Amagi-class battlecruiser

1.2 Armament

The Amagi class ( Amagi-gata) was a series

of four battlecruisers planned for the Imperial Japanese
Navy as part of the so-called Eight-eight eet. The ships
were to be named Amagi, Akagi, Atago, and Takao (initially named Ashitaka),* [1] after the mountains Amagi,
Akagi, Atago, and Takao.* [A 1] The Amagi design was
essentially a lengthened version of the Tosa-class battleship, but with a thinner armored belt and deck and a modied secondary battery arrangement.* [2]

The ships were to be equipped with a main battery of ten

16.1 in (410 mm) L/45* [A 2] guns in ve twin turrets,
although an L/50 gun tested in 1920 might have been
implemented instead. The guns red 2,205 lb (1,000
kg) armor-piercing projectiles with a 494 lb (224 kg)
propellant charge at 2,592 ft/s (790 m/s), at a rate of re
between 1.5 to 2.5 rounds per minute. Each gun had 90
rounds and an approximate barrel life of 250300 shots.
The turrets would have been arranged along the centerline: two superring turrets fore, and three in line aft of
the superstructure. The gun turrets weighed 1,004 tons
(1,020 mt), and allowed for depression of 5 degrees and
elevation of 30 degrees.* [3]

Limitations imposed by the 1922 Washington Naval

Treaty prevented the class from being completed as designed. However, the treaty had a limited allowance
for hulls already under construction to be converted into
aircraft carriers. Amagi and Akagi were both intended
for conversion, but an earthquake damaged the hull of
Amagi so extensively that the ship was scrapped. Akagi
was reconstructed as an aircraft carrier and served with
distinction as part of the Kido Butai during the Second
World War, participating in the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor before being sunk at the Battle of Midway.

1
1.1

The secondary battery was to have consisted of sixteen

5.5 in (140 mm) L/50 guns mounted in casemates along
the center of the ship. These guns red 83.8 lb (38.0 kg)
projectiles and used 22.824.2 lb (10.3310.97 kg) of
propellant at a muzzle velocity of 2,7892,805 ft/s (850
855 m/s). The guns had a maximum elevation of 25 degrees, which enabled a maximum range of 19,140 yards
(10.88 mi; 17.50 km).* [4] Four, later increased to six, 4.7
in (120 mm) L/45 anti-aircraft guns were to have been
mounted amidships, along with eight 24 in (610 mm)
above-water torpedo tubes.* [2]

Design

1.3 Armor

Dimensions and machinery

It was planned that the Amagi class would be protected

by a main belt 10 in (254 mm) thick, sloped at 12 degrees, and a torpedo bulkhead 2.875 in (73 mm) thick.
The main battery barbettes were designed to have between 9 and 11 in (229280 mm) of armor plating, and
the conning tower would have had armor ranging in thickness from 3 in (76 mm) to a maximum of 14 in (356 mm).
Deck armor was to have been 3.875 in (98 mm) thick.* [2]

The ships had a planned displacement of 41,217 tonnes

(40,566 long tons; 45,434 short tons) and 47,000 t
(46,000 long tons; 52,000 short tons) at a full load. The
class design was 820 ft 3 in (250 m) long at the waterline,
and 826 ft 1 in (251.8 m) overall. The ships would have
had a beam of 101 ft (30.8 m) and a draft of 31 ft (9.5
m)* [2] and would have used four propeller shafts, powered by Gihon turbines. The design sta intended to use
turbine engines, which were to be powered by 19 Kampon water-tube boilers, eleven of which were oil-red,
while the other eight were to have mixed oil and coal for
fuel. This system was designed to provide 131,200 shaft
horsepower (97,800 kW) for a top speed of 30 knots (56
km/h; 35 mph). The planned fuel stores amounted to
3,900 tons of oil and 2,500 tons of coal. The ships had a
planned cruising speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph),
and with full fuel stores, the ships would have had a maximum range of 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200
mi).* [2]

