Авианосец «Амаги»: История и характеристики

Unryū class aircraft carrier

Amagi (天城) was an built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Named after Mount Amagi, and completed late in the war, she never embarked her complement of aircraft and spent the war in Japanese waters. The ship capsized in July 1945 after being hit multiple times during airstrikes by American carrier aircraft while moored at Kure Naval Base. Amagi was refloated in 1946 and scrapped later that year.

The last purpose built Japanese carrier construction during World War II was a group of vessels based on an improved Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryū design, but with individual units differing in detail reflecting the changing circumstances as the conflict in the Pacific approached its conclusion. Amagi was ordered, under the provisional name of #5001, as part of the Kai Maru 5 Program of 1942. This was a massive naval construction program intended to replace losses suffered at the Battle of Midway and focused on aircraft and aircraft carriers. The ship was one of 16 Unryū class aircraft carriers planned, although only three were completed before the end of the war.|group=Note

Amagi had a length of overall. She had a beam of and a draft of She displaced Her crew consisted of 1,595 officers and men. The Unryū class carriers used the same turbines and boilers as used in the heavy cruiser Japanese cruiser Suzuya. These consisted of four geared steam turbine sets with a total of driving four shafts using steam provided by eight Kampon Type B water tube boilers. The ship had a designed speed of Amagi carried of fuel oil which gave her a range of at .

Amagis flight deck was long and had a maximum width of A small island was mounted well forward on the starboard side and contained the ship's bridge and air operations control center. It was fitted with a small tripod mast that mounted one of the ship's radar antennas. The ship was designed with two superimposed hangars that were served by two aircraft elevators, each ; the center elevator as used in Hiryū was deleted to simplify construction and reduce stress in the hull. The elevators had a maximum capacity of and took 19 seconds to go from the lower hangar to the flight deck. Amagi was fitted with hydraulically operated Type 3 arresting gear with nine cables. She also mounted three Type 3 crash barricades. No aircraft catapult was fitted. The ship mounted a retractable crane on the starboard side of the flight deck, just aft of the rear elevator. Amagi carried of aviation gasoline for her aircraft. The ship's air group was originally intended to consist of 12 Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters, plus three in storage, 27 Aichi D3A Val dive bombers, plus three in reserve, and 18 Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers plus two in crates. Amagis hangars could not accommodate so many aircraft so eleven planes were planned to be permanently carried on the flight deck. In 1943 the air group was revised to consist of 18 Mitsubishi A7M "Sam" fighters (+2 in storage), 27 Yokosuka D4Y "Judy" dive bombers and six Nakajima C6N "Myrt" reconnaissance aircraft. Of these, the C6Ns were intended to be carried on the flight deck. When the ship commissioned in 1944, neither the A7M nor the C6Ns were yet in service, so the air group was reconfigured to consist of 27 Zeros, 12 D4Ys, three of which were to be the reconnaissance version, and nine Nakajima B6N "Jill" torpedo bombers. By this time, however, the shortage of carrier qualified aircrew was such that they were ordered to operate from shore bases and Amagi never embarked her air group.

Amagis waterline armored belt was thick over her machinery spaces and over her magazines. Her deck armor above the machinery was thick, but the armor above the magazines was thick. The ship's primary armament consisted of a dozen 40 caliber 12.7 cm Type 89 anti aircraft (AA) guns in twin mounts on sponsons on the ship's sides. Amagi was initially equipped with 16 triple 25 mm Type 96 and three single AA gun mounts, most on sponsons along the sides of the hull. By the end of the war, the ship mounted 22 triple and 23 single mounts. These guns were supplemented by six 28 round AA rocket launchers. For defense against submarines, the carrier was fitted with six depth charge throwers and carried between six and ten depth charges for them. Two Type 94 high angle fire control directors, one on each side of the ship, were fitted to control the Type 89 guns. Each director mounted a rangefinder. Six Type 95 directors controlled the 25 mm guns and the rocket launchers. Early warning was provided by two Type 2, Mark 2, Model 1 air search radars. One of these was mounted on the top of the island while the other retracted into the port side of the flight deck, between the two elevators. In addition, Amagi had two smaller Type 3, Mark 1, Model 3 air search radars, one mounted on the tripod mast on the island and the other on the aft starboard retractable radio mast.