Key facts
- Operators
- Imperial Japanese Navy
- Preceded by
- Akagi
- Succeeded by
- Ryūjō
- Built
- 1920–1928
- In service
- 1928–1942
- In commission
- 1928–1942
- Name
- Kaga
- Namesake
- Kaga Province
- Builder
- Kawasaki and Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
- Cost
- ¥ 53 million ( $ 36.45 million)
- Laid down
- 19 July 1920
- Launched
- 17 November 1921
- Commissioned
- 30 November 1929
- Reclassified
- 21 November 1923 as an aircraft carrier
- Refit
- 20 October 1933 – 25 June 1935
- Stricken
- 10 August 1942
- Fate
- Sunk by dive bombers from the USS Enterprise during the Battle of Midway , 4 June 1942
- Type
- Aircraft carrier
via Wikipedia infobox
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Kaga (Japanese: 加賀; named after the ancient Kaga Province) was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Originally intended to be one of two Tosa-class battleships, Kaga was converted under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty to an aircraft carrier as the replacement for the battlecruiser Amagi, which had been irreparably damaged during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. Kaga was rebuilt in 1933–1935, increasing her top speed, improving her exhaust systems, and adapting her flight decks to accommodate more modern, heavier aircraft.
The ship figured prominently in the development of the IJN's carrier striking force doctrine, which grouped carriers together to give greater mass and concentration to their air power. A revolutionary strategic concept at the time, the employment of the doctrine was crucial in enabling Japan to attain its initial strategic goals during the first six months of the Pacific War.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Kaga” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.