text: japanese aircraft carrier katsuragi katsuragi ( ) was the third and final unryū - class aircraft carrier of the imperial japanese navy built during world war ii . named after mount katsuragi , in nara prefecture , and completed late in the war ; she never embarked her complement of aircraft and spent the war in japanese waters . the ship was badly damaged in a july 1945 airstrike by american carrier aircraft on kure naval base . repaired after the end of the war , katsuragi was then used as a repatriation transport for a number of months , bringing japanese soldiers and civilians back to japan from overseas locations . she was scrapped in japan beginning in late 1946 . design and description the last purpose - built japanese carrier construction during world war ii was a group of vessels based on an improved hiryū design , but with individual units differing in detail reflecting the changing circumstances as the conflict in the pacific approached its conclusion . katsuragi was ordered 25 june 1942 , under the provisional name of # 5003 , as part of the kai - maru 5 program of 1942 . this was a massive naval construction program intended to replace losses suffered at the battle of midway and focused on aircraft and aircraft carriers . the ship was one of 16 unryū - class aircraft carriers planned , although only three were completed before the end of the war . katsuragi had the same hull design as hiryu . she had a length of 227 . 35 meters ( 745 ft 11 in ) overall . she had a beam of 22 meters ( 72 ft 2 in ) and , at deep load , a draft of 7 . 93 meters ( 26 ft 0 in ) . she displaced 22 , 535 tonnes ( 22 , 179 long tons ) at deep load . her crew consisted of 1 , 576 officers and men . when acting as a flagship she had a total of 1 , 600 crewmembers . a shortage of turbines and boilers led to machinery of the same type as that used in the akizuki - class destroyer being used in katsuragi . these consisted of four geared steam turbine sets with a total of 104 , 000 shaft horsepower ( 78 , 000 kw ) driving four shafts , each fitted with a 3 . 75 - meter ( 12 . 3 ft ) propeller . steam was provided by eight kampon type b water - tube boilers with a working pressure of 30 kg / cm2 ( 2 , 942 kpa ; 427 psi ) at 350 ° c ( 662 ° f ) . the ship had a designed speed of 32 knots ( 59 km / h ; 37 mph ) , but during sea trials on 12 october 1944 , she reached 32 . 71 knots ( 60 . 58 km / h ; 37 . 64 mph ) at the light displacement of 18 , 144 long tons ( 18 , 435 t ) . katsuragi carried 3 , 671 tonnes ( 3 , 613 long tons ) of fuel oil although no data on her range is known . she had two funnels on the starboard side , each angled below horizontal . they were fitted with a water - cooling system to reduce the turbulence caused by hot exhaust gases . flight deck arrangements katsuragi 's flight deck was 216 . 9 meters ( 711 ft 7 in ) long and had a maximum width of 27 meters ( 88 ft 7 in ) . a small island was mounted well forward on the starboard side and contained the ship 's bridge and air operations control center . it was fitted with a small tripod mast that mounted one of the ship 's radar . the ship was designed with two superimposed hangars that were served by two aircraft elevators , each 14 by 14 meters ( 46 by 46 ft ) ; the center elevator as used in hiryū was deleted to simplify construction and reduce stress in the hull . the elevators had a maximum capacity of 7 , 000 kilograms ( 15 , 000 lb ) and took 19 seconds to go from the lower hangar to the flight deck . katsuragi was fitted with hydraulically operated type 3 arresting gear with nine cables . she also mounted three type 3 crash barricades . no aircraft catapult was fitted . the ship mounted a retractable crane on the starboard side of the flight deck , just aft of the rear elevator . the ship 's air group was originally intended to consist of 12 mitsubishi a6m zero fighters , plus three in storage , 27 aichi d3a val dive bombers , plus three in reserve , and 18 nakajima b5n " kate " torpedo bombers ( plus two in crates ) . katsuragi 's hangars could not accommodate so many aircraft so eleven planes were planned to be permanently carried on the flight deck . in 1943 the air group was revised to consist of 18 mitsubishi a7m " sam " fighters ( + 2 in storage ) , 27 yokosuka d4y " judy " dive bombers and six nakajima c6n " myrt " reconnaissance aircraft . of these , the c6ns were intended to be carried on the flight deck . when the ship commissioned in 1944 , neither the a7m nor the c6ns were yet in service , so the air group was reconfigured to consist of 27 zeros , 12 d4ys , three of which were to be the reconnaissance version , and nine nakajima b6n " jill " torpedo bombers . by this time , however , the shortage of carrier - qualified aircrew was such that they were ordered to operate from shore bases and katsuragi never embarked her air group . katsuragi carried 397 , 340 liters ( 87 , 400 imp gal ; 104 , 970 u.s. gal ) of aviation gasoline for her aircraft . armor , armament and sensors katsuragi 's waterline armored belt was made from new vickers non - cemented armor 25 to 100 mm ( 1 . 0 to 3 . 9 in ) thick . her deck armor above the magazines that consisted of 56 mm ( 2 . 2 in ) of armor . the ship 's machinery spaces and auxiliary machinery rooms had two layers of ducol steel , each 25 mm thick , to protect them . above engine and boiler rooms , the lower deck consisted of 25 mm of cnc2 armor . the deck over the rear auxiliary machinery space was 42 mm ( 1 . 