2 Background
Experiences in the Russo-Japanese War convinced naval
war planners that more fast capital ships were needed, so
on 4 April 1907, the Imperial Defence Council approved
an Eight-eight policy. This plan originally called for
a eet of eight battleships and eight armored cruisers that
would all be under ten years old (later changed to eight
battlecruisers and reduced to eight years old). However,
1

3 CONSTRUCTION, CANCELLATION, AND CONVERSION

the advent of the dreadnought battleship crippled this plan

at the beginning; given Japan's weak and underdeveloped
economy and the enormous strain that had been put on
it during the Russo-Japanese War (Japan emerged from
the war victorious, but bankrupt),* [5] the launch of HMS
Dreadnought was a disasterfor Japan.* [6]

by adding two more battlecruisers; this was approved, and

two more Amagi-class ships were ordered. However, having eight 16.1 in (410 mm) gun ships (four battleships and
four battlecruisers) on order put an enormous nancial
strain on Japan, which was spending about a third of its
national budget on the Navy. The massive size and scale
In 1907, Japan was halfway to the eight-eight, with two of its building program was rapidly* driving up the cost of
newly delivered battleships (the Katori class) in the eet naval construction and armament. [8]
and two more (the Satsuma class) and four armored cruisers authorized or under construction. In addition, three
more battleships and four armored cruisers had been au- 3 Construction, cancellation, and
thorized, though not funded. However, naval technology
conversion
was changing; older battleships, including all of Japan's
battleships in commission or under construction,* [A 3]
were quickly rendered obsolete with the commissioning of HMS Dreadnought (hence the terms dreadnought
and pre-dreadnought), and armored cruisers were seemingly useless in the face of the new battlecruisers being
laid down by Great Britain and Germany. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) recognized this, and proposed
in 1909 that two battlecruisers be ordered from British
plans, with one to be built in Great Britain and one to
be built at home. These two ships became the Kong
class.* [6]
In 1910, there was still authorization for one battleship
and four armored cruisers. This battleship, a more heavily armored version of the Kong-class battlecruisers, became Japan's rst super-dreadnought, Fus. With these
ships, Japan appeared to be getting closer to the eighteight goal; however, these new ships represented a new
level of naval strengthfor the IJN, and they made all
previous Japanese capital ships obsolete. This meant that
any naval planner aiming for an eight-eight eet would
have to call for seven more battleships and four more battlecruisers* [6] at a time when Japan was trying to weather
a worldwide economic depression.* [5]
After proposals from the IJN in 1911 and 1912 for massive shipbuilding programs, the Cabinet compromised
down to afour-fourplan; under this, three new battleships and no new battlecruisers were authorized.* [7] The
Navy did not agree, and instead called for aneight-four
eet, while the Imperial Defence Council called for the
original eight-eight. The Cabinet relented, and by July
1914, it was decided to aim rst for an eight-four eet,
followed by the eight-eight eet. The eight-four plan was
presented to the Diet of Japan in 1915; it aimed to have
the eight battleships and four battlecruisers by 1923 with
the building of two Nagato-class and two Tosa-class battleships. The problem with this was that the old plan intended all of the ships of the eight-eight eet to be under
eight years old; by the time these new ships were completed, Fus and the rst two Kong ships would be past
their replacement age.* [8]

Akagi after her launch in April 1925; she had already been converted to an aircraft carrier

Akagi was the rst ship of the class to be laid down; construction began on 6 December 1920 at the naval yard
in Kure. Amagi followed ten days later at the Yokosuka
naval yard. The projected completion dates for the rst
pair of ships were December and November 1923, respectively. Atago was laid down in Kobe at the Kawasaki
shipyard on 22 November 1921, and was projected to be
nished in December 1924. Takao, the fourth and nal
ship of the class, was laid down at the Mitsubishi shipyard in Nagasaki on 19 December 1921, and was also
projected to be completed in December 1924.* [2]

