IJN Ryuho - An Often Overlooked Aircraft Carrier
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- Опубликовано: 24 июн 2024
- Not to be confused with the rather more famous Ryujo.
Ryuho, initially built as the submarine tender Taigei, is an interesting case. One of several auxiliary ships that the Japanese built with the express intention to convert to light aircraft carriers. And, arguably, one of the least successful...in terms of combat service. The Japanese considered this ship of dubious utility, and held her back from combat.
Does that mean Ryuho was useless? No. Far from it.
She found a role akin to American escort carriers, in ferrying planes to distant bases. While the Japanese would ultimately lose the war, this role was quite important. And in spite of her light construction, Ryuho proved quite resistant to damage. She ultimately survived the war, despite suffering some pretty severe hits at different points.
That's something, I think.
Further Reading:
www.amazon.com/Warships-Imper...
www.amazon.com/Battle-History...
www.amazon.com/Imperial-Japan...
www.amazon.com/Imperial-Japan...
www.combinedfleet.com/Taigei_t...
www.combinedfleet.com/Ryuho.htm
Ryuho's speed, lack of an island for radar and communication, and small capacity limited her usefulness as a carrier. But it must be recognized that while training and ferrying aircraft were unglamorous, they were very necessary, and better Ryuho than one of the full-size/speed fleet carriers. Plus or minus Junyo and maybe Hiyo, the IJN's conversions of tenders and passenger liners did not do a lot beyond training and ferry duty until a bit late in the war.
Ryuho actually survived the war damaged at Kure.
Thank you so much for covering this cool light carrier! I never knew that she started her life as a sub-tender, or that she survived a typhoon before her conversion. On a personal note, I adore the look of the IJN flush deck carriers. Ryujo is a particular favorite, being the only one of her kind, and basically a Zuiho+. I had her demise confused with Chyoda during the Battle for Leyte Gulf, so i was surprised to hear about her not only surviving the war, but also being the last carrier to leave the Japanese home islands.
Cheers for covering such a cool story about a stubborn light carrier! Also, how do you find some of these photos? The one of the pair of Hiyo class carriers at 12:02 I have never seen before, and the following image from the perspective of a tail gunner would probably look gorgeous if historically colorized. Always enjoy watching your vids, and to see the kind of feedback my comments receive! Can't wait for the next one!
Great work Skynea, I've always admired those small Japanese light carriers.
Re the Mariana's Turkey shoot, I come to believe that the disastrous results of it had not much to do with inexperience of japanese aviators. The Pearl Harbor Kido Butai's strike force wouldn't have fared better against perfected radar controlled intercepts of mass Hellcats with experienced pilots far out from any targets. The US Navy simply had surpassed the IJN in carrier operations to such an extent (except range) that there was no way this could have succeeded
Agreed. Even FM-2 Wildcats had better times operating with escort carriers, but with a task group CIC guiding them by radar. The Air intercept officer may be on a destroyer, but with Radar eyes, he had a good grip on things.
Very interesting. A few years back I built a 1/700 scale model of this ship, attracted to it because of its unusual design. Now I know why
"They pulled a Halsey..." almost had me spit my drink out on my laptop.
He has an interesting way with words!
The IJN light carriers may never get the high glory of the fleet ones.
But they were very useful and important boats for the IJN in training and ferrying aircraft and supplies across their empire.
Outwardly, one of the most bizarre-looking ships (at least from the OUTSIDE) I have EVER seen. In BOTH configurations. The "Submarine Tender" version is particularly interesting; she looks like the offspring of an ocean liner and a warship.
Good stuff.Thanks for the history lesson.
Great job!!
I was just researching this! How delightful.
How did they steer the ship with no island? I don't understand why some of the carriers were built that way.
I've always like ryuho, speed wise she would have paired well with Hiyo and Junyo as a regular group or as fighter cover for the Fuso or Ise class battleships.
Would love to see you do something on the IJN Ryujo. Thanks in advance.
'Pulled a Halsey'.
I like that.
☮
Thanks
Given that you mentioned Hiyo, I'd suggest covering her and her sister Junyo.
The torpedo damaged was repaired in under 2 months kinda suggests the damage was more moderate than severe.
I wonder what that weird scaffold barge thing moored next to her at 10:01 is. Maybe a floating target barge?
There is a better view at 15:16. Not a barge, a tender/lighter of some kind?
My thought are lighters used to hoist camouflage netting. At 10:01 you can see several nearby all with the same type of setup. Tall scaffolding that looks to be higher than the flight deck. Perfect to hang nets or tarps. They don't appear to be very seaworthy with such a low free board negating use as target platforms.
@@ItsAlwaysRusty sounds likely
Bet the Japanese wished they had another carrier and air wing but had sent the Ryuho was sent on a fairy run.
😮
Ryuho is lesser known but it should be mentioned more as one of the worst aircraft carriers ever built next to Bearn.
Wouldn't say build more so rebuild, France to be fair was limited on what they could do since their country had been physically devastated and their economy didn't do much better either after the war, also Bearn was the countries first carrier which should be it should be judged by similar ones such as Langley, Argus maybe even Eagle and not the later ones such as those converted from faster ships such as the Lexingtons or either Kaga or Akagi.
That was then. Now Japan has Helicopter Carriers 😅😅😅
Some of them are destroyers... equipped with F-35. 🤣🤣
DANFS has a tendency to over dramatize action, so I'd rather trust japanese sources.