BASIC SHIP DATA

The I.J.N. aircraft carrier HIRYU was laid down in 1936, launched in 1937 and commissioned in 1938.

Displacement 10,000 tons
Length 210 meters
Beam 20.8 meters
Draft 5 meters
Flight deck length unknown
Armor thickness 75mm
Bunkers unknown
Power (4 shaft turbines) 60,000 hp
Speed 30 knots
Aircraft 40 planes
Guns 127mm dual-purpose mounts twelve
Guns 25mm automatic guns twenty four
Crew unknown

DAMAGE TO and LOSS OF THE SHIP

At 04:56 hours during the action off Midway Island on the morning of 5 June, 1942, HIRYU was attacked by 60 American aircraft which launched about 30 bombs and 20 torpedoes in the space of 16 minutes. The carrier suffered four direct hits from bombs on the bow, and six bombs were near-misses (less than 15 meters distance) on the port side aft.

As a result of damage to the outer plating by the near-miss bombs, several compartments of the ship flooded and the ship took on a list which gradually increased to 20 degrees. Fires broke out from the direct hits forward, were impossible to extinguish and the flames spread to the center of the ship in the area of the engine room and the boiler room spaces.

After fighting the fires and the flooding for many hours, the Commander ordered the crew to abandon ship early 6 June because it was hopeless to continue the fire-fighting and flood control any longer. HIRYU was torpedoed by her own destroyers to finish her.

CONCLUSIONS

HIRYU suffered serious damage to the hull along with the flooding of several compartments, was burned and in a hopeless condition from four direct hits and six near-miss explosions from high explosive bombs. The fire protection of the ship was unsatisfactory, and with little power to the fire-fighting equipment, led to a situation in which the fire in the forward section of the ship ran out of control. The poor stability of the ship allowed her to take on a 20 degree list when the six near-miss bombs ruptured seams in the plating.