Japanese aircraft carrier Chiyoda

Chiyoda in 1944 after conversion into an aircraft carrier
History
Japan
NameChiyoda
NamesakeChiyoda, Tokyo
Ordered1934
BuilderKure Naval Arsenal
Laid down14 December 1936 as seaplane carrier
Launched19 November 1937
Commissioned15 December 1938
Recommissioned21 December 1943
Reclassified15 December 1943 as light carrier
Refit1942 to 1944
FateSunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944
General characteristics
Class and typeChitose-class aircraft carrier
Displacement
Length192.5 m (631 ft 7 in)
Beam20.8 m (68 ft 3 in)
Draft7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
Installed power56,000 shp (42,000 kW)
Propulsion
Speed28.9 knots (53.5 km/h; 33.3 mph)
Complement800
Armament
Aircraft carried
  • Seaplane tender 24 × floatplanes
  • Aircraft carrier: 30 × aircraft
Aviation facilities
  • Seaplane tender: 4 × catapults
  • Aircraft carrier: 2 × elevators
Japanese seaplane tender Chiyoda in 1938

Chiyoda (千代田, "Thousandth-Generation Field") was a light aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Originally constructed as the second vessel of the Chitose-class seaplane tenders in 1934, she continued to operate in that capacity during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the early stages of the Pacific War until her conversion into a light aircraft carrier after the Battle of Midway. She was sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf by a combination of naval bombers, cruiser shellfire and destroyer-launched torpedoes.[1]

  1. ^ Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter; Mickel, Peter (1976). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press. p. 57. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.