IJN Katsuragi - The Last of Japan's Fleet Carriers

The final fleet carrier completed by Imperial Japan, Katsuragi, is the topic of today's video.
This was a ship completed too late to have any real impact on the war. Too late to even operate aircraft of her own, as the ship was used on training voyages. Or moored dockside, and subjected to air attacks.
Katsuragi was never going to change the course of the war. However, as the final survivor of Japan's great fleet carriers, I find her interesting. And certainly worth a video of her own.
Further Reading:
www.amazon.com/Warships-Imper...
www.amazon.com/Imperial-Japan...
www.amazon.com/Imperial-Japan...
www.amazon.com/S%C5%8Dry%C5%A...

[@DragonShadowfire1]

What an interesting story about a ship that I honestly thought was the name of a Destroyer as opposed to a fleet carrier. Also has probably one of the most intricate camouflage schemes I have ever seen for a ship to guard it against air attack. I'm glad you included that picture of the crew of Zuikaku giving a final salute to the colors as she starts to roll onto her side. That picture is one of the most emotional for me of all the photos of the pacific war, and it shows the dedication of her crew to refuse to go down without a final display of martial prowess. I also find it very touching that right alongside Japan's last fleet carrier was one of the first carriers ever built, poor old Hosho. I had assumed her sunk by submarine's before the wars end, so seeing her last right to the bitter end is poetic in its own right...Even USS Langley can't hold that honor. Another awesome video!! Can't wait for the next story!!

[@briankorbelik2873]

I see as a practical naval man, an idiot.

[@scarlet_squadron]

“Katsuragi” is derived from Mount Yamato Katsuragi. Since the name of the mountain is basically given to the cruiser, I think your sense is about right.

[@Steelshadow104]

It has a nice bittersweet ending to its career and the Navy as a whole. After all the madness, the last thing done was to take care of its people and bring them home

[@ddland45]

I built a Tamiya model of Katusragi back in the 80's. It wa ironic that the foresight the Japanese had thinking the future of naval battle was the aircraft carrier while wasting time, money a resources building obsolete leviathans like the Yamato class "super targets" that ultimately had zero impact on the war. Japan couldn't win a protracted war, as Yamamoto predicted, but more aircraft carriers at the beginning of the war might have made a difference before the Essex class arrived.

[@alexturnbackthearmy1907]

Not really obsolete. Like it or not, Yamato is top of battleships evolution, held back only by technology japan had (while still being more then comparable to other super battleships in daytime). Usage of it as kamikadze ship in kamikadze navy, after spending most of life doing nothing however...

[@jurkoskvarka2154]

@@alexturnbackthearmy1907 yeah, yamato is definetly the epitome of slow battleship style designs but i think N3 is also very close to this title despite her age. But N3 was never bulit so Yamato gets extra credit.

[@GG-ir1hw]

@@jurkoskvarka2154 The N3 were very late 1910/early 1920s designs. They reverted to the slower 23 knot design speeds, still faster than the USNs planned South Dakota’s of the time. But Yamato had great speed for the time. 27knots was fast battleship speeds that were reflected in the Allied KGV, North Carolina and South Dakota classes were all about the same speed. Plus the Iowas were basically what the G3s were to the N3s when compared to the planned Montanas and the Yamato.

[@jurkoskvarka2154]

@@GG-ir1hw yeah, slow, armored and heavily armed. Just like yamato. And i said they got close, not that they reached the epitome of slpw battleship design, but that they got close. I dont disagree with any of the information your provided.

[@GG-ir1hw]

@@jurkoskvarka2154 Yeah, but you did say the epitome of slow battleship design? But as mentioned Yamato was very easily a fast battleship that matched the allied fast battleships in speed. Everything else I agree on also.

[@martinvannostrand1]

It must be so surreal chronicling the last years of the IJN. They knew the war was lost yet they continued to try and complete (and ultimately lose) ships that were either just trying to stay hidden until they could be completed (Shinano) or ships that were completed but would never be used in the role they were intended (Katsuragi). It's like a faction of the IJN just didn't want to or couldn't admit defeat and they were still looking for that one weapon that would turn the tide in their favor. I guess that's pretty much indicative for any nation in their death throws during war. Thumbs up on another fine video documentary...keep up the good work.

