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IJN Soryu

1937

History

Soryu (, Soryu, meaning "blue (or green) dragon") was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the mid-1930s. Sister ship Hiryu was originally intended to follow Soryu, but Hiryu's design has been significantly revised and is generally considered a separate class. Soryu's aircraft were used during the Second Sino-Japanese War in the late 1930s and in support of the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in the mid-1940s. During the early months of the Pacific War, she participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Wake Island, and supported the conquest of the Dutch East Indies.

In February 1942, her planes bombed Darwin, Australia, and she continued to support the campaign in the Dutch East Indies. In April, Soryu's planes helped sink two British heavy cruisers and several merchant ships in raids in the Indian Ocean.

In June 1942, after a brief overhaul, Soryu and three other aircraft carriers of the First Air Fleet (Kido Mutai) participated in the Battle of Midway. After the bombing of the U.S. military on Midway Atoll, the carriers were attacked by aircraft from the island - Enterprise, Hornet and Yorktown Air. Yorktown dive bombers maimed and set fire to Canglong. The Japanese destroyer rescued the survivors, but the ship could not be salvaged and had to sink in order to free the accompanying destroyer for further operations.

She sank with the loss of 711 of the 1,103 officers and men on board. The loss of Soryu and three other Japanese naval aircraft carriers at Midway was a major strategic defeat for Japan and contributed significantly to the eventual Allied victory in the Pacific.