Aircraft Carrier Unryu (2024)

Home
Intro
People
Events
Equipment
Places
Maps
Books
Photos
Videos
Other
Reference
FAQ
About

Home
» Equipment
» Ships
» Unryu

Unryu

Country	Japan
Ship Class	Unryu-class Aircraft Carrier
Builder	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
Laid Down	1 Aug 1942
Launched	25 Sep 1943
Commissioned	6 Aug 1944
Sunk	19 Dec 1944
Displacement	17,150 tons standard; 20,450 tons full
Length	746 feet
Beam	72 feet
Draft	28 feet
Machinery	8 Kampon water-tube boilers, 4 geared steam turbines, 4 shafts
Power Output	152,000 shaft horsepower
Speed	34 knots
Range	8,000nm at 18 knots
Crew	1,595
Armament	6x2x12.7cm Type 89 AA guns, 13x3x25mm AA guns, 3x25mm AA guns, 6x28x12cm AA rocket launchers
Armor	40-140mm belt, 25-56mm deck
Aircraft	57 operational, 6 in reserve

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseUnryu, the lead ship of her class of aircraft carriers, was built upon a lighter design of the Soryu-class fleet carriers. She was commissioned in Aug 1944 with Captain Konishi Kaname in command. On 17 Dec 1944, she left Kure, Japan with 30 Ohka special attack rocket craft onboard, bound for Manila in the Philippine Islands. On 19 Dec, she was attacked by US submarine USS Redfish, which fired four bow torpedoes at her, hitting Unryu once under the bridge at 1635 hours. Unryu and her destroyer escorts fired their guns in the direction where the torpedo originated. At 1650 hours, another torpedo struck Unryu on the starboard side, under the forward elevator. The Ohka aircraft and aviation fuel were ignited, starting a fire in the lower deck hangar. The order to abandon ship was given, but the ship sank within seven minutes. 1,241 officers and men were lost, including Kaname. The 147 survivors were picked up by destroyer Shigure, which brought them back to Sasebo, Japan on 22 Dec 1944.

ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia

Last Major Revision: Dec 2006

Aircraft Carrier Unryu Interactive Map

Unryu was hit by a torpedo from USS Redfish about 200 kilometers southeast of Shanghai, China, which rendered her dead in the water and afire. At 1650 hours, just as some power was restored, USS Redfish hit her again at 1650 hours, igniting aviation gas and sank within seven minutes. 1,241 were killed (including commanding officer Captain Konishi Kaname); 147 survived and were rescued by destroyer Shigure.

", 29.983333000, 124.050000000, 2], ["

Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan

22 Dec 1944

Destroyer Shigure disembarked the 147 survivors of Unryu (sank three days prior) at Sasebo, Japan.

", 33.156846000, 129.706729000, 1], ["

Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan

02 Oct 1944

Unryu departed Hashirajima near Hiroshima, Japan and arrived at Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan.

", 33.870487000, 132.706383000, 1], ["

Kure, Hiroshima, Japan

27 Sep 1944

Unryu arrived at Kure, Japan.

30 Sep 1944

Yashima, Kagawa, Japan

08 Oct 1944

Unryu departed Yashiro-jima, Japan and arrived at Yashima, Kagawa, Japan.

", 34.365827000, 134.082506000, 1], ["

Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan

01 Aug 1942

The keel of Unryu was laid down at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan.

25 Sep 1943

Unryu was launched at Yokosuka, Japan.

", 35.290000000, 139.660000000, 2], ["

Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan

16 Jul 1944

06 Aug 1944

Unryu was commissioned into service at Yokosuka, Japan with Captain Konishi Kaname in command. She was assigned to Carrier Division 1 of Japanese 3rd Fleet.

10 Aug 1944

Unryu was assigned to 7th Base Air Force Air Attack Force under operational command of Japanese 3rd Air Fleet, although officially she remained with Carrier Division 1 of Japanese 3rd Fleet.

26 Sep 1944

Unryu departed Yokosuka, Japan.

