page_title: Japanese aircraft carrier Zuihō
section_title: Service
hierarchical_section_title: Japanese aircraft carrier Zuihō / Service
caption_attribution_description: A Japanese Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero in the Air Power Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Dayton, Ohio (USA).
context_page_description: Zuihō was the name ship of her class of two light aircraft carriers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Originally laid down as the submarine tender Takasaki, she was renamed and converted while under construction into an aircraft carrier. The ship was completed during the first year of World War II and played a minor role in the Battle of Midway in mid-1942. She participated in the Guadalcanal Campaign during the rest of 1942. Significantly damaged during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in that campaign, after repairs Zuihō covered the evacuation of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal in early 1943.
  Her aircraft were disembarked several times in mid- to late-1943 and used from land bases in a series of battles in the Southwest Pacific. Zuihō participated in the Battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf in mid-1944. In this last engagement, she mainly served as a decoy for the main striking forces and was sunk by American aircraft. In between battles, the ship served as an aircraft ferry and a training ship.
context_section_description: After commissioning, Zuihō remained in Japanese waters until late 1941. Captain Sueo Ōbayashi assumed command on 20 September and Zuihō became flagship of the Third Carrier Division ten days later. She was briefly assigned to the 11th Air Fleet in Formosa on 13 October and arrived in Takao the following day. The ship returned to Japan in early November, rejoining the Third Carrier Division, and was given a brief refit later in the month. Together with the carrier Hōshō and six battleships, Zuihō covered the return of the ships of the 1st Air Fleet (Kido Butai) as they returned from the attack on Pearl Harbor in mid-December.
  In February 1942, the ship ferried Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighters to Davao City, Philippines for the 11th Air Fleet. Transferred to the First Fleet after the Third Carrier Division was disbanded on 1 April, Zuihō remained in Japanese waters until June when she participated in the Battle of Midway. She was assigned to the Main Body of the invasion force and her aircraft complement consisted of six Mitsubishi A5M "Claude" and six A6M2 "Zero" fighters, and twelve Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bombers. After the initial American airstrikes that sank three Japanese carriers, the Main Body was ordered to rendezvous with the Kido Butai at high speed, but this order was cancelled later that evening. Late on 5 June, the fighters of her combat air patrol drove off an American Consolidated PBY Catalina reconnaissance aircraft of VP-44 that had spotted the Main Body. Zuihō was ordered the following afternoon to prepare to launch an airstrike, together with aircraft from the seaplane tender Nisshin, on the carriers that the Japanese imagined were pursuing them, but this was cancelled on the morning of 7 June when it became clear that there was no pursuit. After a brief refit in July–August in Sasebo, the ship was assigned to the First Carrier Division with the carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku on 12 August.
  The division sailed to Truk on 1 October to support Japanese forces in the Guadalcanal Campaign and departed from Truk 10 days later based on the promise of the Imperial Japanese Army to capture Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. At this time, Zuihō carried eighteen A6Ms and six B5Ns. The Japanese and American carrier forces discovered each other in the early morning of 26 October at the opening of the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands and each side launched airstrikes. The aircraft passed each other en route and nine of Zuihō's Zeros attacked the aircraft launched by the aircraft carrier Enterprise. They shot down three Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters and three Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers and damaged one more of each type while losing four of their own. Two of Enterprise's Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers hit Zuihō with 500-pound (230 kg) bombs and put her flight deck out of action, although she was not seriously damaged otherwise. Together with the damaged Shōkaku, the ship withdrew from the battle and reached Truk two days later. After temporary repairs, the two carriers returned to Japan in early November and Zuihō's repairs were completed on 16 December. In the meantime, Captain Bunjiro Yamaguchi assumed command.
  The ship left Kure on 17 January 1943 and sailed for Truk with a load of aircraft. Upon arrival she was assigned to the Second Carrier Division with the carriers Jun'yō and Zuikaku to provide cover for the evacuation of Guadalcanal. Zuihō's fighters were transferred to Wewak, New Guinea, in mid-February and then to Kavieng in early March, although the ship remained at Truk. They flew to Rabaul on mid-March to participate in Operation I-Go, a land-based aerial offensive against Allied bases in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. The fighters returned to Truk on 18 March after claiming 18 Allied aircraft shot down. Zuihō arrived at Sasebo on 9 May and received a brief refit in mid-June. She returned to Truk on 15 July and remained in the area until 5 November when she returned to Yokosuka. Her air group, 18 Zeros and 8 D3As, was briefly deployed to Kavieng in late August – early September before retur
caption: A Mitsubishi A6M Zero, painted to represent a section leader's aircraft from Zuihō during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea
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