Taiho

Taihō-Class Aircraft Carrier (大鳳) was built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the years of 1941 to 1943.

Taihō-Class Aircraft Carrier served the year of 1943

Preceded by: Hiryu

Succeeded by: Taiho Planned G-15 Project (Never built)

Taihō-Class Aircraft Carrier saw her only combat action on 19 June, 1944 where Taihō was one of nine Japanese aircraft carriers involved in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. American submarine USS Albacore fired a spread of six torpedoes, 4 of which would miss. The 5th would have hit with the 6th, but  One of Taihō's strike pilots, Warrant Officer Sakio Komatsu, saw the torpedo wakes, broke formation and deliberately dived his plane into the path of one torpedo. The 6th and only torpedo to actually hit & sink Taihō due to explosions resulting from design flaws and poor damage control. The explosion holed the carrier's hull on the starboard side, just ahead of the island. The impact also fractured the aviation fuel tanks and jammed the forward elevator between the flight deck and upper hangar deck. The forward elevator pit filled with a mixture of seawater, fuel oil and aviation gasoline. Poor damage control decisions in the 6½ hours after the initial torpedo hit the Taihō resulted in what was described as a severe explosion, the flight deck heaving up and the sides blowing out. Taihō was then torn by a second thunderous explosion and sank stern first.