[@ericvantassell6809]

throes

[@jimmyseaver3647]

This is the ship that gave us the name for everyone's favorite anime drunkard cougar, BTW.

[@dasking2120]

I see you are a man of culture as well

[@vic5015]

Ah, you've seen Evangelion.

[@shironasama0445]

I’m sure you’re also grateful to IJN Ayanami, Soryu, Makinami, Aoba, Akagi, and others for their name contributions

[@chrisnizer5702]

Most likely the IJN aircraft lacked folding wings because of the added weight. Japanese Naval aircraft also lacked armor protection and self sealing fuel tanks to save weight so folding wings were the LEAST of their problems.

[@spudhut2246]

I never knew of this last carrier. Great history lesson.

[@HandyMan657]

Thank you for posting. Cheers

[@laurencejenner1127]

Great work, thank you.

[@hugod2000]

i just found this interesting channel. Thank you for posting these well researched videos.

[@renesagahon4477]

Excellent research. Very interesting to watch

[@lyedavide]

Thanks for another interesting video. I've always been fascinated by the sheer fanaticism of the Japanese during WW2. To sacrifice aircraft, ships and men that could well have been put to better use by expending them to achieve so little.

[@clmk28]

excellent video

[@alephalon7849]

If Katsuragi had been in the Godzilla Minus One movie, I half-seriously predict that the director would have contrived to ram her into the Big G a la Macross Attack/Daedalus Attack. Thanks for the good video!

[@philsalvatore3902]

I have read in other accounts that the bomb that blew out the flight deck on Katsuragi was a 500 pounder and the minimal effects on the ship are cited by some as a testament to how ineffective a 500 lb bomb is. A 2,000 pounder would have done far more damage, perhaps fatal damage.

[@Happy11807]

BEAUTIFUL DECK DESIGN AFTER LANDING THEY COULD DIVE RIGHT INTO THE HANGER DECK!

[@RayyMusik]

Quite ingenious by the IJN to commission a lot of new carriers but not to train new pilots.

[@takashitamagawa5881]

At no time leading up to and during the war did the Japanese Navy have enough pilots in training to keep their carrier air groups up to their full potential strength, not even when they were winning.

[@AnonNomad]

Gregg's Airplanes & Automobiles did a short segment detailing the typical Japanese approach to training new recruits and if it reflects across the entire force, it's a wonder they trained anybody at all.

[@gregb6469]

Chronic shortages of aviation fuel limited the amount of training the IJN could give pilot recruits. The inability to spare experienced pilots from combat to train new pilots meant that those who were receiving training were being inadequately trained, so when they did go into action they served mainly to boast American pilots' shoot-down numbers.

[@gruntforever7437]

@@AnonNomad so true. They started the war with the finest group of pilots on earth and within one year they were virtually all gone and there were no replacements even close to their quality

[@Joshua-fi4ji]

Both Japan and Germany failed at training pilots quickly. They had excellent training regimes for peacetime, but in the war they kept their best pilots on the front lines, leaving them with a small but excellent air force core that would be depleted. Britain and USA sent their best pilots back to be teachers. This leaves less top aces, but their ability to pass on experience results in a large adequately trained air force. As the war went the quality of axis pilots took a nose dive, whilst the allied pilots gradually got better. (Soviet pilots weren't the best though and largely had to fly obsolescent planes) Also worth mentioning that Japan considered converting Shinano into a full fleet carrier, but knew it didn't have the pilots. It was instead meant to be a huge armoured plane repair shop and delivery service similar to HMS Unicorn, but a bit more survivable. Not a bad idea given their situation, but perhaps by that point just finishing the battleship as it was designed would have been best. Not that it'd make much difference to the outcome of the war, but imagine 2 Yamatos during Operation Ten-Go, perhaps 1 would make it. Had they not lost Musashi and managed to operate the 3 together, that'd have been a force to be reckoned with.

