Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku

Zuikaku at Kobe, 25 September 1941
History
Empire of Japan
Name	Zuikaku
Builder	Kawasaki Shipyards
Laid down	25 May 1938
Launched	27 November 1939
Commissioned	25 September 1941
Stricken	26 August 1945
Fate	Sunk by air attack in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier
Displacement	32,105 t (31,598 long tons) (deep load)
Length	257.5 m (844 ft 10 in)
Beam	29 m (95 ft 2 in)
Draft	9.32 m (30 ft 7 in) (deep load)
Depth	23 m (75 ft 6 in)
Installed power	8 × water-tube boilers 160,000 shp (120,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 × shafts; 4 × geared steam turbines
Speed	34.5 knots (63.9 km/h; 39.7 mph)
Range	9,700 nmi (18,000 km; 11,200 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement	1,660
Armament	8 × twin 127 mm (5 in) DP guns 12 × triple 25 mm (1 in) AA guns
Armor	Waterline belt: 46–165 mm (1.8–6.5 in) Deck: 65–132 mm (2.6–5.2 in)
Aircraft carried	72 (+12 spares) 7 December 1941: 18 × Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" 27 × Aichi D3A1 "Val" 27 × Nakajima B5N2 "Kate"[1]

Zuikaku (Japanese: 瑞鶴 "Auspicious Crane") was the second and last Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) shortly before the beginning of the Pacific War. Zuikaku was one of the most capable Japanese aircraft carriers of the entire war.

Her aircraft took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor that formally brought the United States into the war, destroying numerous land positions, and saw heavy and successful action throughout numerous battles during the Pacific War, starting with numerous assaults on allied land positions, and her participation in the Indian Ocean raid, where her dive bombers sank or helped to sink several major British warships. Zuikaku's torpedo bombers inflicted the fatal damage to the aircraft carrier USS Lexington at the battle of the Coral Sea, before she fought US carriers at the battle of the Eastern Solomons, and helped to sink the aircraft carrier USS Hornet at the battle of Santa Cruz. She was damaged by carrier attacks during the battle of the Philippine Sea, before being sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.^[2]

Throughout her career, Zuikaku sank or helped to sink at least twelve ships, including the fleet carriers Lexington and Hornet, the light carriers HMS Hermes and USS Princeton, the cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire, the destroyers USS Sims, USS Meredith, and HMS Tenedos, the submarine USS Grayback, the oil tanker USS Neosho, and the cargo ship SS Sagaing.

Zuikaku was one of six carriers to participate in the Pearl Harbor attack and was the last of the six to be sunk in the war (Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, and Sōryū in the Battle of Midway; Shōkaku in the Battle of the Philippine Sea; and Zuikaku in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.)