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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
901 M STREET SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- JAPANESE NAVY SHIPS --

Kaiyo (Escort Aircraft Carrier, 1943-1945).

Kaiyo, a 16,748-ton escort aircraft carrier, was built at Nagasaki, Japan, as a civilian passenger liner. Completed in 1939, she was taken over for use as a transport in 1941, serving under her original name, Argentina Maru. . In December 1942, she began conversion to an aircraft carrier, and was renamed Kaiyo. Conversion was completed in November 1943, and the ship served during the rest of the Pacific War as an escort carrier, aircraft transport and training carrier. She was seriously damaged by British Royal Navy planes in Beppu Bay, Kyushu, on 24 July 1945. Kaiyo was stricken from the Japanese naval register in November 1945 and was scrapped at Beppu Bay in 1946-48.

This page features all the views we have of Kaiyo.

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 95778

Carrier Raids on Japan, March 1945

USS Essex (CV-9) planes attack two Japanese aircraft carriers at Kure, 19 March 1945. An SB2C "Helldiver" scout bomber is visible in the upper right, painted in Essex markings.
Ship at bottom is either Amagi or Katsuragi. The other carrier is Kaiyo.

Copied from an original photograph in the USS Essex action report for this raid, 1986.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 69KB; 585 x 765 pixels

 

Photo #: 80-G-309660

Carrier Raids on Japan, March 1945


Three Japanese aircraft carriers and a submarine in Kure Bay, during strikes by U.S. Navy carrier planes, 19 March 1945. Carrier at the extreme right is Kaiyo. Those in the center top (barely visible) and at the bottom are probably Amagi and Katsuragi. The submarine is underway in the upper left.
Photographed from a USS Hornet (CV-12) plane.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 605 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 

Photo #: NH 85386

Kaiyo

(Japanese escort aircraft carrier, 1943-1945)

Beached in Beppu Bay, Kyushu, Japan, while being scrapped, circa 1946-47.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 129KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 



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2 April 1999