:: SORYU (1935) ::

Soryu aircraft carrier (1935) High resolution picture

The Soryu was a Japanese aircraft carrier launched in 1935 which took part in many war actions before and during the Second World War. Her service record includes participation in the Second Sino-Japanese War, the invasion of the French Indochina and the Pacific War, including the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Wake Island and the conquest of the Dutch East Indies. In February 1942 her aircraft reached Australia to bombard Darwin and in April they helped to sink two British heavy cruisers and several merchant ships during the raid in the Indian Ocean. The Soryu resulted sunk in the Battle of Midway in June 1942 after an attack by dive bombers coming from the three aircraft carriers of the Yorktown class, which managed to set her in flames.

In general terms, the comparison with their American most direct counterparts, the Yorktown class, would be unfavorable for the Soryu and her sister Hiryu. These possessed a mediocre navigability and a reduced operational range. The antiaircraft armament installed in that time was good but the existence of only two fire-control stations reduced its effectiveness. The flight deck was not very armored, but these ships were able to operate with a large amount of aircraft and to travel at high speeds.

Class: Soryu (2 units - Hiryu, Soryu)

Type: Aircraft carrier

Length: 227.5 meters

Beam: 26 meters

Draught: 7.6 meters

Displacement (standard): 16200 tonnes

Propulsion: 4 x shaft, 4 x steam turbine Kampon, 8 x boiler Kampon, 152000 horsepower

Speed: 34 knots (63 kilometers/hour)

Range: 7750 nautical miles (14350 kilometers) at 18 knots

Fuel: 3454 tonnes of petrol

Complement: 1101

Armament: 12 x 127-millimeter 40-caliber cannon, 28 x 25-millimeter cannon

Aircraft: 72 (Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighters, Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers and Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers)

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