#夏日生活打卡季##记录我的2024#
This is the sixth article in this series, the last article on Japanese aircraft carriers, and several articles will be written about United States and United Kingdom aircraft carriers, trying to make up ten articles.
The aircraft carrier Taihō, if memory serves, was the first armored aircraft carrier of the Japanese army, and it was known for its protective capabilities, but the number of carrier-based aircraft was not large (insufficient attack power), and it was mainly used as a support aircraft carrier (to support other aircraft carriers in combat). In 1944, when the "Dafeng" entered service, the Japanese army was faced with the double trouble of insufficient survivability of aircraft carriers and insufficient carrier-based aircraft (compared with carrier-based aircraft, pilots still have, although the level has dropped sharply). However, the ideal is plump, the reality is skinny, and the "Dafeng", which is known for its protective capability, sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean with 1,650 officers and men after only one torpedo because of improper operation.
The aircraft carrier "Dafeng", you can see the armor at the stern
The "Dafeng" entered service in March 1944, which can be described as "the autumn of this Cheng's critical survival". The number of carrier-based aircraft is 61 (there is one spare aircraft), and if it is a type of aircraft such as Gale, Caiyun, Tianshan, and Comet, in fact, its combat effectiveness is not weak. Unfortunately, the industrial capacity of Japan's weak chickens, the Battle of the Marianas, the "Daiho" still carried 16 zero battles, and the first battle was the final battle.
On June 18, 1944, when the "Dafeng" was flying carrier-based aircraft, it was topped by the United States submarine "Big Mackerel", and a salvo of 6 torpedoes, of which 2 torpedoes were fired at the "Dafeng", and the carrier-based aircraft pilot Komatsu Sekio blocked the torpedo with the aircraft, which became a famous scene.
Airplanes block torpedoes.
The pilot was very brave, but the "Dafeng" was still hit by a torpedo, which did not affect the operation and could continue to sail, but the lack of experience in damage management caused a secondary explosion, and finally the "Dafeng" protection capability became a joke. Anyway, the author does not quite understand this armored aircraft carrier, people United Kingdom play this, because aircraft carriers are mainly used in high latitudes, what North Sea, Arctic Ocean, North Atlantic, against Germany's warships and land-based aircraft. Japan also plays armored aircraft carriers at low latitudes near the equator, and every day the sun shines directly, is not afraid that the crew will be roasted to a teppanyaki?
"Daho" hit by a torpedo
To sum up, the time when the "Dafeng" entered service was precisely the period when the gap between the Japan Combined Fleet and the United States Pacific Fleet was getting wider and wider; although the Japanese army could still gather a few ships to launch an offensive of carrier-based aircraft, the quality of the pilots and the performance of the aircraft were both low, and the damage to the US military was basically negligible. The armored aircraft carrier looks good, but it is actually not suitable for the Japanese army at that time, or the survivability of Shuanghe is higher.