Japanese aircraft carrier Chiyoda

was a light aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Originally constructed as the second vessel of the seaplane tenders in 1934, she continued to operate in that capacity during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the early stages of the Pacific War until her conversion into a light aircraft carrier after the Battle of Midway. She was sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf by a combination of naval bombers, cruiser shellfire and destroyer-launched torpedoes.

Background

The ''Chitose''-class seaplane tenders were procured by the Imperial Japanese Navy under the 2nd Naval Armaments Supplement Programme of 1934 as purpose-built ships, whereas their predecessors were all conversions of merchant or auxiliary ship designs. During the 1930s, the Imperial Japanese Navy made increasing use of naval aviation as scouts for its cruiser and destroyer squadrons. Due to restrictions imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty and London Naval Treaty, the number of aircraft carriers was strictly regulated; however, there was no limitation as to seaplane tenders.

Design

''Chiyoda'' was designed from the start on the premise that the design from the waterline upwards could be modified to suit a variety of missions. The hull and engine design was based on a high speed oiler, with a maximum speed of , but the ship was completed as a seaplane tender, with four aircraft catapults for launching seaplanes, and cranes for recovering landed aircraft on her aft deck.
As designed, ''Chiyoda'' carried a complement of Kawanishi E7K Type 94 "Alf" and Nakajima E8N Type 95 "Dave" floatplanes. Her armament consisted of four 12.7 cm/40 Type 89 naval guns and twelve Type 96 25 mm AA guns.

Propulsion was of four boilers, which operated two geared steam turbines providing and two propellers. With two additional diesel engines operating ''Chiyoda'' could attain .

With the loss of four large aircraft carriers at the Battle of Midway, the Imperial Japanese Navy rushed a project to convert the ''Chitose''-class into light aircraft carriers as partial compensation. A wooden flight deck was installed, with two elevators. The bridge was moved to the front end of the new hangar deck, and the boiler exhaust gases was discharged through pipes to the starboard side below the flight deck, and the diesel engines had smaller, separate smokestacks also on the starboard side. As converted, the ship could carry 30 aircraft.

Operational history

As a seaplane tender

''Chiyoda'' was laid down on 14 December 1936 and launched on 19 November 1937 at Kure Naval Arsenal and was commissioned on 15 December 1938. On completion, she was assigned directly to the Combined Fleet under the command of Captain Tomeo Kaku and was dispatched to the front lines in the Second Sino-Japanese War paired with the seaplane tender . She remained engaged in combat operations in China until May 1940.IJN Seaplane/Midget Submarine Carrier CHIYODA: Tabular Record of Movement
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On returning to Kure Naval Arsenal on 23 May 1940, ''Chiyoda'' underwent her first major modification, with her aircraft capacity reduced from 24 to 12 aircraft, and the space used to store 12 Type A Kō-hyōteki-class submarines. This rebuild was completed on 23 June, and ''Chiyoda'' was assigned to the 4th Fleet based at Truk in September. Captain Kaku Harada was appointed captain in August. ''Chiyoda'' returned to participate in a naval review held on 11 October in Yokohama to celebrate the 2600th anniversary of the founding of the Japanese Empire. Afterwards, she was reassigned back to the Combined Fleet and began training operations on the use of her midget submarines through September, developing tactics for attacking other vessels (using ''Chitose'' as a target) and penetrating enemy naval bases. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, ''Chiyoda'' was docked at Kure and continued training operations to 20 March 1942, when she was assigned to Vice Admiral Teruhisa Komatsu’s 6th Fleet together with the submarine tender and ''Aikoku Maru''.

During the Battle of Midway, ''Chiyoda'' was part of Main Body of the Japanese fleet. For this operation, she carried eight Type A Kō-hyōteki-class submarines, which were intended to be stationed at Kure Atoll, which was to be seized as a seaplane base for operations against Midway Atoll. The operation was cancelled on the loss of the Japanese aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway, and ''Chiyoda'' returned to Hashirajima with her submarines on 14 June without having seen combat.

During June, ''Chiyoda'' was refit for operations in northern waters, and departed Yokosuka Naval District on 28 June, arriving at Japanese-occupied Kiska in the Aleutian islands on 5 July with a construction team to build a seaplane base. She was attacked by aircraft from the United States Army Air Force 11th Air Force on the same day, without damage and arrived back at Hashirajima on 19 July.

On 25 September, ''Chiyoda'' was reassigned to the Guadalcanal area in the Solomon Islands and delivered eight Type A Kō-hyōteki-class submarines to Shortland Island on 14 October. She was attacked by Allied aircraft on 29 October and 31 October, but suffered no damage, and on 6 November, after her return to Truk, she was attacked by the submarine , which fired three torpedoes at ''Chiyoda,'' all of which missed. ''Chiyoda'' returned to Yokosuka on 8 January 1943 and was converted from a seaplane tender to a light aircraft carrier at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal beginning 16 January, with the work completed on 21 December 1943.

Conversion

After conversion, ''Chiyoda'' was assigned to the 3rd Fleet and departed Yokosuka for Saipan, Guam and Palau, Balikpapan and Davao on 1 March as part of emergency reinforcements following the fall of Kwajalein to the US, returning to Kure on 10 April. On 11 May, she departed for Tawitawi with Air Group 653 as part of Operation A-Go, for the defense of the Mariana Islands. She was accompanied by the carriers ''Chitose'', , , , and by the battleship . During the Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19 June, she was part of the Van Force with carriers ''Chitose'', ''Zuihō'', battleships , ''Musashi'', , and cruisers , , and . She was hit by a bomb on 20 June on her aft flight deck, which killed 20 crewmen, wounded 30 more and destroyed two aircraft. She was withdrawn for repairs on 22 June. She remained at Kure through the end of July.IJN Chiyoda: Tabular Record of Movement
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Final battle

On 20 October 1944 ''Chiyoda'' departed Oita as part of Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa’s Decoy Force intended to lure the American fleet away from the landing beaches in the Philippines in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. This force included ''Zuikaku'', ''Zuihō'', ''Chitose'' and ''Chiyoda'', and the hybrid battleship-carriers and , though the six carriers were divested of all but 108 aircraft, accompanied by cruisers , , . Ozawa's ostensible carrier group was facing a force that included ten United States Navy carriers containing 600–1,000 aircraft. On 25 October, both ''Chiyoda'' and ''Chitose'' were sunk by a combination of naval bombers, cruiser shellfire and destroyer-launched torpedoes during the Battle off Cape Engaño.

''Chiyoda'' was crippled by four bombs dropped by aircraft from the carriers and that left her dead in the water. The converted hybrid battleship-carrier ''Hyūga'' attempted to take her in tow, but was prevented by a third attack. The cruiser was ordered to remove ''Chiyoda''s crew, but this was also frustrated due to continuing danger from air and surface attack. After three attempts, ''Isuzu'' was forced to retreat with U.S. surface forces in sight and ''Chiyoda'' under naval gunfire. She was finished off by gunfire from four cruisers, , , and , along with nine destroyers, all under the command of Rear Admiral Laurence DuBose. No survivors were permitted to be rescued, page 200 and Captain Jō Eiichirō and the entire crew of 1,470 officers and men went down with the ship at position . ''Chiyoda'' was removed from the navy list on 20 December 1944.

Notes

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chiyoda
Chitose-class aircraft carriers
Ships built by Kure Naval Arsenal
1936 ships
World War II aircraft carriers of Japan
World War II shipwrecks in the Philippine Sea
Seaplane tenders of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Ships of the Aleutian Islands campaign
Maritime incidents in October 1944
Ships lost with all hands