The Washington Naval Treaty, signed in February 1922,

greatly reduced the tonnage allowed for capital ships in
the signatory nations. The treaty also instituted a moratorium on new warship construction; battlecruisers canceled under this included one class each from Japan,
the United States, and Great Britain: the Amagi class,
the Lexington class and the G3 class, respectively.* [9]
The treaty did allow for battleship and battlecruiser hulls
currently under construction to be converted into aircraft carriers, but only if these new carriers were kept
under a 27,000-ton limit. Considering that the Amagi
class were designed to displace 47,000 t (46,000 long
tons; 52,000 short tons) at full load in their battlecruiser
*
The plan was approved in 1917, along with funding for conguration, [2] this would have been a rather ditwo battlecruisers which became the Amagi class. In late cult displacement to obtain. However, the Americans
1917, the Navy proposed to expand the eight-four plan also had the same problem when designing a conversion
of their Lexington class, so an exception, spearheaded

3.2

Battle of Midway

by US Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., was added to the treaty that gave the ve signatories the option of converting up to two capital ships
that were under construction to 33,000-ton aircraft carriers.* [10]* [11] This resulted in the United States and
Japan quickly reordering two ships each. Japan chose
Amagi and Akagi, the two ships nearest to completion,
for conversion.* [2]

prise attack. American losses included four battleships

and two destroyers sunk and nearly 200 aircraft destroyed.* [16]* [17]* [18]

The September 1923 Great Kant earthquake in Tokyo

caused signicant stress damage to the hull of Amagi.
The structure was too heavily damaged to be usable, and
conversion work was abandoned. Amagi was stricken
from the navy list and sold for scrapping, which began
on 14 April 1924. The other two ships, Atago and Takao,
were ocially canceled two years later (31 July 1924) and
were broken up for scrap in their slipways.* [2] The incomplete Tosa-class battleship Kaga, on which work had
stopped on 5 February 1922, was reordered as a carrier
to replace Amagi.* [12]

Akagi and the carriers Hiry and Sry were sent in

March 1942 with a mixed force of battleships, cruisers,
and destroyers to the Indian Ocean to engage the British
eet there and to support planned attacks on Ceylon. In
the Easter Sunday Raid on 5 April, aircraft from the carriers struck the British base at Colombo, destroying a number of aircraft and sinking an armed merchant cruiser and
the old destroyer HMS Tenedos in the harbor.* [18]* [21]
The Japanese eet also spotted the heavy cruisers HMS
Dorsetshire and HMS Cornwall at sea; both ships were
sunk in an overwhelming air attack.* [18] On 9 April the
carriers attacked British installations at Trincomalee, destroying aircraft and sinking the carrier HMS Hermes, the
destroyer HMAS Vampire, and the corvette HMS Hollyhock.* [22]

3.1

Akagi 's career as an aircraft carrier

On 19 February 1942, aircraft from Akagi, Hiry, Sry,

and Kaga participated in the bombing of Darwin, Australia.* [18]* [19] On 27 February, their bombers severely
damaged the old American carrier USS Langley, which
was subsequently scuttled by her escort.* [20]

3.2 Battle of Midway

Main article: Battle of Midway

Akagi on trials in 1927; the ship originally had two short take-o
decks and a main landing deck

Main article: Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi

The conversion of Akagi began on 19 November 1923,
and was completed in March 1927. However, the strange
assortment of ight decks tted on Akagia main landing deck superimposed over two short take-o decks
proved unsatisfactory, and the ship was withdrawn from
active service in 1935 for modernization. The lower two
ight decks were removed, the main deck was lengthened
to 817 ft (249 m), and a third elevator was added.* [13]
Retting was completed in 1938.* [14] Akagi supported
operations o China in early 1939 and 1940, and underwent an overhaul in November 1940.* [14]
Akagi served as Vice Admiral Chichi Nagumo's agship
in the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.* [15]
Nagumo's Kido Butai composed of the carriers Akagi, Kaga, Hiry, Sry, Shkaku, and Zuikaku, supported by escortslaunched two waves of airstrikes on
the American base at Pearl Harbor in a devastating sur-

