World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseChitose served for the greater part of her career as a seaplane tender at Kure. On 4 Jan 1942, her aircraft covered the Japanese landings at Davao at the Philippine Islands, receiving battle damage. Later that month, she covered the landings at the Dutch East Indies and at the Gilbert Islands. During the Battle of Midway in Jun 1942, she carried seaplanes with the Transport Force with the mission to set up a seaplane base at either Eastern Island of the Midway Atoll or at Kure Atoll, but the mission was canceled due to the American victory during the battle. In Aug 1942, she was damaged during the Battle of Eastern Solomons. In late 1942, she was sent to Sasebo Navy Yard for conversion into a light carrier, which was completed in Jan 1944, and was assigned to Carrier Division 3. On 25 Oct 1944, she was part of Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's decoy fleet off Cape Engaño in the Philippines as a part of the Leyte campaign. At 0835 that day, she received three hits, either near misses from bombs or submarine torpedoes, on the port side forward of the number 1 elevator. Boiler rooms 2 and 4 were flooded and the ship began to list. By 0855, the list was corrected slightly, but her speed was reduced to 14 knots. At 0930, she was dead in the water and the list increased to 30 degrees. She rolled over to port and sank at 0937.

Light Carrier Chitose Interactive Map

Photographs

Chitose Operational Timeline