Japanese aircraft carrier Taihō

nihongo|"Taihō"|大鳳 was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

"Taihō" means "Great Phoenix". Built by Kawasaki, she was laid down on 10 July 1941 and launched almost two years later, on 7 April 1943, and was commissioned on 7 March 1944.

"Taihō" was the first Japanese aircraft carrier of a new design which incorporated a heavily armored flight deck and 2 hangar decks, making her analogous to the Royal Navy's "Illustrious" class. She was also the first Japanese carrier to incorporate a hurricane bow.

On 19 June 1944, she was flagship of Vice-Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's carrier force in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. As "Taihō" turned into the wind and launched an air strike, she was herself attacked by a spread of six torpedoes from the US submarine USS|Albacore|SS-218. One of the "Taihō"'s strike pilots, Sakio Komatsu, had just taken off when he saw the torpedo wakes and deliberately dived his plane into the path of a torpedo; the weapon detonated short of its target, and four of the remaining five missed.

The explosion of the torpedo that hit jammed the ship's forward aircraft elevator; its pit filled with gasoline, water, and fuel. However, no fire erupted, and the flight deck was unharmed. [Blair, p.630.]

Ozawa was unconcerned by the hit and launched two more waves of aircraft.

Meanwhile, a novice took over the damage-control work. He thought the best way to handle gasoline fumes was to open up the ship's ventilation system and let them disperse. When he did, the fumes spread all through the ship. Unknown to anybody on board, "Taihō" became a floating time bomb.

About 3:30 that afternoon, "Taihō" was jolted by a severe explosion. A senior staff officer on the bridge saw the flight deck heave up. The sides blew out. "Taihō" dropped out of formation and began to settle in the water, clearly doomed. Though Admiral Ozawa wanted to go down with the ship, his staff prevailed on him to survive and to shift his quarters to the cruiser "Haguro". Taking the Emperor's portrait, Ozawa transferred to "Haguro" by destroyer. After he left, "Taihō" was torn by a second thunderous explosion and sank stern first, carrying down 1,650 officers and men.

[Blair, p.630.]

She sank at coordinates coord|12|05|N|138|12|E.

Commanding Officers

Chief Equipping Officer - Capt. / RADM Michio Sumikawa - 15 August 1943 - 23 December 1943 (Promoted to Rear Admiral on 1 November 1943.)

Chief Equipping Officer - Capt. Tomozo Kikuchi - 23 December 1943 - 7 March 1944

Capt. Tomozo Kikuchi - 7 March 1944 - 19 June 1944

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/jwarship/Taiho.html Japanese Warships - Taihō]