In late May 1942, in an eort to draw out and destroy the

elusive American carriers, Japanese forces organized attacks on the Aleutian Islands in Alaska and Midway Atoll
in the Western Pacic.* [23] Nagumo, aboard Akagi, led
Kaga, Sry, and Hiry and the support ships of the First
Carrier Striking Force to Midway.* [24]* [25] In the initial
attack, Japanese planes neutralized a small force of ghter
aircraft and inicted heavy damage to American installations.* [23]* [26] Torpedo planes and dive-bombers sent
from Midway to harry the Japanese eet had little effect, but the Japanese attack plan had been deciphered
by codebreakers, and the American carriers' planes were
already en route.* [27] Torpedo bombers from USS Hornet, USS Enterprise, and USS Yorktown joined the attack
in succession, forcing the Japanese carriers to maneuver
violently to avoid torpedoes and rendering them unable to
launch additional aircraft.* [28] American dive-bombers,
arriving late after diculty locating the eet, soon landed
fatal strikes on Akagi, Kaga, and Sry.* [28] Yorktown,
handicapped by hits from Hiry 's bombers, managed to
return to the ght only to take two torpedo hits a couple of
hours later.* [28] The burning Yorktown was abandoned,
but her scouts pinpointed Hiry 's location, and bombers
from Enterprise put Hiry out of action with four bomb
strikes.* [28] Japan lost all four carriers of the First Carrier Striking Force at Midway.* [29]

7 BIBLIOGRAPHY

See also
Destroyermen, a series set in an alternate reality and
featuring a rebuilt Amagi

[16] Hoyt (2001), pp. 225228

[17] Kotani, Ken.Pearl Harbor: Japanese planning and command structurein Marston (2005), pp. 4041
[18] Ireland (1998), p. 190

Notes

[1] Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships (p. 235) states
that Takao was named for the town of Takao, Formosa,
and some sources repeat this. However, the name Takao
for Japanese warships predated the renaming of the town,
and Lacroix (p. 122) states that the name was simply reused for the battlecruiser.
[2] L/45 denotes the length of the gun barrels; in this case, the
gun is 45 calibers, meaning that the gun is 45 times long
as it is in diameter.
[3] While the Satsuma-class battleships were technically
semi-dreadnoughtsdue to their heavy secondary battery, they were still made obsolete by Dreadnought.

[19] Hoyt (2001), p. 260

[20] "Langley". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
Navy Department, Naval History & Heritage Command.
Retrieved 6 October 2009.
[21] Hoyt (2001), p. 268
[22] Ireland (1998), p. 191
[23] Ireland (1998), p. 197
[24] Love, Robert. The Height of Follyin Marston (2005),
p. 89
[25] Hoyt (2001), p. 293
[26] Hoyt (2001), p. 295
[27] Love, Robert. The Height of Follyin Marston (2005),
p. 93

References

[1] Daiji Katagiri (1988), p. 93

[28] Ireland (1998), p. 200

[29] Love, Robert. The Height of Follyin Marston (2005),
p. 97

[2] Gardiner and Gray (1984), p. 235

[3] DiGiulian, Tony (19 April 2007). Japanese 41 cm/45
(16.1) 3rd Year Type, 40 cm/45 (16.1) 3rd Year Type.
Navweaps.com. Archived from the original on 24 January
2009. Retrieved 18 January 2009.
[4] DiGiulian, Tony (23 August 2007). Japanese 5.5"/50
(14 cm) 3rd Year Type. Navweaps.com. Archived
from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 18 January 2009.
[5] Gardiner and Gray (1984), p. 222
[6] Gardiner and Gray (1984), p. 223
[7] Gardiner and Gray (1984), pp. 222223
[8] Gardiner and Gray (1984), p. 224
[9] See: Washington Naval Treaty, Chapter II, Part III, Section II
[10] Friedman (1983), p. 43
[11] See: Washington Naval Treaty, Chapter I, Article IX
[12] Gardiner and Gray eds. (1984), p. 232
[13] Stille, p. 12

