“Akagi (Japanese: 赤城, "red castle") was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese
Navy (IJN),
named after Mount Akagi in present-day Gunma Prefecture. Though she was laid down as an Amagi-class battlecruiser, Akagi was
converted to an aircraft carrier while still under construction to comply with
the terms of the Washington Naval
Treaty.”
The Akagi was a powerful
aircraft carrier as it was faster and longer than the other carriers (except
for the IJN Shinano) which means that the planes have a much longer
runway to take of and land.
As the planes need a long
runway to gain enough speed to take off. Or else it will just fall into the
water, and the planes will need a powerful engine because if the engine is weak
then the plane will not be able to take off. But if the engine is strong then
the plane has a much better chance of taking off.
IJN Akagi
Armament: 6 × single 20 cm (7.9 in) guns
6 ×
twin 12 cm (4.7 in) AA guns
14 ×
twin 25 mm (1 in) AA guns
Aircraft:
21 Mitsubishi A6M Zero
18 Aichi D3A
27 Nakajima B5N
Aircraft
carried: 66 – 25 in reserve
Armor:
Belt armor: 152 mm (6.0 in)
Deck armor: 79 mm (3.1 in)
Speed:
31.5 knots (58.3 km/h;
36.2 mph)
Length:
260.67 m (855 ft 3 in)
Beam:
31.32 m (102 ft 9 in)
Draft:
8.71 m (28 ft 7 in)
Displacement:
36,500 tons
The IJN Akagi was lighter
than the IJN Kaga meaning that the ship can go faster and be
more
maneuverable and the fact that the Kaga and Shinano was wider means that it is
a bit easier to hit with bombs and torpedoes.
Did you know that the IJN
Akagi was not always an aircraft carrier? Yeah it was first a laid down as a
battlecruiser. But when the Japanese found the importance and effectiveness of
an aircraft carrier they had IJN Akagi converted into an aircraft carrier.
As to how it sunk it’s because
a bunch of fires broke out on the flight deck, the heat and smoke made the ship’s
bridge unstable. In the end Admiral Yamamoto ordered the ship to be scuttled.
Italic/bold contents are
credited to Wikipedia
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