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''Shōhō'' (Japanese: 祥鳳, "Auspicious Phoenix" or "Happy Phoenix") was a light aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Originally built as the submarine support ship ''Tsurugizaki'' in the late 1930s, she was converted before the Pacific War into an aircraft carrier and renamed. Completed in early 1942, the ship supported the invasion forces in Operation MO, the invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea, and was sunk by American carrier aircraft on her first combat operation during the Battle of the Coral Sea on 7 May. ''Shōhō'' was the first Japanese aircraft carrier to be sunk during World War II. ==Design, construction and conversion== ''Shōhō'' and her sister were designed to be easily modified as an oil tanker, submarine tender, or aircraft carrier as needed. ''Shōhō'' was laid down by the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on 3 December 1934 as the submarine tender ''Tsurugizaki''.〔Peattie, pp. 241–42〕 She was launched on 1 June 1935 and completed on 15 January 1939. Not long after the ship was initially completed, she began reconstruction as an aircraft carrier in 1941. Her superstructure was removed and replaced by a flight deck with a hangar for her aircraft below. Renamed ''Shōhō'', the conversion was finished on 26 January 1942.〔 After her conversion, ''Shōhō'' had a length of overall. She had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced at standard load. As part of her conversion, her original diesel engines, which had given her a top speed of , were replaced by a pair of destroyer-type geared steam turbine sets with a total of , each driving one propeller. Steam was provided by four Kampon water-tube boilers and ''Shōhō'' now had a maximum speed of . The boilers exhausted through a single downturned starboard funnel and she carried of fuel oil, giving her a range of at a speed of .〔Jentschura, Jung and Mickel, p. 48〕 Her crew numbered 785 officers and men.〔Peattie, p. 242〕 ''Shōhō''s flight deck was long and had a maximum width of . The ship was designed with a single hangar long and wide.〔Brown, p. 22〕 The hangar was served by two octagonal centerline aircraft elevators. The forward elevator was in size and the smaller rear elevator measured . She had arresting gear with six cables, but she was not fitted with an aircraft catapult. ''Shōhō'' was a flush-deck design and lacked an island superstructure. She was designed to operate 30 aircraft.〔 The ship's primary armament consisted of eight 40-caliber 12.7 cm Type 89 anti-aircraft (AA) guns in twin mounts on sponsons along the sides of the hull. ''Shōhō'' was also initially equipped with four twin 25 mm Type 96 light AA guns, also in sponsons along the sides of the hull.〔Jentschura, Jung and Mickel, p. 49〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Japanese aircraft carrier Shōhō」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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