Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku

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Zuikaku at Kobe on 25 September 1941 after commissioning
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	29,800 normal tons, 32,000 tons full load
Length	257.5 m (844 ft 10 in)
Beam	29 m (85 ft 4 in)
Draft	8.9 m (29 ft 2 in)
Propulsion	Kampon geared turbines, 8 boilers, 160,000 hp (119 MW), 4 shafts
Speed	34.5 knots (63.9 km/h)
Range	7,581 mi (6,588 nmi) at 18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h) Fuel: 4100 tons
Complement	1,660
Armament	16 × 5 in (127 mm) Type 89 guns 36 × 25 mm Type 96 anti-aircraft guns
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 numerous 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 Solomans, 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]

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.)