Soryu-class Aircraft Carrier (1942)

The IJN's second fleet carrier was Hiryu, "half-sister" to Soryu. Differences between the two entailed Hiryu's forecastle being higher, as well as her having the distinction of being the only aircraft carrier in history to have her island on the port side. Commissioned in July 1939, She was in action from the start of the Pacific War onward, escaping damage in both the Battle of the Hawaiian Islands as well as the Battle of the Indian Ocean, but her luck ran out at the Battle of Midway. Bombed and left a raging inferno by aircraft from Task Force 16, she was scuttled in the early morning hours of 5 June 1942 by destroyer Makigumo. While a reconnaissance flight by a Kate from light carrier Chiyoda soon after sunrise revealed Hiryu was still afloat, she subsequently sank soon after with 389 dead out of 1,100 crewmembers.