CHIBI-MARU KANTAI FLEET IJN AIRCRAFT CARRIER TAIHO

Taiho (Japanese: Great Phoenix) was a Japanese aircraft carrier, the keel of which was laid in July 1941, launched in April 1943, and commissioned in the Imperial Japanese Navy in March 1944. The ship was 261 m long, 27.7 m wide, and had a full displacement of 37,300 tons. The maximum speed of the aircraft carrier Taiho was 33 knots, and its main armament was 74 on-board planes. Taiho was to start a series of four Taiho-class carriers, but after its launch, further work on the remaining units was discontinued. It was a development of the Shokaku-class aircraft carriers, and above all, for the first time in the Japanese navy, it was equipped with an armored flight deck along its entire length. From April 1944, it was the flagship of Vice Admiral Ozawa and the entire Japanese 3rd Fleet. The first and last battle of Taiho during World War II was the struggle in the Philippine Sea in June 1944. In their course (June 19, 1944), the new Japanese carrier was torpedoed by the American submarine USS Albacore, which hit Taiho with one of its torpedoes. It was enough to send this huge ship to the bottom - after six hours of fighting the fires, Taiho sank.