Japan, IJN Taiho (Dec-1948)
IJN Taihō (December of 1948)-AU
The Taihō (大 鳳 Great Phoenix) was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
Built in the Kawasaki shipyards, its design was basically similar to that of the Shōkaku with a number of improvements, such as armored deck, improved antiaircraft fire, much larger island, 26 ° angled chimney to starboard, increased overall armor, and a whole series of improvements that were necessary by the Japanese naval engineering in aircraft carriers. It could be said that the Taihō was the best aircraft carrier in the world at the time of her launch.
The main distinguishing feature of this aircraft carrier was its armored deck, which would later also be applied to the Shinano, analogous to that of the Illustrious-class aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy. It was also innovative, and unique, as no other Japanese aircraft carrier used the system, its hull, which reached up to the very flight deck. In the rest of the Japanese aircraft carriers, the deck was partially suspended fore and aft above the hull.
In 1943 and after the successful campaign in Hawaii, the engineers began to work on what would be a dangle deck inclined at 45º that would allow the simultaneous landing and take-off of airplanes, increasing the take-off radius, but this only brought problems such as maintaining only an operational elevator and less traffic on deck, part of this was solved with the entry of jet aircraft that would take off much faster and with less career, in 1945 with the introduction of steam catapults on deck, these required a much smaller career of flight and the aircraft carrier achieved an average of 30 takeoffs and landings per hour.
IJN Hakuryuu (February of 1956)
By 1955 the complement of jet aircraft was more than established and with their entry into service most of the IJN Navy's aircraft carriers were in need of upgrades such as a larger runway, more elevators and more launch catapults. powerful as well as a more capable AA armament and a series of improvements in its power plant that would make the search and air control radars the most capable today.