Construction history of Chicheng aircraft carrier

According to the "Eighth Fleet Plan" formulated by imperial japanese navy, Chicheng was originally scheduled to be built as Tiancheng-class Combat Cruiser No.2 at Wugang Naval Shipyard on February 6, 1920, but it was stopped on February 5, 1922 due to the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty. 1923, according to the provisions of the Washington naval treaty, Japan converted the stopped ocean-going warship "Chicheng" into an aircraft carrier. When it changed from battle cruiser to an aircraft carrier, it completely rebuilt a double-deck hangar above the main deck. At first, the third flight deck of Chicheng was divided into three layers and was trapezoidal. The upper deck is a take-off and landing deck, with a total length of190m and a width of 30.5m.. The middle deck and the lower deck are connected with a double-deck hangar for airplanes to take off directly from the hangar, while the middle deck for small airplanes is about15m long, and the lower deck for large airplanes is longer, with a length of 56.7m and a width of 23m. Below the front end of the upper flight deck is a bridge that spans both sides of the hull. Later practice proved that the short flight deck exposed many shortcomings, and the position of the bridge was too low, which was not conducive to observation and command. In order to eliminate the adverse effects of chimney smoke on aircraft landing, boiler exhaust gas is discharged from the chimney that extends from starboard to outboard and bends downward. When Chicheng is completed, install/10 200 200mm artillery and attack cruisers and other surface targets. Among them, two double turrets are installed side by side on the front deck of the bridge, and single gun groups are installed on both sides of the rear of the hull. Chicheng 1925 was launched on April 22nd, 2007 and completed on March 25th. The standard displacement is 29,500 tons and the speed is 3 1.7 knots.

1928, imperial japanese navy star Isoroku Yamamoto served as the captain of Chicheng. Yamamoto, with his keen eyes, realized the essential influence of this warship with aircraft as its main combat weapon on naval warfare. Although this idea did not occupy a major position in the navy at that time, Yamamoto did put a lot of energy into the Akagi.

During the first five years of service in imperial japanese navy, the aircraft carrier Chicheng carried out a series of tests and installed an island superstructure on the starboard side. Because there is no island on the upper deck, the bridge can only be located below the deck, which brings great inconvenience to the operation and combat of the ship; The runway on the lower deck is too short to meet the take-off requirements of high-speed monoplane aircraft. From June 1935 to August 1938, "Chicheng" was modernized at the sasebo Naval Shipyard, similar to the Kaga aircraft carrier. Cancel the unpractical middle and lower flight decks, and dismantle the two 200mm guns in front of the middle flight deck. The upper flight deck is changed to all-pass, lengthened and widened, and the structure is strengthened, extending to the bow of the ship and supported by columns. The hangar extends forward and has three elevators. Considering that the aircraft carrier formation is parallel, it is convenient for their respective aircraft to take off and land. The island bridge is specially installed on the port side of the hull, replacing the original starboard island superstructure. When taking off to arrange a formation or returning to prepare for landing, Chicheng's aircraft can hover to the right without air traffic conflict with the merged aircraft. Practice shows that for some reasons, there are not many accidents in the use of the superstructure of the port island, so in the world, in addition to the later dragonfly, Chicheng also readjusted its naval guns. After modification, Chicheng aircraft carrier has a full displacement of 4 1.300 tons, main engine output power of 1.000 horsepower, maximum speed of 3 1 knot, 72 carrier aircraft (up to 9 1), most fighters of 16, and 5/attack aircraft.

The bridge in Chicheng is still relatively narrow, and there are some problems in the command of the big fleet during combat. Moreover, because the fleet commander often uses light signals, the low bridge unique to the aircraft carrier will have a poor view in stormy weather.