page_title: Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier
section_title: Armament and sensors
hierarchical_section_title: Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier / Background and description / Armament and sensors
caption_attribution_description: English: cropped version of Zuikaku November 1941.jpg
context_page_description: The Shōkaku-class were a class of two aircraft carriers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1930s. Completed shortly before the start of the Pacific War in 1941, the Shōkaku and Zuikaku were called "arguably the best aircraft carriers in the world" when built. With the exception of the Battle of Midway, they participated in every major naval action of the Pacific War, including the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Indian Ocean Raid, the Battle of the Coral Sea, and the Guadalcanal Campaign.
  Their inexperienced air groups were relegated to airfield attacks during the attack on Pearl Harbor, but they later sank two of the four fleet carriers lost by the United States Navy during the war in addition to one elderly British light carrier. The sister ships returned to Japan after the Battle of the Coral Sea, one to repair damage and the other to replace aircraft lost during the battle, so neither ship participated in the Battle of Midway in June 1942. After the catastrophic losses of four carriers during that battle, they formed the bulk of the IJN's carrier force for the rest of the war.
context_section_description: The carriers' primary anti-aircraft (AA) armament consisted of eight twin-gun mounts equipped with 40-caliber 12.7-centimeter (5 in) Type 89 dual-purpose guns mounted on projecting sponsons, grouped into pairs fore and aft on each side of the hull. The guns had a range of 14,700 meters (16,100 yd), and a ceiling of 9,440 meters (30,970 ft) at an elevation of +90 degrees. Their maximum rate of fire was fourteen rounds a minute, but their sustained rate of fire was around eight rounds per minute. The ship was equipped with four Type 94 fire-control directors to control the 12.7 cm guns, one for each pair of guns, although the director on the island could control all of the Type 89 guns.
  Their light AA armament consisted of a dozen triple-gun mounts for license-built Hotchkiss 25 mm (1 in) Type 96 AA guns, six mounts on each side of the flight deck. The gun was the standard Japanese light AA weapon during World War II, but it suffered from severe design shortcomings that rendered it largely ineffective. According to historian Mark Stille, the weapon had many faults including an inability to "handle high-speed targets because it could not be trained or elevated fast enough by either hand or power, its sights were inadequate for high-speed targets, it possessed excessive vibration and muzzle blast". These guns had an effective range of 1,500–3,000 meters (1,600–3,300 yd), and a ceiling of 5,500 meters (18,000 ft) at an elevation of +85 degrees. The effective rate of fire was only between 110 and 120 rounds per minute because of the frequent need to change the 15-round magazines. The Type 96 guns were controlled by six Type 95 directors, one for every pair of mounts.
  In June 1942, Shōkaku and Zuikaku had their anti-aircraft armament augmented with six more triple 25 mm mounts, two each at the bow and stern, and one each fore and aft of the island. The bow and stern groups each received a Type 95 director. In October another triple 25 mm mount was added at the bow and stern and 10 single mounts were added before the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944. After the battle, Zuikaku's anti-aircraft armament was reinforced with 26 single mounts for the 25 mm Type 96 gun, bringing the total of 25 mm barrels to 96, 60 in 20 triple mounts and 36 single mounts. These guns were supplemented by eight 28-round AA rocket launchers. Each 12-centimeter (4.7 in) rocket weighed 22.5 kilograms (50 lb) and had a maximum velocity of 200 m/s (660 ft/s). Their maximum range was 4,800 meters (5,200 yd).
  Shōkaku was the first carrier in the IJN to be fitted with radar, a Type 21 early-warning radar, mounted on the top of the island around September 1942. The date of Zuikaku's installation is unknown, but both ships received a second Type 21 radar in a retractable installation adjacent to the flight deck after October. Before June 1944, a Type 13 air-search radar was installed on the light tripod mast abaft the island. The Shōkaku-class carriers were also fitted with a Type 91 hydrophone in the bow that was only useful when anchored or moving very slowly.
caption: 12.7 cm (5.0 in) Type 89 guns aboard Zuikaku, November 1941
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