Junyo, first of a class of two 24,100-ton aircraft carriers, was built at Nagasaki, Japan. She was begun as the civilian passenger liner Kashiwara Maru but was taken over by the Japanese Navy in 1940, while still on the shipways, and converted to a carrier. Completed in May 1942, early in June she participated in the attacks on U.S. Alaskan bases that accompanied the Battle of Midway. As one of four large aircraft carriers remaining after the Midway action, Junyo was an important unit of the Japanese fleet during the next two years, even though she had a lower speed (about 23 knots) and smaller air group (about fifty planes) than built-for-the-purpose fleet carriers.
In late October 1942, during the intense Guadalcanal Campaign, Junyo took part in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. In that action, her planes attacked the U.S. carrier Enterprise, battleship South Dakota and light cruiser San Juan, scoring hits on the latter two. In mid-November, she played a covering role in the three-day-long Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. The following Spring, her planes were sent to Rabaul, with those of other Japanese carriers, for land-based attacks on the Allied forces gathering at Guadalcanal. In June 1943, Junyo helped protect a important convoy sent to reinforce the Japanese garrison on Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands.
A year later, as the U.S. assaulted the Mariana Islands, Junyo joined the rest of Japan's aircraft carriers in the sortie that produced Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19-20 June 1944. After that action, her air group was so depleted that she was unable to participate in the great Battle of Leyte Gulf in October. While operating off southern Japan on 9 December 1944, Junyo was badly damaged by torpedoes from the U.S. submarines Redfish (SS-395) and Sea Devil (SS-400). Since Japan's strategic situation was now so bad as to eliminate any need for a carrier fleet, she was not repaired for seagoing service. At the end of the Pacific War, Junyo was moored at Sasebo, where she was scrapped in 1947.
This page features all our images of the Japanese aircraft carrier Junyo.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: 80-G-701429 Junyo (Japanese aircraft carrier, 1942) Moored at Sasebo, Japan, circa Fall 1945. The original caption dates the photograph on 1 November 1945, but it may have been taken somewhat earlier. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 70KB; 740 x 475 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: USMC 136996 Junyo (Japanese aircraft carrier, 1942) Moored at Sasebo, Japan, 26 September 1945. U.S. Marine Corps Photograph. Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 605 pixels |
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Photo #: USMC 150350 Junyo (Japanese aircraft carrier, 1942) Moored at Sasebo, Japan, circa Fall 1945, following the end of World War II. U.S. Marine Corps Photograph. Online Image: 86KB; 740 x 605 pixels |
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Photo #: SC 218540 HA-230 (Japanese submarine, 1945) Beached at Sasebo, Japan, 19 October 1945. Three Japanese aircraft carriers and several "Kaibokan" escort ships are in the background. The carriers are Junyo (center, closest to the camera); Ibuki (partially visible beyond Junyo and Kasagi (partially visible at right). Note the small craft in the foreground, with a registration number painted in its interior. Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 56KB; 740 x 565 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: USMC 136995 Junyo (Japanese aircraft carrier, 1942) At Sasebo, Japan, 26 September 1945. Two HA-201 class small submarines are alongside. U.S. Marine Corps Photograph. Online Image: 97KB; 740 x 615 pixels |
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Photo #: USMC 150351 Junyo (Japanese aircraft carrier, 1942) View of the ship's island, taken at Sasebo, Japan, circa Fall 1945, following the end of World War II. Note her radar antennas and outward-raked smokestack. U.S. Marine Corps Photograph. Online Image: 63KB; 740 x 595 pixels |
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Photo #: SC 218541 Junyo (Japanese aircraft carrier, 1942) A member of the ship's residual crew signals an approaching tug from the carrier's flight deck. Taken at Sasebo, Japan, 19 October 1945. Note this Japanese Signalman's bugle, and details of the ship's island. Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 60KB; 575 x 765 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: SC 218543 Junyo (Japanese aircraft carrier, 1942) View on the flight deck, looking forward at the island. Taken at Sasebo, Japan, 19 October 1945. Note the Type 3 radar antenna on the ship's mainmast. Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 78KB; 585 x 765 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: SC 218542 Junyo (Japanese aircraft carrier, 1942) View looking aft from high on the ship's island. Taken at Sasebo, Japan, 19 October 1945. U.S. Army soldiers of the 32nd Division are on the flight deck. Note the fore-and-aft flight deck planking; curious device on the landing signal platform; Type 3 radar antenna on the mainmast and radio-direction-finder "loop" in the foreground. Several HA-201 class submarines are on the beach in the distance. That directly off Junyo's stern is HA-230. Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 128KB; 585 x 765 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: USMC 136997 Junyo (Japanese aircraft carrier, 1942) View looking aft from her island, showing the flight deck and after aircraft elevator. Photographed at Sasebo, Japan, 26 September 1945. Two HA-201 class submarines are beached in the right background. U.S. Marine Corps Photograph. Online Image: 72KB; 740 x 610 pixels |
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Photo #: USMC 136998 Junyo (Japanese aircraft carrier, 1942) View looking forward from her island, showing the flight deck and forward aircraft elevator. Photographed at Sasebo, Japan, 26 September 1945. Note that flight deck planking is laid fore-and-aft. Several U.S. Navy LSTs are in the distance. U.S. Marine Corps Photograph. Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 610 pixels |
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If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
16 December 2001