7 in ) of cnc2 armor while the lower platform deck over the forward auxiliary machinery space consisted of 56 mm of cnc2 . the upper hangar deck served as the ship 's strength deck and it consisted of five layers of ducol steel , a total 115 mm ( 4 . 5 in ) in thickness . katsuragi 's aviation gasoline tanks were fore and aft of the auxiliary machinery spaces and were protected by 50 mm ( 2 . 0 in ) of ducol steel in two layers while the deck above them consisted of 25 mm of cnc2 armor . the sides , bottom and top of the steering gear compartment consisted of 56 mm of armor . the ship 's primary armament consisted of a dozen 40 - caliber 12 . 7 cm type 89 anti - aircraft ( aa ) guns in twin mounts . their sponsons were positioned to allow them some measure of cross - deck fire . katsuragi was also equipped with 22 triple 25 mm type 96 and thirty single type 96 aa gun mounts , most on sponsons along the sides of the hull . these guns were supplemented by six 28 - round aa rocket launchers . for defense against submarines , the carrier was fitted with six depth charge throwers and carried between six and ten depth charges for them . two type 94 high - angle fire - control directors , one on each side of the ship , were fitted to control the type 89 guns . each director mounted a 4 . 5 - meter ( 14 ft 9 in ) rangefinder . six type 95 directors controlled the 25 mm guns and the 12 cm rocket launchers . early warning was provided by two type 2 , mark 2 , model 1 air search radars . one of these was mounted on the top of the island while the other retracted into the port side of the flight deck , between the two elevators . in addition , katsuragi had two smaller type 3 , mark 1 , model 3 air search radars , one mounted on the tripod mast on the island and the other on the aft starboard retractable radio mast . she also had two radar detectors : a metric type e - 27 and a centimetric model 3 system . the ship had a type 93 sonar and two type 0 hydrophones with which to search for submarines . before the end of the war , a type 2 , mark 2 , model 4 surface fire - control radar was installed . in addition , a type 14 early warning radar , ordinarily land - based , was mounted for trials aboard ship . service katsuragi 's keel was laid down by the kure naval arsenal in kure , hiroshima , on 8 december 1942 . she was launched on 19 january 1944 and completed on 15 october 1944 . the ship was transferred among a number of ports on the inland sea until she arrived in kure on 15 february 1945 and she was ordered to be camouflaged . her flight deck was disguised with fake trees , houses and roads ; however , her anti - aircraft batteries remained fully manned . her intended air group , air group 601 , was committed to the battle of iwo jima about that same time . on 19 march , the ship was attacked by aircraft from task force 58 and lightly damaged by several rocket hits ; one man was killed and three wounded in the attack . five days later , the ship was semi - permanently moored at the island of in kure harbor and extensively camouflaged . on 20 april , captain toshio miyazaki was appointed commanding officer of katsuragi . aircraft from usn task force 38 attacked the ship on 24 july as part of a major raid on kure and the inland sea , but she was only hit once . a 500 - pound ( 230 kg ) bomb struck one of the ship 's anti - aircraft mounts on the port side . thirteen men were killed and five wounded , but the bomb did little other damage . a second raid on 28 july did far more damage to the ship as a 2 , 000 - pound ( 910 kg ) bomb penetrated the flight deck and detonated in the upper hangar , between the elevators . the explosion blew out a 20 - foot ( 6 . 1 m ) section of the port hangar wall and the walls of the upper hangar deck were bulged and perforated multiple times . the flight deck between the elevators was bulged up and buckled ; one section of the flight deck out was blown out and flung over to starboard to land across the funnels . only 13 men were killed ( including her executive officer ) and another 12 men were wounded during the attack . katsuragi survived the war without sustaining any further damage , and was designated as a special transfer ship on 2 october and then assigned to repatriation duty on 13 october after the necessary repairs were made . her crew at this time consisted only of 12 officers , one warrant officer , and 40 petty officers and crewmen , with captain miyazaki still in command . the damage from the july attack was only repaired enough to allow the hangar deck to house some 5 , 000 returning soldiers and civilians and the ship began her first voyage outside japanese waters on 19 december . one this first voyage , she called upon minamidaitojima , rabaul and australia . upon her return , further repairs were necessary to make her rain - tight . these were completed by 15 january 1946 and she made a number of trips in early 1946 to bring back japanese before being placed on standby in april . katsuragi was stricken from the navy list on 15 november and transferred to the home ministry for disposal five days later . scrapping of the ship began on 22 december 1946 at the hitachi zosen facility in osaka - sakurajima and was completed on 30 november 1947 .