[@fallen_saint6939]

Katsuragi is Japan's last fleet carrier in name only, given the current modifications being made to the Izumo-class, Kaga in particular, to operate F-35Bs; when finished they will become the first Japanese ships to operationally carry fixed wing aircraft since the surrender.

[@TyrannoJoris_Rex]

I always find stuff on the Hiyo and Unryu classes interesting

[@jlawsl]

Its funny that at the beginning of the video, the creator says- A mere 3 aircraft carriers. That is still more then every country today except for the USA. Even China only has 2 with another under sea trials, so technically tied for 3. That is kind of crazy when you think about it until the even crazier thought is that the USA produced more then 150 combined aircraft carriers during the war, many being escort carriers, but 60-70+ being fleet and light carriers. Today, we OOh and AAh about 11 super carriers and about the same amound of LHDs Even the escort carriers were within the same tonnage range of a modern Hyuga class "destroyers"(Helicopter carrier). Japan was well ahead of the curve at the beginning of the war when it came to the carrier. It didn't end that way though.

[@eric-wb7gj]

TY 🙏🙏

[@philsalvatore3902]

Japan now operates two 26,000 ton VSTOL aircraft carriers, JS Izumo and JS Kaga, the Japanese coyly call "Mullti-purpose Destroyers". Nevertheless they operate the F-35B along with MH-60s, giving Japan state of the art fixed wing naval air power for the first time since WWII.

[@charleskoehler9873]

Well done. Narrated by an actual human being , I believe.

[@TXGRunner]

You discussed their lack of planes and pilots about 2/3rds of the way through. Even if Japan could have had 50 fleet carriers by early 1943, they lacked the planes and experienced pilots to be competitive against the US strike groups. Even the IJN recognized this with increasingly futile attempts to discard their air assets in last ditch attempt to slow the USN. Of course Midway was devastating, but after the battles around Guadalcanal, even with the sinking of Hornet and damaging Enterprise, they simply had no way to replace pilots fast enough. Too bad this carrier wasn't given to Australia or France, but I suppose they would've both preferred one of the many surplus US carriers.

[@takashitamagawa5881]

One thing to add is that the philosophies of Japanese aircraft design and pilot training were all tilted toward the offensive. Japanese aircraft had poor survivability (lacking armor plating and self-sealing fuel tanks) and even early in the war during favorable conditions Japanese pilots were lost at a rate that exceeded the rate at which they could be replaced. The Japanese "tactical victories" at Coral Sea and Santa Cruz were accompanied by a frightful loss of highly skilled aircrew whose replacements would never come close to matching their quality.

[@f430ferrari5]

The IJN had over 1,500 pilots in their program at the start of the war. That’s plenty especially when the IJN was trying to beat the US by the end of 1942. And what’s with the exaggeration 50 fleet carriers. Had they had an extra 5 that would have been more than enough. The IJN blew it at Midway. It was the US which was lacking everything in 1942 except street smarts and ingenuity and resourcefulness.

[@gruntforever7437]

@@f430ferrari5 1500 pilots sounds like a lot. It is not. The USN by the end of 1942 three times that many trained or training. Just did not have the carriers to put them on. The IJN lost virtually all those great pilots in the first year of the war and could not replace them

[@f430ferrari5]

@@gruntforever7437 for 1942, it was more than sufficient and this was at the start of the war and these were carrier qualified pilots. You may want it study how many carriers they IJN had and their respective plane capacity because they certainly had like 3 times the number of planes available and the US was way behind. The numbers of US pilots you provide are both Atlantic and Pacific. If the US had sufficient pilots at the time of Midway or even shortly after then they wouldn’t have needed to borrow planes and pilots from Saratoga to help support Yorktown. Japan wasn’t looking to fight a war with the US beyond 1942. They blew it at Midway. They had victory right in front of them and failed to utilize all the vessels they had available.

[@jacksoncz8536]

My Uncle was a survivor of the Bismarck Sea, I have always wondered what the two planes that hit her were?

