Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga

Kaga after her modernization, with her distinctive downward-facing funnel
Class overview
Operators	Imperial Japanese Navy
Preceded by	Akagi
Succeeded by	Ryūjō
Built	1920–1928
In service	1928–1942
In commission	1928–1942
Completed	1
Lost	1
History
Japan
Name	Kaga
Namesake	Kaga Province
Builder	Kawasaki and Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
Cost	¥53 million ($36.45 million)[1]
Laid down	19 July 1920
Launched	17 November 1921
Completed	31 March 1928
Commissioned	30 November 1929
Reclassified	21 November 1923 as an aircraft carrier
Refit	20 October 1933 – 25 June 1935
Stricken	10 August 1942
Fate	Sunk by dive bombers from the USS Enterprise during the Battle of Midway, 4 June 1942
General characteristics (after 1935 modernization)
Type	Aircraft carrier
Displacement	38,200 long tons (38,813 t) (standard)
Length	247.65 m (812 ft 6 in)
Beam	32.5 m (106 ft 8 in)
Draft	9.48 m (31 ft 1 in)
Installed power	8 Kampon water-tube boilers 127,400 shp (95,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbines
Speed	28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph)
Endurance	10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	1,708 (after reconstruction)
Armament	10 × single 200 mm (7.9 in) guns 8 × twin 127 mm (5 in) DP guns 11 × twin Type 96 25 mm (1 in) AA guns
Armor	Belt: 152 mm (6 in) Deck: 38 mm (1.5 in)
Aircraft carried	90 (total); 72 (+ 18 in storage) (1936) 21 Mitsubishi A6M Zero, 27 Aichi D3A, 27 Nakajima B5N (7 Dec 1941)

Kaga (加賀) was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and was named after the former Kaga Province in present-day Ishikawa Prefecture. Originally intended to be one of two Tosa-class battleships, Kaga was converted under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty to an aircraft carrier as the replacement for the battlecruiser Amagi, which had been irreparably damaged during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. Kaga was rebuilt in 1933–1935, increasing her top speed, improving her exhaust systems, and adapting her flight decks to accommodate more modern, heavier aircraft.

The ship figured prominently in the development of the IJN's carrier striking force doctrine, which grouped carriers together to give greater mass and concentration to their air power. A revolutionary strategic concept at the time, the employment of the doctrine was crucial in enabling Japan to attain its initial strategic goals during the first six months of the Pacific War.

Kaga's aircraft first supported Japanese troops in China during the Shanghai Incident of 1932 and participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War in the late 1930s. With other carriers, she took part in the Pearl Harbor raid in December 1941 and the invasion of Rabaul in the Southwest Pacific in January 1942. The following month her aircraft participated in a combined carrier airstrike on Darwin, Australia, and helping secure the conquest of the Dutch East Indies by Japanese forces. She missed the Indian Ocean raid in April as she had to return to Japan for repairs after hitting a reef in February.

Following repairs, Kaga rejoined the 1st Air Fleet for the Battle of Midway in June 1942. After bombarding American forces on Midway Atoll, Kaga and three other IJN carriers were attacked by American aircraft from Midway and the carriers Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown. Dive bombers from Enterprise severely damaged Kaga; when it became obvious she could not be saved, she was scuttled by Japanese destroyers to prevent her from falling into enemy hands. The loss of Kaga and three other IJN carriers at Midway was a crucial setback for Japan, and contributed significantly to Japan's ultimate defeat. In 1999, debris from Kaga including a large section of her hull was located on the ocean floor northwest of Midway Island.^[2] In 2019, RV Petrel discovered her wreck on the ocean floor.