Light Carrier Chiyoda

Chiyoda

Country	Japan
Ship Class	Chitose-class Light Carrier
Builder	Kure Naval Arsenal
Laid Down	26 Nov 1934
Launched	29 Nov 1936
Commissioned	25 Jul 1938
Sunk	25 Oct 1944
Displacement	11,400 tons standard; 15,500 tons full
Length	632 feet
Beam	68 feet
Draft	25 feet
Machinery	4 boilers, 2 geared steam turbines, 2 shafts
Power Output	56,800 shaft horsepower
Speed	29 knots
Range	11,810nm at 18 knots
Crew	785
Armament	As tender: 4x12.7cm/40 Type 89 guns, 12x25mm Type 96 anti-aircraft guns; as carrier: 8x12.7cm/40 Type 89 guns
Aircraft	30 operational, 0 in reserve
Recommissioned	21 Dec 1943
Flight Deck	180x23m

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseCarrier Chiyoda began as a seaplane carrier. Between 15 Dec 1938 and 15 Nov 1939, she was commanded by Captain Tomeo Kaku. On 30 Jun 1942, due to the loss of carriers at the Battle of Midway earlier that month, Japanese leadership decided that Chiyoda and her sister ship Chitose were to be converted to light carriers, which was done between Mar and Dec 1943. At the Battle off Cape Engaño on 25 Oct 1944, at 1655 hours, she sank after being hit by many shells from American heavy cruiser USS Wichita's 8-inch guns. She was lost with Captain Eiichiro Jyo and all hands, the only large vessel in WW2 to suffer such total loss.

ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia.

Last Major Revision: Apr 2009

Light Carrier Chiyoda Interactive Map

Leaflet © OpenStreetMap

Photographs

Carrier Chiyoda at Tokyo Bay, Japan, 1 Dec 1943

Chiyoda Operational Timeline

25 Jul 1938

Chiyoda was commissioned into service.

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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Chiyoda