Kaiyō (ship, 1938)
 The Kaiyō , formerly Argentina Maru ,
after renovation in 1943. |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
The Kaiyō ( Japanese 海鷹 'sea hawk ' ) was one of five escort aircraft carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy , which was used in World War II . The others were the Taiyō , Un'yō and Chūyō of the Taiyō class, as well as the Shin'yō .
history
Use in regular service and renovation
The later Kaiyō was launched as Argentinia Maru (12,755 GRT , 21.5 kn) on December 9, 1938 at the Mitsubishi shipyard in Nagasaki and was completed on May 31, 1939. She was one of the shipping company Osaka Shosen Kaisha built combi freighter , which in liner service between Santos in Brazil and Yokohama wrong in Japan. During her second round trip, she passed the wreck of the German heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, which had sunk 10 days earlier, on the Río de la Plata on December 27, 1939 .
On September 29, 1941, the ship was by the Japanese Navy requisitioned , the Marine District Yokusuka assumed and as troop transport used. On December 9, 1942, it was bought by the Navy in order to be converted into an escort aircraft carrier of the Glattdeckträger type . This was necessary to compensate for the heavy losses ( Battle of Midway ) of aircraft carriers that had occurred so far . During the subsequent renovation at Mitsubishi in Nagasaki, the previously installed diesel engines were replaced by four Kampon steam boilers with two geared turbine sets, as were also installed in the Japanese destroyers , which increased the speed by a little over 2 knots.
There were plans to convert her sister ship Brasil Maru , but this was sunk on August 5, 1942 near Truk by the American submarine USS Greenling , making this obsolete.
Use as an aircraft carrier
On November 23, 1943, the ship named Kaiyō , under the command of Kaigun-taisa ( sea captain ) Takao Yoshimi, was placed in the service of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Their initial job was to move planes and other supplies to Japanese bases overseas.
In January 1944 these were as part of convoy HI-33 aircraft of the 23rd Air Flotilla via Manila to Singapore . On the return journey, the carrier transported aircraft from the 551st Air Group to Truk. On the way from Palau to Truk, the Kaiyō was attacked at night in vain by the USS Permit . A short layover period followed from February 23 to March 2.
In April she secured convoy HI-57 via Formosa and Indochina to Singapore as part of the 1st Escort Division to which she had belonged since March 17th . On the way back the convoy HI-58. One of their planes discovered the submarine USS Robalo on the surface of the water behind the convoy. The American submarine was then attacked and damaged, but managed to escape.
At the end of May, Kaiyō was part of the security for convoy HI-65, together with the escort aircraft carrier Shin'yō , to Singapore. One of the security vehicles was torpedoed en route and two merchant ships collided while trying to avoid the other torpedoes. The rest of the convoy arrived in Singapore on June 12. The Kaiyō was then assigned to convoy HI-66 for the return journey and reached Japan on June 26th. From the beginning of July, there was another short lay-time in the shipyard in Kure, during which further 2.5 cm anti-aircraft guns were scaffolded.
Together with the escort carrier Taiyō , the Kaiyō was loaded with aircraft that were destined for the Philippines and should be delivered by convoy HI-69. The voyage started on July 13th and the ships arrived a week later. For the return trip, the convoy left Manila four days later and reached Japan on August 1st.
On August 4, in preparation for another convoy, the machinery was disrupted and the aircraft carrier was relocated to Sasebo . On October 25, the Kaiyō transferred a dozen transport planes to Keelung on Formosa and returned to Kure on November 2.
From November 25 to December 13, convoy HI-83 was secured to Singapore via Formosa and Hainan Island . During this voyage, the carrier was assigned to the 1st backup fleet . Returned to Japan in convoy HI-84 during December and on the 31st there was an unsuccessful attack by the submarine USS Dace .
Used from mid-January 1945 to train pilots in the Seto Inland Sea . Was attacked by an American carrier aircraft from Task Force 58 on March 19 while at anchor in Kure . The port engine room was hit by a bomb, which started fires and caused water to penetrate. To prevent sinking, it was laid in shallow water near the island of Eta-Jima . From April 20, the Shimpū Tokkōtai (Kamikaze Special Assault Force ) assigned as a target ship, the Kaiyō resumed her pilot training for a month. On July 18, the ship ran into a sea mine , which caused only minor damage and remained operational.
Abandonment and whereabouts
.jpg)
On July 24, 1945 there were massive air raids by American Task Force 38 and British Task Force 57 on the Seto Inland Sea and the Kure area. The were Kaiyo and the destroyer Yūkaze , 12:20 to 13:10 before Beppu , aircraft of the USS Essex , attacked (this attack was actually against airfields addressed why the aircraft instead of bombs with 5-inch rockets were armed ). Neither unit appears to have received any hits and two nearby Kaibōkan were only slightly damaged. The responsible skipper Kaigun-taisa (sea captain) Osuga Shuichi decided to leave the area around Beppu and anchor in front of a small fishing port for the night. Hoping to avoid detection by enemy patrol planes expected the next day. On the way to Muroura , the Kaiyō ran at 18:30 in the Kizuki Bay on a sea mine and remained idle because the steering gear was inoperative and the steam line of the port engine room broke. At 7:25 pm, she reported her situation and asked for help. Then the Yūkaze was sent, which handed over a towline and at 23:50 the tow made its way to Beppu Bay . The next day at five o'clock in the morning there was an attack by three American Grumman F6F fighters , but they did not cause any damage. However, since the ship could not be stopped from filling up, the escort aircraft carrier was set aground at dawn on the Hinode coast in Beppu Bay. Meanwhile, the crew tried to close the existing leaks, which gradually led to success. Three days later, the carrier was attacked by 16 American carrier aircraft, which were able to score hits, which resulted in a power failure. Since the bilge pumps did not work without electricity, the stern was flooded and sank to the bottom.
