Quote:
Originally Posted by mapuc
When reading your lastest post I started to wonder
How many Carrier of different type did IJN have during WWII ?
In total they had 30
Fleet carriers 13
Escort carriers 10
Light carriers 7
Markus
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Many of the carriers were unique ships or classes made up of two ships, like all pre-war carriers. Only during the war Japan started to build larger classes of carriers (and ultimately failed). Molon Lobe's list is pretty complete, missing only Ikoma, Chiyoda and Chitose.
IJN Fleet Carriers:
Akagi (battlecruiser conversion)
Kaga (battleship conversion)
Soryu
Hiryu (different enough from Soryu to be labelled as a class of its own)
Shokaku and
Zuikaku
Hiyo (ocean liner conversion)
Jun'yo (ocean liner conversion)
Taiho
Unryu class:
Unryu,
Amagi and
Katsuragi completed and commissioned;
Kasagi and
Aso launched, but cancelled during late building stages.
Ikoma class (modified Unryu class):
Ikoma launched, but cancelled after having been built up to the flight deck, one further ship cancelled very early during the construction, possibly even before building had begun (sources aren't clear about that).
Shinano
Total: 13 finished + 3 cancelled in late building stages + (possibly) 1 cancelled in early building stage.
Ikoma is missing in Molon Lobe's list, but even if she had been completed she would not have been commissioned before 1946.
IJN Light Carriers:
Hosho
Ryujo
Zuiho and
Shoho (converted submarine tenders)
Ryuho (converted submarine tender)
Chitose and
Chiyoda (converted seaplane carriers)
Ibuki (cruiser conversion), cancelled during the very late building stages
Total: 7 finished + 1 cancelled
Chitose and Chiyoda are missing in Molon Lobe's list, probably because they are currently around as seaplane tenders and need to be upgraded to a CVL rather than being in the building queue.
IJN Escort Carriers:
Taiyo class (converted cargo ships):
Taiyo,
Un'yo and
Chuyo
Kaiyo (converted ocean liner)
Shin'yo (converted German ocean liner)
Shimane Maru class (oconverted oil tankers, basically they were the Japanese version of the MAC ships):
Shimane Maru completed and commissioned;
Otakisan Maru, Daiju Maru and
Taisha Maru never completed.
Total: 6 finished + 3 cancelled
Chuyo is on Molon Lobe's list as Chuho. The three missing Shimane Marus would never have been finished before the end of 1945.
IJA Carriers:
Akitsu Maru and
Nigitsu Maru (converted passenger liners). Although these can be counted as CVEs they actually were landing ships with a small flight deck and no hangar.
Yamashira Maru and
Chigusa Maru (converted oil tankers): barely fulfilling the CVE classification.
Kumano Maru (converted cargo ship), barely fulfilling the CVE classification, its was actually an aircraft ferry which could launch its stored aircraft rather than unload them.
Total: 5 finished
Only the two Yamashira Marus are on Molon Lobe's list. The others are missing, very likely due to the fact that all these Army ships were just barely capable of operating aircraft. The Yamashira Marus were planned to be used as convoy escorts (they were even armed with depth charges and launchers for them), so I can see why they have been included in the game despite only carrying eight aircraft, but the other three have been left out for good reasons IMO.