[@McRocket]

13:24 - Well, the final fleet carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Japan currently has 4 carriers that they call 'helicopter destroyers'. One class - the 19,000 ton Hyuga's - could easily be modified to carry F-35B fighter bombers. And the other class - the 27,000 ton Izumo's - are already being modified to carry F-35B's to be finished by 2030 or so. I found this video very interesting. Thank you. ☮

[@philsalvatore3902]

Both JS Izumo and JS Kaga operate F-35Bs now (early 2024). Kaga has her new squared off flight deck. Izumo will receive her's later this year but operates F-35Bs after some other upgrades. Japan is back in the carrier aviation business.

[@BobSmith-dk8nw]

Thanks. I was unaware of this ship. The last ship I knew about was _Shinano_ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Shinano I was also less aware of the other carriers remaining at the end of the war. .

[@Paul-zf8ob]

Never heard of this carrier. Where did it serve? No planes? No wonder I never heard of her!

[@Beanmanwarby]

Dang dude I was thinking about the cruiser scene in the new Godzilla movie the whole time and when you mentioned it I was like “OOHH HE SAW IT TOO”

[@Echo_Reyes]

I was thinking the same thing awesome movie Spoilers alert for context in Godzilla It was mentioned in a blink and you’ll miss it line that the cruiser was returned to Japan by Singapore for this situation and I think also that same dialogue implied that the U.S. gave Japan emergency authorization to use whatever naval assets they had left to fight Godzilla

[@Aelxi]

Godzilla Minus One?

[@Beanmanwarby]

Yeah too bad he can’t do a video on the wreck of the takao. Cus yknow, Godzilla blew it to bits….

[@Echo_Reyes]

@@Aelxi yes

[@Echo_Reyes]

@@Beanmanwarby she would’ve made a good museum ship if the takao wasn’t destroyed

[@Anaris10]

You should've added the nicknames of these planes such as Bettys, Vals and Kates and so forth.

[@jessebauer7372]

It would have been cool if she would have been saved as a museum ship.

[@vic5015]

Given the post-war circumstances that was probably never gonna happen.

[@jaredrevis4594]

I mean, they nuked Nagato Hell, they nuked a bunch of US ships Between money and nuke-happy politicians, ships weren't gonna be saved

[@philsalvatore3902]

The USS Enterprise deserved to be saved more than any IJN warship.

[@mosesracal6758]

They shouldve kept the foliage and camouflage if theyre not gonna use the deck lol. Its going to be a real life Floating Island Type Carrier from How A Realist Hero Rebuilt The Kingdom

[@conservativemike3768]

An academic exercise displacing approx 22,000 tons.

[@philsalvatore3902]

About the same size as a Yorktown and larger than many RN carriers.

[@Joshua_N-A]

Imagine Japan build an improved Izumo but slightly bigger and name it Katsuragi. Zura would be the nickname 😂😅.

[@AugmentedGravity]

M I S A T O

[@briankorbelik2873]

A carrier with 0 air group is as worthwhile as the Lex or Sara with their origional 8" guns or the Akagi or Kaga with their originnal main guns. I'd prefer the USS Helena CL-50 with 15 6" guns, rhank you.

[@jamesbugbee9026]

A sad story

[@alanh1406]

Showed up late to the party through no fault of her own and the party was just about over.

[@picklerick8785]

Another IJN "survivor". One wonders why not one IJN capital ship still afloat in 1945 (like Nagato, where Admiral Yamamoto conceived the Pearl Harbor strike) was brought back to the United States as the ultimate war trophy. I'm sure somebody in the Navy conceived of the propaganda value of showing off captured enemy warships. Instead they sunk Nagato at Bikini, along with Prinz Eugen.

[@philsalvatore3902]

The US government feared they would become shrines for fascist and imperialist holdouts in later years. The Allies had just fought a truly horrible global war to defeat the fascists and Imperial Japan. They didn't want anything left that some die-hards could turn into memorials to their lost cause.

[@royasturias1784]

It's that flattie motormouth of a flattop!