On July 28, a doctor inspected the working conditions in the engine room and urged the repair crews to give up. With no ventilation and electricity, the conditions were very unhealthy. The commanding officer Osuga agreed to this and the rescue work was stopped. The ship was fixed, the boilers flooded with water and the machinery was coated with oil. It was hoped that this would preserve the ship until it was completely salvaged.
On August 9, twelve American North American B-25 bombers attacked and the damage caused in the process let the ship get more and more list. On August 10, therefore, Kaigun-taisa (sea captain) Osuga, as the ship's commander in charge, decided to lower the naval flag, which practically abandoned the ship. The remaining crew then moved to Yokosuka .
On November 20, 1945, the Kaiyō was removed from the fleet list of ships of the Imperial Navy, and the wreck was canceled after the war from September 1, 1946 to January 30, 1948 on site by the company Nissan Salvage .
List of military commanders
| No. | Surname | Beginning of the term of office | Term expires | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sea captain Takao Yoshimi | November 23, 1943 | July 24, 1944 | |
| 2. | Sea captain Kitamura Masayuki | July 24, 1944 | August 1, 1944 | |
| 3. | Sea captain Arita Yuzo | August 1, 1944 | March 15, 1945 | |
| 4th | Sea Captain Kofuda Kiyoshi | March 15, 1945 | May 1, 1945 | |
| - | Sea captain Osuga Shuichi | May 1, 1945 | August 10, 1945 | entrusted with the conduct of business |
Technical description as escort aircraft carrier
hull
The hull of the Kaiyō was 166.57 meters long, 21.67 meters wide and had a draft of 8.26 meters with an operational displacement of 17,016 tons .
drive
It was driven by four oil-fired steam generators - Kampon boilers of the Yarrow type - and two geared turbine sets with which a total output of 52,100 hp (38,319 kW ) was achieved. These gave their power to two shafts with one screw each . The top speed was 23.8 knots (44 km / h ).
crew
The crew had a strength of 829 men.
Armament
Anti-aircraft armament
The air-defensible armament consisted of eight 12.7 cm guns of the Type 89 with a caliber length of 40 in four twin mounts and twenty-four 2.5 cm type 96 automatic cannons in eight triplet mounts. Due to the strong Allied air forces, the 2.5 cm guns were reinforced, which when the ship was abandoned consisted of 44 automatic cannons (8 triple and 20 single mounts).
The 12.7 cm guns achieved a rate of around 8 rounds per minute and the maximum range was around 9.4 kilometers at a 75 ° elevation. The 24.5-tonne double carriage could be rotated 360 ° and had an elevation range of −7 ° to + 75 °. The 2.5-cm- machine guns fired in use around 110 to 120 rounds per minute, the effective range was about 3 kilometers at 85 ° barrel elevation. The 1.8 ton triple mounts or 785 kg single mounts could be rotated through 360 ° and had an elevation range of −10 ° to + 85 °.
Submarine hunting equipment
The ship was able to use 8 depth charges for submarine hunts.
Aviation facilities
As with all Japanese escort carriers , only planes could take off on their wooden flight deck , as it was too short for landings. The ship also had two elevators to raise or lower planes from their hangar on deck and had a capacity for 24 machines (standard: 18 fighters and 6 bombers).
Sensors
radar
For the detection of air and sea targets the disposal Kaiyo over a rectangular Matrazenantenne at the forward flight deck port side , which to a radar (radar) of the type 21 belonged. This radar device could locate a group of aircraft up to 100 kilometers away, a single aircraft up to 70 kilometers away, and a large sea craft up to 20 kilometers away. It worked with a wavelength of 150 cm and had a transmission power of 5 kW .
sonar
To search for submarines one was echolocation system of the type 93 and a hydrophone -Set the Type 93 scaffolded. This hydrophone set consisted of two groups of eight sensors each, one group on each side of the ship.
Remarks
- ↑ Silence indicates a manning number of 587.
See also
literature
- Hansgeorg Jentschura, Dieter Jung, Peter Mickel: Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1869-1945 . US Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1977, ISBN 0-87021-893-X , pp. 59 (English).
- Mark Stille: Imperial Japanese Navy Aircraft Carriers 1921–45 . Osprey Publishing , Oxford 2012, ISBN 978-1-84176-853-3 , pp. 42 (English).
Web links
- CV of Argentinia Maru on combinedfleet.com (English)
- Resume the Kaiyo on combinedfleet.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Type-89 12.7 cm cannon. In: navweaps.com. Retrieved July 16, 2020 .
- ↑ Type-96 1-inch automatic cannon . In: navweaps.com. Retrieved July 16, 2020 .
- ↑ Japanese depth charges in WWII. In: navweaps.com. Retrieved July 16, 2020 .
- ↑ Japanese radar equipment in WWII. In: combinedfleet.com. Retrieved July 16, 2020 .
- ↑ Japanese Sonar and Asdic (USNTMJ E-10). (PDF) US Navy Technical Mission to Japan, December 14, 1945, pp. 7 and 11 , accessed on July 16, 2020 .