", 35.305039000, 139.708225000, 4]];var pointsArray = [];var markers = L.markerClusterGroup({ maxClusterRadius: 50 });for (var i = 0; i < rawDataArray.length; i++) {var a = rawDataArray[i];var title = a[0];var fill_color = '#FF0033';var marker = L.marker(new L.LatLng(a[1], a[2]), { title: title, color: fill_color });marker.bindPopup(L.popup({maxHeight:200}).setContent(title));markers.addLayer(marker);pointsArray.push(marker);}mymap.addLayer(markers);var group = new L.featureGroup(pointsArray);mymap.fitBounds(group.getBounds());

Photographs

Unryu Operational Timeline

1 Aug 1942	The keel of Unryu was laid down at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan.
25 Sep 1943	Unryu was launched at Yokosuka, Japan.
6 Aug 1944	Unryu was commissioned into service at Yokosuka, Japan with Captain Konishi Kaname in command. She was assigned to Carrier Division 1 of Japanese 3rd Fleet.
10 Aug 1944	Unryu was assigned to 7th Base Air Force Air Attack Force under operational command of Japanese 3rd Air Fleet, although officially she remained with Carrier Division 1 of Japanese 3rd Fleet.
26 Sep 1944	Unryu departed Yokosuka, Japan.
27 Sep 1944	Unryu arrived at Kure, Japan.
30 Sep 1944	Unryu departed Kure, Japan.
2 Oct 1944	Unryu departed Hashirajima near Hiroshima, Japan and arrived at Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan.
6 Oct 1944	Unryu departed Matsuyama, Japan and arrived at Yashiro-jima across the Inland Sea.
8 Oct 1944	Unryu departed Yashiro-jima, Japan and arrived at Yashima, Kagawa, Japan.
16 Oct 1944	Unryu arrived at Kure, Japan.
28 Oct 1944	Unryu departed Kure, Japan.
30 Oct 1944	Unryu arrived at Kure, Japan and became the flagship of Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's Mobile Fleet.
7 Nov 1944	Unryu was relieved as the flagship of the Mobile Fleet.
15 Nov 1944	Unryu was assigned to Carrier Division 1.
27 Nov 1944	Unryu departed Kure, Japan.
7 Dec 1944	Unryu was assigned to emergency reinforcement duty for Luzon, Philippine Islands.
10 Dec 1944	Unryu arrived at Kure, Japan.
13 Dec 1944	Unryu embarked 30 MXY-7 Ohka special attack aircraft at Kure, Japan.
17 Dec 1944	Unryu departed Kure, Japan at 0830 hours.
19 Dec 1944	Unryu was hit by a torpedo from USS Redfish about 200 kilometers southeast of Shanghai, China, which rendered her dead in the water and afire. At 1650 hours, just as some power was restored, USS Redfish hit her again at 1650 hours, igniting aviation gas and sank within seven minutes. 1,241 were killed (including commanding officer Captain Konishi Kaname); 147 survived and were rescued by destroyer Shigure.
22 Dec 1944	Destroyer Shigure disembarked the 147 survivors of Unryu (sank three days prior) at Sasebo, Japan.
20 Feb 1945	Unryu was struck from the Japanese Navy list.

Did you enjoy this article or find this article helpful? If so, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Even $1 per month will go a long way! Thank you.

Share this article with your friends:

Facebook
Reddit
Twitter

Stay updated with WW2DB:

RSS Feeds

Visitor Submitted Comments

1. CR says:
6 Jun 2011 11:45:01 PM

Since online sources like combinedfleet.com & wikipedia note that the US sub Redfish 'bottomed out' at around 230 feet to sit out the Japanese destroyers vain attempts to sink her, is it safe to assume that Unryu sank in relatively shallow water? Or had Redfish moved far away from the sinking location before hitting bottom? In either case, has anyone located and/or surveyed the wreck of the Unryu? (I've found nothing online saying so...)

2. Anonymous says:
25 Sep 2013 09:46:54 AM

people who served in world war II and still living. When the government had soliders put on chemical treated suits and then sprayed with posionous gas. Is still suffering from this today. Please respond.

All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB.

Search WW2DB