World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Akagi was designed as a battlecruiser, much like her American Lexington-class contemporaries. She was converted into an aircraft carrier under the auspices of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty at a hefty price tag of 53 million Yen (USD$36 million). Based on a battlecruiser, Akagi was a unique looking aircraft carrier. At the time of her construction, there were not many air craft carriers in the navies around the world, hence there were no "standard design" at this early stage, which resulted in her unique configuration: triple-flight deck, unconventional port-side island, and six 8-in guns. Already being the most expensive ship in the Japanese fleet, she underwent an expensive refitting in 1935 that gave her the full-length flight deck configuration that she would enter the Pacific War with. The American pilots identified her as a carrier with a boxy superstructure and an improbably high flight deck that towered six-stories above the main deck.

ww2dbaseAfter the 1935 refitting Akagi became the first Japanese carrier with a modern large flight deck, and it was the operational experiences aboard the Akagi that forged the Japanese naval airpower doctrine. She participated in every major action in the early part of the war, including Pearl Harbor, the attack against Port Darwin, operations in the Indian Ocean, and the Battle of Midway. Unfortunately, with her unique design came an unique weakness as well, and the weakness presented itself during the Battle of Midway. Aside from the fact that her anti-aircraft weaponry were of an older and slow-firing design, they were also positioned poorly. Her anti-aircraft batteries were positioned on the port and starboard sides of the ship, twenty or so feet below the flight deck, therefore guns on each side could only fire at targets on the same side of the ship. Additionally, port side guns are additionally blocked by the island, further reducing the effectiveness of the weapons. This was one of the many reasons why she was fatally attacked at Midway on 4 Jun 1942 at the hands of American dive bombers. The fatal shot was scored by American pilot Lieutenant Richard Best whose bomb landed at the aft edge of the middle elevator. "Nobody pushed his dive steeper or held it longer than Dick," commented Best's backseater James Murray. Best's 1,000-lb bomb crashed through the flight deck and exploded in the upper hangar, instantly killing many Japanese crewmen working in the enclosed hangar and hurling everything from men to aircraft over the edge of the flight deck. When Captain Taijiro Aoki abandoned the ship (he was the last to leave her), she had already been burning for nearly nine hours. He remembered later:

ww2dbaseAkagi took two bomb hits at 1026, tearing into below decks. The most damaging hit on Akagi came in the form of a near miss by Ensign Frederick Thomas Weber, which jammed the ship's port rudder, rendering her essentially unnavigable. Initially refusing to leave the ship, Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, in operational command, was finally convinced by Captain Taijiro Aoki to transfer his flag to another ship after explaining to the admiral that commanding a fleet would be impossible on a burning ship without working radio; they transferred to the light cruiser Nagara. Her engine somehow came back to life at 1203, but it was somewhat useless as she could only sail in circles to starboard due to rudder damage. At 1338, the Emperor's portrait was removed in preparation for abandoning ship, which commenced at 1350. Her hull remained afloat until 0200 the next morning when she was scuttled by two or three torpedoes from one or more of the Destroyer Division Four ships, Arashi, Nowaki, Hagikaze, and Maikaze; Akagi was the first Japanese capital ship in WW2 to be scuttled by her own fellow ships in the Pacific. As she went down, survivors aboard destroyers "Banzai! Akagi banzai!" from the safety of the destroyers.

ww2dbaseAkagi was supposed to have a sister ship, Amagi. The Amagi project was abandoned after her under-construction hull was damaged beyond repair during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.

Aircraft Carrier Akagi Interactive Map

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Akagi Operational Timeline

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8.  David Stubblebine says:
7 May 2014 08:42:56 PM

I can find no sources supporting Yamato as the Japanese flagship at Midway, all sources agree that Akagi was the flagship. Nagumo was in overall command and he was aboard Akagi (the very definition of a flagship).

10.  David Stubblebine says:
15 Nov 2016 04:35:46 PM

After James Brown (above) revived this topic, I must walk back by comment of 7 May 2014 that Nagumo was in overall command at Midway aboard Akagi. I had always understood that Yamamoto was the fleet commander aboard his flagship Yamato, which is correct, but I had mistakenly understood that he and Yamato remained in Japan while Nagumo sailed to Midway, which is not correct. Yamamoto and Yamato indeed sailed with the First Fleet, Main Body which stayed 600 miles behind the carrier force commanded by Nagumo. As such, as others have stated all along, Yamamoto aboard Yamato was in overall command of the Japanese forces at Midway while Nagumo aboard Akagi was in tactical command of the carrier force.