BASIC SHIP DATA

AKAGI was laid down in 1920, launched in 1925 and commissioned in 1927.

Displacement 26,900 tons
Length 233 meters
Beam 28 meters
Draft 6.5 meters
Flight deck length 230 meters
Bunkers unknown
Power (4 shaft turbines) 131,000 hp
Speed 28.5 knots
Aircraft 50 planes
Guns 203mm ten
Guns 120mm twelve (in dual purpose mounts)
Guns 25mm automatic AA guns twenty two
Crew 1,000 men

LOSS OF THE SHIP

Participating in operations off Midway Island on the morning of 5 June 1942, AKAGI was attacked by United States dive bombers and suffered two direct hits from high-explosive aerial bombs each weighing 500 kilograms (a little more than 1,000 pounds). One of these bombs hit the midships aircraft elevator; the other fell on the extremity of the deck portside. One bomb of the same weight exploded in the water about 10 meters off the portside in the vicinity of the bow. There were about 40 aircraft aboard at the time of the attack.

The carrier was heavily damaged; huge fires broke out and the ship lost way. Firefighting continued throughout the day, but proper results were not obtained and on the morning of 6 June, the crew abandoned the doomed ship. Later the crew flooded AKAGI to hasten sinking.

CONCLUSIONS

AKAGI suffered serious damage, burned and became helpless from the action of two direct hits and one near-miss high-explosive aerial bombs. Because of this, she was lost.

The loss of a heavy aircraft carrier from the hits of two to three aerial bombs can be explained by her poor survivability against high explosive aerial bombs, principally because of inadequate fire protection and weak deck armor.