In 1918, the Japanese approved designs for
the first ships of their "8-8"
plan, so called because it would have provided
Japan with 8 modern battleships and 8 battlecruisers.
The Amagi Class battlecruisers (Junyo Senkan) were a design
equivalent to the British Hood or the American Lexington Class, being similar in size, protection, and
armament.
The ships had a physical appearance similar
to the Nagato Class battleships, but with an extra twin turret
aft. A six-legged mast, of the type later
retrofitted to existing battleships and known
a 'pagodas', would have been fitted. The
side armor would have been inclined as in
the British Hood, the second such Japanese design with inclined
armor, the Tosa Class battleships being the first. The four following
ships of the Owari Class would have been nearly identical, with slightly
increased side protection, but would have
carried the 'fast battleship' ( Kosoku Senkan)
designation.
The torpedo armament was to have been rigidly
mounted on the battery deck, two pairs laterally
offset to each other on the quarterdeck.
The four Amagi Class battlecruisers and the two preceding Tosa Class battleships were all cancelled on February
5, 1922, under the terms of the Washington
Treaty. Amagi and Akagi were approximately 40% completed, so they
were selected for conversion in to aircraft
carriers. On September 1, 1923, the Amagi was damaged beyond repair in an earthquake
and was broken up on the slipway. The Tosa Class battleship Kaga was selected as her replacement for conversion.
Akagi was completed as a carrier in 1927. She had
an abbreviated main flight deck plus two
flying off platforms on the bow, and carried
no island structure. This arrangement soon
became unsatisfactory, as the latest aircraft
were too large to use the bow platforms.
Akagi was rebuilt 1936 to 1938 as a full flight
deck carrier with a small island on the port
side. She was sunk at the battle of Midway.
| Amagi: Laid down 16 Dec 1920 Conversion to carrier started but hull damaged by earchquake 1 Sep 1923, broken up |
Akagi: Laid down 6 Dec 1920 Launched7 Apr 1925 Commissioned 16 Nov 1927 |
Atago Laid down 22 Nov 1921 Broken up before completion |
Takao: Laid down 19 Dec 1921 Broken up before completion |
| Builders: Amagi- Yokosuka Akagi- Kure Atago- Kawasaki Takao- Mitsubishi |
Complement Approx 1,600 |
||
| The information that follows is for the 1918
design for the battlecruisers, not for the ships converted into carriers |
|||
| Displacement 40,000 tons standard 41,217 tons loaded |
Dimensions 770'@WL x 101' |
Draught 31'at full load |
|
| Main guns 10 x 16/45" (5 x 2) |
Secondary guns 16 x 5.5/50" (16 x 1) |
AA Guns 4 x 4.7/45" |
Torpedo tubes 8 x 21" above water |
| Armour Belt 10"inclined |
Turret Armor 14" face |
Deck Armor 6.6" |
Conning Tower Armor 14" |
| Boilers 19 Kampon 8 coal, 11 oil |
Turbines 4 x Gijutsu-Hombu geared turbines |
Power output 131,200 shp |
Shafts 4 |
| Speed 30 kts |
Range 8000 NM @14 knots |
Fuel 2500 tons coal 3900 tons oil |
|
Akagi
Work suspended 5 February 1922
Work resumed (as carrier conversion) 19 November
1923
Ship floated in drydock April 7, 1925.
Towed out of drydock April 22, 1925
Official launch date April 22, 1925
Conversion completed March 27, 1927 by Sasebo
Kaigun Kosho
Rebuilt April 1936 to September 1938
WWII Service:
China, Pearl Harbor, Rabaul, Darwin, Java,
Ceylon, Midway
June 4, 1942, severely damaged by US planed
from the Yorktown and Enterprise at the Battle of Midway. After uncontrollable
fires burned for 18 hours and propulsion
was lost, the ship was sunk by torpedoes
from Japanese destroyers at 30-30 N, 178-40
W.
263 men killed.
Removed from Navy list September 25, 1942
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