7 Bibliography
DiGiulian, Tony.Navweaps.com: Naval Weapons,
Naval Technology and Naval Reunions. Bucks
County, Pennsylvania.
Friedman, Norman (1983). U.S. Aircraft Carriers:
An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland:
Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-739-9. OCLC
8763586.
Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1984). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 19061921.
Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021907-3. OCLC 12119866.
Hoyt, Edwin P. (2001). Japan's War: The Great
Pacic Conict. New York: Cooper's Square Press.
ISBN 0-8154-1118-9.
Ireland, Bernard (1998). Jane's Naval History of
World War II. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00472143-8.

[14] Kotani, Ken.Pearl Harbor: Japanese planning and command structurein Marston (2005), pp. 3233

Katagiri, Daiji (1988). Ship Name Chronicles of

the Imperial Japanese Navy Combined Fleet. Japan:
Kjinsha. ISBN 4-7698-0386-9.

[15] "Akagi (Aircraft Carrier, 19271942)". Naval History &

Heritage Command. 21 March 1999. Retrieved 6 October 2009.

Lacroix, Eric (1997). Japanese cruisers of the Pacic War. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN
0-87021-311-3.

5
Marston, Daniel, ed. (2005). The Pacic War Companion. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd. ISBN 184176-882-0.
Stille, Mark (2005). Imperial Japanese Navy Aircraft Carriers 192145. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
ISBN 1-84176-853-7. OCLC 57638857.
"Washington Naval Treaty" of 1922. Washington
Naval Conference.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval
History & Heritage Command, United States Department of the Navy. Print publications 1959
1991; digital version available at the Online DANFS
Project.

External links
Haze Gray & Underway page on Japanese battlecruisers, dreadnoughts and semi-dreadnoughts

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

Text

Amagi-class battlecruiser Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amagi-class%20battlecruiser?oldid=650422595 Contributors: Tpbradbury, Fifelfoo, Geni, Rich Farmbrough, Bender235, Kwamikagami, Art LaPella, TomStar81, Russ3Z, Giraedata, Angr, Bellhalla, Deansfa,
Leeyc0, RobertG, Phantomsteve, Tony1, Nick-D, Cla68, Peter Isotalo, Derekbridges, Ceoil, Mr Stephen, RekishiEJ, GrahamBould, The
ed17, Cydebot, Msa1701, Brad101, TonyTheTiger, Kablammo, Woody, Stonnman, East718, Parsecboy, MastCell, BilCat, PMG, Timmccloud, GimmeBot, Anna Lincoln, Occasional Reader, WereSpielChequers, Ljosi, SpellingGuru, Maralia, Dabomb87, MBK004, IceUnshattered, NuclearWarfare, Sturmvogel 66, La Pianista, Joe N, Dana boomer, MelonBot, Theone827, Wikiuser100, MystBot, Tcncv,
Nohomers48, Favonian, Tide rolls, Lightbot, The Bushranger, Luckas-bot, Mystia Lorelei, LovesMacs, LilHelpa, , FrescoBot,
LucienBOT, Kobrabones, Ericbourland, A8UDI, Yutsi, JaxFerrari, RjwilmsiBot, Alvin3172, DASHBot, 0607crp, TitaniumCarbide, BBPB, KLBot2, MonkeyKingBar, Dexbot and Anonymous: 27

9.2

Images

File:Amagi_line-drawing.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/55/Amagi_line-drawing.JPG License: Fair use Contributors:

Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1984). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906-1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. p.
235. ISBN 0870219073. OCLC 12119866. Original artist: ?
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