TOKU-94 IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY AIRCRAFT CARRIER HIYO

Hiyo (Japanese: Flying Hawk) was a Japanese light aircraft carrier, the keel of which was laid in 1939, launched in June 1941, and commissioned in the Imperial Japanese Navy in July 1942. The ship was 219.3 meters long, 26.7 meters wide, and had a full displacement of 26,950 tons. The maximum speed of the aircraft carrier Hiyo was around 25 knots, and its main armament was 53 on-board planes. Originally, Hiyo was built as a luxury ocean liner named Izumo Maru for one of the Japanese shipping lines. However, with the impending outbreak of the war in the Pacific and the desire of the navy command to expand its own air force, the as yet unfinished Izumo Maru was bought by the fleet and rebuilt into an aircraft carrier. Similarly to the twin Junyo. A characteristic feature of Hiyo was the relatively large and high superstructure on the starboard side and the funnel tilted away from the main axis of the ship in order to improve the conditions of the air force. During World War II, Hiyo took part in the battles for the Gudalcanal - especially in the Battle of Santa Cruz - and in June 1943 it was severely damaged by the American submarine USS Trigger, which necessitated many repairs on Hiyo, which excluded him from the fight for many weeks . In June 1944, he took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, where he was sunk by American on-board planes.