| Air Group 83 aircraft from USS Essex (CV-9) attack two Japanese aircraft carriers at Kure. A Curtiss SB2C Helldiver bomber is visible in the upper right, painted in Essex markings. Ship at bottom is either Amagi or Katsuragi. The other carrier is Kaiyo. Kaiyo, a 16,748-ton escort aircraft carrier, was built at Nagasaki, Japan, as a civilian passenger liner. Completed in 1939, she was taken over for use as a transport in 1941, serving under her original name, Argentina Maru. In December 1942, she began conversion to an aircraft carrier, and was renamed Kaiyo. Conversion was completed in November 1943, and the ship served during the rest of the Pacific War as an escort carrier, aircraft transport and training carrier. She was seriously damaged by British Royal Navy planes in Beppu Bay, Kyushu, on July 24, 1945. Kaiyo was stricken from the Japanese naval register in November 1945 and was scrapped at Beppu Bay in 1946-48. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1249.jpg |
| Image Size | 166.57 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 585 x 746 |
| Photographer | Unknown |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | March 19, 1945 |
| Location | Kure Navy Yard |
| City | Kure |
| State or Province | Hiroshima Prefecture |
| Country | Japan |
| Archive | United States Naval Historical Center |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2007, ©2024 MFA Productions LLC Image in the Public Domain |
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