Japanese Aircraft Carrier Kaga

was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and was 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 irreparably damaged during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. ''Kaga'' was rebuilt in 1933–1935, 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, and 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 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 ''Kaga'' and three other IJN carriers 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 her hull was located on the ocean floor northwest of Midway Island. In 2019, discovered her wreck on the ocean floor.

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.

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 1,340 crewmembers.

Flight deck arrangements

''Kaga'', like ''Akagi'', was completed with three superimposed flight decks, the only carriers ever to be designed so. The British carriers converted from "large light cruisers", , , and , each had two flight decks, but there is no evidence that the Japanese copied the British model. It is more likely that it was a case of convergent evolution to improve launch and recovery cycle flexibility by allowing simultaneous launch and recovery of aircraft. ''Kaga''s main flight deck was long and wide, her middle flight deck was only about long and started in front of the bridge, and her lower flight deck was approximately long. The utility of her middle flight deck was questionable as it was so short that only some of the lightly loaded aircraft could use it, even in an era when the aircraft were much lighter and smaller than they were during World War II. The ever-increasing growth in aircraft performance, size and weight during the 1930s meant that even the bottom flight deck was no longer able to accommodate the take-off roll required for the new generations of aircraft being fielded and it was plated over when the ship was modernized in the mid-1930s. ''Kaga'' lacked an island until one was added during the modernization.

As completed, the ship had two main hangar decks and a third auxiliary hangar with a total capacity of 60 aircraft. The hangars opened onto the middle and lower flight decks to allow aircraft to take off directly from the hangars while landing operations were in progress on the main flight deck above. No catapults were fitted. Her forward aircraft elevator was offset to starboard and in size. Her aft elevator was on the centerline and . Her arresting gear was a French transverse system as used on their aircraft carrier and known as the Model Fju (''Fju shiki'') in the Japanese service. As originally completed, ''Kaga'' carried an air group of 28 Mitsubishi B1M3 torpedo bombers, 16 Nakajima A1N fighters and 16 Mitsubishi 2MR

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