Junyo
Country | Japan |
Ship Class | Hiyo-class Escort Carrier |
Builder | Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard |
Laid Down | 20 Mar 1939 |
Launched | 26 Jun 1941 |
Commissioned | 3 May 1942 |
Decommissioned | 30 Nov 1945 |
Displacement | 24,100 tons standard; 26,949 tons full |
Length | 719 feet |
Beam | 87 feet |
Draft | 26 feet |
Machinery | 6 Kampon water-tube boilers, 2 geared steam turbines, 2 shafts |
Power Output | 56,250 shaft horsepower |
Speed | 25 knots |
Range | 12,251nm at 18 knots |
Crew | 1,224 |
Armament | 6x2x12.7cm dual-purpose guns, 8x3x25mm anti-aircraft guns, 6x130mm anti-aircraft rockets (post-1944) |
Armor | 25-50mm belt |
Aircraft | 48 operational, 5 in reserve |
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
ww2dbaseJunyo began her life as the civilian passenger liner Kashiwara Maru, but due to war demands, she was taken over by the Japanese Navy in 1940 while still on the shipways. In May 1942, she was completed as a carrier, and by the following month was dispatched to support the attack on the Aleutian Islands in the northern Pacific Ocean, striking Dutch Harbor at Unalaska Island. Captain Okada Tametsugu assumed command on 20 Jul 1942. In late Oct 1942, during the Guadalcanal Campaign, Junyo took part in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, in which battle her aircraft attacked American carrier Enterprise, battleship South Dakota, and light cruiser San Juan, causing damage against the latter two warships. In mid-Nov 1942, she played a covering role in the First and Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. In the following Spring, her planes were sent to Rabaul, New Britain for land-based attacks on the Allied forces gathering at Guadalcanal. In Jun 1943, she escorted an important convoy sent to reinforce the Japanese garrison on Kiska in the Aleutian Islands. On 5 Nov 1943, near Bungo Suido off Japan, she was hit by a torpedo from the American submarine Halibut, killing four crewmen; she was repaired at Kure, Japan. In Jun 1944, she participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea under the command of Captain Shibuya Kiyomi, in which the Japanese Navy's air strength was critically weakened; in that battle, she was hit by two bombs at about 1730, damaging her smokestack, mast, and flight deck, requiring her to receive repairs once again at Kure. While off southern Japan on 9 Dec 1944 with 200 survivors of battleship Musashi on board, Junyo was attacked by an American submarine team consisted of Sea Devil, Redfish, and Plaice; the former two scored torpedo hits on her, killing 19 men. She made it to Kure on her own power, but due to the lack of aircraft and pilots, she was not repaired. At the end of the war, she was scrapped at Sasebo, Japan in 1947.
ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia.
Last Major Revision: Jan 2005
Photographs
Junyo Operational Timeline
3 May 1942 | Junyo was commissioned into service. |
22 Mar 1943 | Junyo and Hiyo departed Saeki, Hiroshima, Japan with Yugure, Hatsuzuki, Suzutsuki, and Kagero in escort. |
27 Mar 1943 | Junyo and Hiyo arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands with Yugure, Hatsuzuki, Suzutsuki, and Kagero in escort. |
30 Nov 1945 | Junyo was decommissioned from service. |
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» Kondo, Masaichi
Event(s) Participated:
» Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands
» Guadalcanal Campaign
» Solomon Islands Campaign
» Mariana Islands Campaign and the Great Turkey Shoot
Document(s):
» Japanese Aircraft Carrier Functions
» Japanese Aircraft Carrier Operational Status By Month
» Japanese Aircraft Carrier Specifications
» Japanese Aircraft Carrier Time Operational
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Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, 16 Mar 1945