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Japanese
Carrier Equipment
This analysis centers on the identification of a piece of wreckage
belonging to a Japanese aircraft carrier. Most of the identifiable
items in this area of IJN carriers are centered on anti-aircraft
armament and flight deck operations. This section provides additional
details regarding the types of equipment to be found on or near
the edges of Japanese flight decks and in the AA galleries adjacent
to them.
Heavy Anti-Aircraft Armament
These weapons were used to engage enemy aircraft at longer ranges.
Japanese fleet carriers typically carried between 12 and 16 such
weapons, universally in twin mounts. Such mounts were usually
sponsoned out from the side of the ship, with a heavy tapering
cylindrical support structure beneath the mount. Typically, such
mounts were incompletely shielded, and usually only carried light
sheet metal across their fronts to protect the crew from splinters.
However, both heavy and light AA weapons, and their associated
fire-control equipment, were fully enclosed when mounted on the
starboard quarter of the ship, in order to protect the crew from
boiler gases emanating from the downswept funnel. This feature
is true for each of the four Japanese carriers lost at the Battle
of Midway, except for Akagi, where the rearmost starboard 25mm
mounts were left unshielded.
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Figure 1: Single barreled 120mm AA mount aboard a heavy cruiser.
(Scanned from John Campbell’s Naval Weapons of World War Two)
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Figure 2: Standard dual 127mm AA mount. (Scanned from Janusz Skulski’s
Heavy Cruiser Takao) By the time of the Pacific War, the newer 127mm/40
had largely superseded the 1920s vintage 120mm/45 mount in most of
the Imperial Navy’s warships. Akagi, however, still retained
the older weapon, despite her 1938 refit. |
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Light
Anti-Aircraft Armament
The standard Japanese light anti-aircraft gun was a 25mm weapon,
originally developed by the French firm Hotchkiss and produced by
the Japanese beginning in 1936. It came in single, dual, and triple-barreled
configurations. At the time of the Battle of Midway, the dual mount
was still the most common among IJN carriers, although Hiryû
(the newest of the Japanese carriers at Midway) carried several
triple mounts at the time of her loss.
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Figure 3: Dual 25mm AA mount. (Scanned from Janusz Skulski’s
Heavy Cruiser Takao)
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Figure 4: Twin 25mm mount aboard Kaga. This is mount S#5. The large
director above the funnel is a Type 91 system for the starboard
8" battery. (Scanned from Maru Special)
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Fire
Control Systems
The standard Japanese heavy AA (i.e. for 120mm and 127mm weapons)
fire-control system was the Type 94 Koshaki, first adopted in 1934.
It was used by practically every Japanese warship for AA control.
Typically, two Type 94 directors were carried aboard each carrier—one
apiece for the port and starboard heavy AA batteries.
Light AA weapons were controlled by the Type 95 system introduced
in 1935. This system was typically located somewhere close by the
guns it controlled, as a pointer would have to manually point out
targets to the guns being directed. (Remote power control of 25mm
mounts was apparently only available in the triple barreled version,
and seemingly towards the end of the war. It is not known whether
Hiryû was so fitted at the time of her loss.)
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Figure
5: Type 94 heavy AA director. (Scanned from Hasegawa’s
Nihon no Kokubokan) |
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Figure
6: Type 95 directors, in both shielded and unshielded versions.
(Scanned from Tamiya’s Random Japanese Warship Details,
Volume 2.)
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Radio
Aerial Platforms
In addition to gun and fire-control platforms, most Japanese carriers
mounted at least four radio aerials abreast their flight decks. These
aerials were raised into a vertical position during time in port,
but could be lowered to a horizontal position during flight operations.
Figure 7: Typical radio aerial platform, with aerial in the raised
position. (Scanned from Hasegawa’s Nihon no Kokubokan)
Nets
Japanese aircraft carriers (like those of most other nations) carried
steel cable nets along the sides of their flight decks which could
help prevent heavy objects (planes, personnel, ordnance, etc.) from
rolling off the edge of the flight deck and damaging themselves and/or
the galleries beneath. Such nets were suspended from heavy steel arms
along the sides of the flight deck.
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Figure
8 : Picture of 1:100 scale model of Zuikaku, showing landing
light arrays, radio aerials, netting, and port quarter anti-aircraft
platforms. (Scanned from Gakken Pacific War Series, Volume #13.) |
Landing
Light Arrays
Japanese aircraft carriers carried landing aides to help pilots
determine whether or not their landing approach was correct
in terms of both descent angle and angle relative to the centerline
of the flight deck. The equipment used was a set of colored
lights (red and green) which were aimed at different angles
upwards and over the stern of the ship. The lights themselves
were carried atop a hinged supporting arm. Often, the arm was
affixed to the antiaircraft machine gun galleries, either to
the gallery structure or an actual gun tub. However,
landing light arrays could also be attached to other platforms
on the side of the ship.
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When the lights were in use, the arm was folded outward perpendicular
to the flight deck. The arm and lights could be folded flat
against the side of the ship when not in use.
Each carrier typically carried several sets of lights (4 sets
being a common number). The positioning of the lights themselves
was distinct to each carrier. From the available sources,
we know the position of Akagi’s landing light arrays
very precisely, Kaga’s less so, and Sôryû’s
hardly at all. The following pictures help illustrate how
such arrays were carried and used aboard ship.
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Figure
9: Another shot of Zuikaku, showing the landing light array
from above. (Scanned from Gakken Pacific War Series, Volume
#13.) |
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