[@jonathanlong6987]

I thot the newest Godzilla movie was a documentary. 😂

[@Paulftate]

👍✌

[@jonathanlong6987]

Japanese has no stress on any syllables. Also, a=ah; i=ee; u=oo; e=eh; o=oh as in American English

[@sslaytor]

Is this where the anime Girls und Panzer got the idea of putting High Schools (and towns) on aircraft carriers?

[@user-qt1kb2lp6f]

About the time Japan was out of carriers , the US had almost 150 Most being light and small compared to fleet carriers

[@Joshua_N-A]

The light carriers become ASW and the first LHDs later on, right?

[@user-qt1kb2lp6f]

@@Joshua_N-A Many were already being used for ASW before the end of the war in all theaters and continued throughout the Korean War As for choppers I think most were scraped by then but I could be wrong

[@panic_2001]

what I will never understand: Why didn't the IJN design/build aircraft with fully foldable wings (like the US Navy) ? About 20% more aircraft per carrier, things might have been different in 1942.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Not so bright as the Yanks?

[@georgecoventry8441]

Grumman was the one company that came up with the unique folding wing design seen on their planes, such as the Wildcat, the Hellcat, and the Avenger. Other USA naval planes designed by other manufacturers had folding wings which lifted upward in a more conventional manner, similar to what the Japanese did on most of their naval aircraft. Everyone did try to solve the problem with some form of folding wings on their naval aircraft, including the Japanese. Grumman's solution did turn out to be the best of the lot, taking up less space than their competitors in either Japan or the USA. If you look at how a Vought Corsair or a Douglas Dauntless folded its wings, well, that is basically the same way that most of the Japanese naval planes folded their wings.

[@panic_2001]

@@georgecoventry8441 Hi, thanks for the information. I expressed myself poorly (English is not my native language): In "Shattered Sword" a Japanese carrier's hangar is sketched with Kates, Zeros + Vals. If I remember correctly, their wings (especially on the Val) were barely foldable. There was definitely a need for optimization here - at least a “Corsair style”. You could fold the carrier variant of the Ju 87 that was not used in Corsair style.

[@georgecoventry8441]

@@panic_2001 - Yes, only the extreme tip of the wing folded on the Val and on the Zero. That was done so that those planes could fit on the standard elevator platform when being moved up to the flight deck. You are right that they could have come up with a design similar to the Corsair, folding at the middle of the wing, and that would have helped save deck space in the hangars. Why didn't they? Who knows? They were certainly capable of designing mid-folding wings. They did so on the Kate.

[@chrisnizer5702]

Most likely it's because of the added weight of folding wings. They wanted the lightest possible aircraft for maximum range and maneuverability, even sacrificing armor protection as well as self sealing fuel tanks.

[@Kakkarot211]

Feels like a waste that a lot of the carriers listed weren’t restored and used or sold to allies

[@dennisvandermarkt8263]

Never heard of her or her sisters

[@diegoviniciomejiaquesada4754]

4:18 Bro you misspelled "USELESS".

[@kirktravis5780]

Curry? Kew re. Rolled r.

[@fabianpatrizio2865]

Japan started the war with around a dozen carriers and a dozen battleships - a waste of time....WW2 was a carrier war... big battleships were just slow, easy targets...Japan could've had 20 carriers instead of battleships

[@grahamprice3230]

Yes ,remember Pearl Harbour!All Battleships lost.Most nations learned the hard way around this time.Iowa class,KG5.Littoria.Bismark etc etc. We’re still built or laid down .

[@gruntforever7437]

Brutally speaking it would been very difficult to get more carriers authorized. Yamamoto had all he could do to get the ones he got Just for information purposes, you take all the resources that went into the Yamato class and you could have had 100 more destroyers which would have been vastly more useful

[@chrisnizer5702]

The Japanese Empire wasn't counting on or prepared for a long/protracted war of attrition. They were well aware of the Allies "Europe First" agenda and didn't think they would commit the manpower and resources necessary to wage war over the vast Pacific and all the far flung islands. Especially since everything needed would now (February - March of 1942) have to come from nearly half the world away. Certainly can't blame them for that assumption given the circumstances at the time. Semper Fidelis my friend!

[@manveerparmar6570]

First!