Chitose-class Light Carrier
| Country | Japan |
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
This article refers to the entire Chitose-class; it is not about an individual vessel.
ww2dbaseChitose-class ships, designed in the 1930s when the Wasington Treaty still held the Japanese Navy in check, were built as Nisshin-class seaplane tenders so that their tonnage would not count toward the carrier tonnage limit, but the designers put in as much elements of a light carrier as they could. On 30 Jun 1942, weeks after the devastating loss of four fleet carriers at the Battle of Midway, orders came down for the two Chitose-class ships, Chitose and Chiyoda, to be converted into light carriers to make up for some of the lost air power. Because of their light carrier-inspired original design, the conversion would prove to be relatively easy. Chitose's conversion was completed in Jan 1944 at Sasebo, Japan; Chiyoda's conversion was completed in Mar 1944 at Yokosuka, Japan. In their new roles, they served with carrier fleets and saw combat in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and then the Battle off Cape Engaño; in the former action their air groups were effectively wiped out, and in the latter they were both sunk.
ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia
Last Major Revision: Feb 2013
Chitose-class Light Carrier Interactive Map
Chitose-class Light Carrier Operational Timeline
| 25 Jul 1938 | Chitose was commissioned into service. |
| 25 Jul 1938 | Chiyoda was commissioned into service. |
| 12 Oct 1942 | Yugure and Yura escorted Nisshin and Chitose after Battle of Cape Esperance off Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. |
| 25 Oct 1944 | Off northeastern Luzon, Philippines, aircraft from US Navy Task Force 38 attacked the Japanese carrier force consisted of fleet carrier Zuikaku and light carriers Zuiho, Chitose, and Chiyoda in the Battle off Cape Engaño. The Japanese force was escorted by two battleship-carrier hybrids (Hyuga and Ise; aircraft-less on this date), three light cruisers (Oyodo, Tama, and Isuzu), and nine destroyers at about 0830 hours, 26 minutes after those planes were detected by Zuikaku's radar. The overwhelmingly larger American force, under Admiral William Halsey, centered around fleet carriers USS Lexington, USS Intrepid, USS Essex, USS Franklin, USS Enterprise, further bolstered by a great many light carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. Zuikaku was damaged by skilled damage control teams extinguished the fires and corrected the listing by 0850 hours. Chitose was fatally damaged by the first attack wave, sinking at 0937 hours. At 0953 hours, a second attack wave struck, fatally damaging Chiyoda, leaving her dead in the water to be sunk by American destroyers later at 1655 hours. The second wave also damaged Zuiho's flight deck, the last functional flight deck of Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's force; Japanese combat air patrol planes in the air would need to ditch when they ran out of fuel. At 1032 hours, Ozawa transferred his flag from the damaged Zuikaku to Oyodo. At 1308, the Japanese sighted an incoming third wave of American aircraft. Six torpedoes struck Zuikaku, causing massive flooding and several fires in the hangar; the commanding officer addressed the surviving crew, ordered the lowering of the ensign, and gave the abandon ship order at 1358 hours; Zuikaku sank by the stern at 1414 hours. Zuiho suffered two torpedo, two bomb hits, and a great many near-misses during the third attack wave, and she was dead in the water at 1445 hours. At 1455 hours, a fourth wave struck, sealing the doom of Zuiho with ten near-misses, leading to Zuiho's commanding officer giving the abandon ship order; she sank at 1526 hours. |
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George Patton, 31 May 1944
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