25 mm Type 96 light AA guns, also in sponsons along the sides of the hull. In 1943, her light AA armament was increased to 48 twenty-five mm guns. The following year, an additional twenty 25 mm guns were added in addition to six 28-round AA rocket launchers.〔Jentschura, Jung and Mickel, p. 49〕 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 Zuihō」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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