A bit of a tongue in cheek response to yesterday’s post on Hermes. Hermes was the first purpose built aircraft carrier with a full length flight deck to be laid down and launched. But the end of WW1 and waiting around for test data from the converted carriers Argus and Eagle meant construction proceeded slowly after her launch, so despite being launched before Hōshō was even laid down, Hōshō was commissioned at the end of 1922 while Hermes wasn’t commissioned until 1924. Meaning the title of “First purpose-built carrier” is a bit up in the air.
To be clear, in both the ship itself as well as her aircraft, the Japanese had help from the British, since the two were allies under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. So it’s kind of hard to argue Hōshō is first when considering Hermes was both laid down and launched much earlier. Still an interesting thought experiment.
The fate of the two carriers are also contrasting. Hermes was caught by Japanese carriers during the Indian Ocean Raid with no fighters and only the old destroyer HMAS Vampire as escort. They were attacked by at least 32 dive bombers and quickly sunk, with the loss of 307 men from Hermes and 7 from Vampire as well as both captains.
Hōshō on the other hand, miraculously survived the war. She was technically at Midway, but was part of the Main Body instead of the carriers so she wasn’t involved in the fighting, though one of her scout planes took some stunning photos of the wrecked Hiryu.
She was relegated to training roles and despite being caught up in both air raids on Kure, either her good camouflage or her dinky size meant she didn’t attract much attention and survived with minimal damage.
Post-war, she was used as a repatriation transport for Japanese in China before being scrapped, which is a bit of a shame. Mikasa was saved after all, it wouldn’t have been too much to save the first carrier as well.
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A bit of a tongue in cheek response to yesterday’s post on Hermes. Hermes was the first purpose built aircraft carrier with a full length flight deck to be laid down and launched. But the end of WW1 and waiting around for test data from the converted carriers Argus and Eagle meant construction proceeded slowly after her launch, so despite being launched before Hōshō was even laid down, Hōshō was commissioned at the end of 1922 while Hermes wasn’t commissioned until 1924. Meaning the title of “First purpose-built carrier” is a bit up in the air.
To be clear, in both the ship itself as well as her aircraft, the Japanese had help from the British, since the two were allies under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. So it’s kind of hard to argue Hōshō is first when considering Hermes was both laid down and launched much earlier. Still an interesting thought experiment.
The fate of the two carriers are also contrasting. Hermes was caught by Japanese carriers during the Indian Ocean Raid with no fighters and only the old destroyer HMAS Vampire as escort. They were attacked by at least 32 dive bombers and quickly sunk, with the loss of 307 men from Hermes and 7 from Vampire as well as both captains.
Hōshō on the other hand, miraculously survived the war. She was technically at Midway, but was part of the Main Body instead of the carriers so she wasn’t involved in the fighting, though one of her scout planes took some stunning photos of the wrecked Hiryu.
She was relegated to training roles and despite being caught up in both air raids on Kure, either her good camouflage or her dinky size meant she didn’t attract much attention and survived with minimal damage.
Post-war, she was used as a repatriation transport for Japanese in China before being scrapped, which is a bit of a shame. Mikasa was saved after all, it wouldn’t have been too much to save the first carrier as well.
Hard to overstate how important this ship was.