Soryu-class Aircraft Carrier

Soryu-class Aircraft Carrier

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This article refers to the entire Soryu-class; it is not about an individual vessel.

ww2dbaseThe Soryu-class aircraft carriers were built within the specifications of the Washington Naval Treaty, thus the two members of the class, Soryu and Hiryu, were built with tonnage and armament constraints, making them slightly small for a fleet carrier in the era. Hiryu distinctly had her island placed on the port side of the flight deck, which was different than Soryu and most carriers in the world. Akagi and Hiryu had their islands placed on the port side as an experiment in determining whether this characteristic would improve flight patterns when operating a mixed task force of port-sided and starboard-sided carriers; the experiment was discontinued after Akagi and Hiryu. Soryu-class carriers were built around a sleek cruiser-style hull and powerful engines, allowing her to outrun the carrier Kaga at only about 40% power. In fact, at the time of her launch, Soryu was the fastest aircraft carrier in the world.

Last Major Revision: May 2009

Soryu-class Aircraft Carrier Interactive Map

Soryu-class Aircraft Carrier Operational Timeline

29 Dec 1937	Soryu was commissioned into service.
5 Jul 1939	Carrier Hiryu was commissioned into service.
26 Nov 1941	Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo led the Japanese Carrier Division 1 (Akagi and Kaga), Carrier Division 2 (Hiryu and Soryu), Carrier Division 5 (Shokaku and Zuikaku), first section of Battleship Division 3 (Hiei and Kirishima), Cruiser Division 8 (Tone and Chikuma), Destroyer Squadron 1, Destroyer Squadron 17, and Destroyer Squadron 18 out of Hitokappu Bay in the Kurile Islands for the Hawaii Operation, the attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii.
12 Jan 1942	Hiryu, Soryu, Ariake, and Yugure departed Hashirijima in Hiroshima Bay, Japan.
17 Jan 1942	Hiryu, Soryu, Ariake, and Yugure arrived at Palau, Caroline Islands at 1140 hours.
21 Jan 1942	Hiryu, Soryu, Ariake, Yugure, Ushio, and Sazanami departed Palau, Caroline Islands at 1600 hours for air strikes on Maluku Islands, Dutch East Indies.
26 Mar 1942	Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's Japanese First Air Fleet, built around a nucleus of five aircraft carriers (Akagi, Hiryu, Soryu, Shokaku, and Zuikaku), and supported by battleships (Kongo, Hiei, Haruna, and Kirishima), cruisers (Tone, Chikuma, Abukuma), and destroyers, sailed from Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies to the west of Timor into the Indian Ocean with the intention of attacking the Royal Navy's bases at Colombo and Trincomalee in Ceylon.
3 Apr 1942	The Japanese fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo entered the Indian Ocean.
5 Apr 1942	In the morning, Japanese carriers launched 36 D3A2 dive bombers and 53 B5N2 torpedo bombers, escorted by 36 Zero fighters, against the British naval base at Colombo, Ceylon, sinking merchant cruiser HMS Hector, damaging port facilities, while shooting down 25 British aircraft; 7 Japanese aircraft were lost in this attack. Around noon, cruiser Tone's floatplane spotted British cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire 200 miles southwest of Ceylon; 53 carrier aircraft were launched to attack, sinking Dorsetshire at 1350 hours (234 killed) and Cornwall at 1400 hours (190 killed); 1,122 survived from both ships.
9 Apr 1942	Japanese carrier aircraft attacked the harbor at Trincomalee, Ceylon at 0700 hours. Two hours later, empty British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire were detected 90 miles further south. At 1035 hours, Japanese carrier aircraft attacked and sank HMS Hermes (307 killed) and HMAS Vampire (9 killed); hospital ship Vita rescued survivors from both warships. At 1207 hours, 20 Japanese carrier dive bombers sank British oiler Athelstane (all aboard survived) and British corvette HMS Hollyhock (48 were killed, 17 survived) in the Indian Ocean.
19 Jun 1942	US PBY Catalina aircraft discovered 35 survivors from the sunken Japanese carrier Hiryu; USS Ballard was dispatched to rescue them.

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Soryu-class Aircraft Carrier