IJN Junyo

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IJN Junyo-cropped Initially built to become the civilian passenger ship Kashiwara Maru, the carrier Junyo was the first of her class. She completed construction on May 5, 1942 at Mitsubishi, Nagasaki. Smaller than the Shokaku-class carriers, she carried 53 planes (31 fewer than the Shokaku-class ships), displaced 28,300 tons fully loaded, and had a considerably slower maximum speed of 25.5 knots. While the Battle of Midway raged to the south, the Junyo was part of the operation to attack the American bases in the Aleutian Islands.

After Midway, she was one of the four large carriers remaining in the Combined Fleet. Despite her slower speed, the 53 planes she carried still carried quite a punch. In late October 1942 during the fight over Guadalcanal, the Junyo was part of the Japanese fleet that fought the American Navy at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. Her aircraft attacked the carrier Enterprise, battleship South Dakota, and the light cruiser San Juan and damaged the American battleship and cruiser. Her planes later covered the Japanese transports and warships during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November. In the spring of 1943, her planes and other aircraft from the other Japanese carriers went to Rabaul for land-base air attacks on the gathering American power at Guadalcanal. The carrier protected a convoy carrying badly needed reinforcements in June 1943 for Japanese troops on Kiska in Aleutians.

When the Americans invaded the Marianas in June 1944, the Junyo was part of the Japanese fleet to meet and fight the Americans at the Battle of the Philippine Sea. She lost nearly all her aircraft in the Marianas “Turkey Shoot” such that she could not be part of Ozawa’s force at the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

During operations off southern Japan on December 9, 1944, the American submarines Redfish (SS-395) and Sea Devil (SS-400) torpedoed the Junyo and severely damaged her. By this time, Japan’s wartime circumstances were in such a poor state that the nation no longer needed any carriers. Therefore, the Navy never repaired her battle damage. When the Pacific war ended in September 1945, the Junyo lay at anchor at Sasebo Naval Base. By 1947, the Navy had sold her for scrap.