Soryu
Soryu was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor and was sunk at the battle of Midway.
Sōryū was built at Kaigun Kosho, Kure, Japan and commissioned on 29 December 1937. As opposed to some earlier Japanese carriers which were redesigns on battlecruiser (Akagi) or battleship (Kaga) hulls, she was designed from the start as an aircraft carrier. At close to 65 km/h (35 kts), she was the fastest carrier in the world at launch.
At the outbreak of the Pacific War, commanded by Captain Ryusaku Yanagimoto, Sōryū, in Carrier Division 2, was one of six carriers making up the Kido Butai (Striking Force) that attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. She launched two waves of air strikes against the US Naval base. Her first wave targeted Nevada, Tennessee, and West Virginia with armour-piercing bombs and Utah, Helena, California, and Raleigh with torpedoes, as well as attacked grounded aircraft at Barbers Point. Her second wave targeted California, Raleigh, Kaneohe and Navy Yard installations.
From 21 December to 23 December 1941 Sōryū launched air strikes against Wake Island. In January 1942 she supported the invasion of the Palau Islands and the Battle of Ambon. On 19 February 1942 Sōryū launched air strikes against Darwin, Australia. In March 1942 she took part in the Battle of the Java Sea, helping sink the US tanker Pecos.
Last fight of Soryu was the battle of Midway Jun 1942. Three bombs that dropped from US dive-bombers hit her. She covered with flames and sank before long. The Captain Yanamoto refused escape, and he shared her's fate. The body count of Soryu's crew were 718.
Hiryu
Hiryū was a modified Sōryū-class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was one of the carriers that began the Pacific War with the attack on Pearl Harbor. After being heavily damaged by air attacks 4 June 1942 at the Battle of Midway, Hiryu sank on 5 June 1942.
The ship was built within the specifications of the Washington Naval Treaty that was in place at the time, which placed limits on its tonnage and armament. As a result, the Sōryū and Hiryū were relatively small as fleet aircraft carriers compared to their contemporaries during World War II, carrying around 70 aircraft. Compared to her near sister Sōryū, Hiryū was almost four feet greater of beam, 2,000 tons heavier, and had her island superstructure placed on the port side and farther aft on her flight deck.
The port side island was an unusual arrangement; the only other carrier to share this feature was the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi. The Akagi and the Hiryū were intended to work in a tactical formation with starboard-sided carriers, in order to improve the flight pattern around the formation, but the experiment was not continued beyond those two carriers. The enlarged bridge design created turbulence, causing far greater deck accidents in the Hiryū than her sister carrier.
Active throughout the first six months of the Pacific War, she took part in the December 1941 Pearl Harbor attack as well as operations in the East Indies and Indian Ocean area. On 4 June 1942, during the Battle of Midway, Hiryu's aircraft inflicted serious bomb and torpedo damage to USS Yorktown (CV-5), causing her abandonment. Later that day, Hiryu was hit by U.S. carrier dive bombers. Though she remained underway for a time, she had been fatally damaged. Abandoned early the following morning, Hiryu sank at about 9:00 on 5 June, the last of four Japanese aircraft carriers to be lost in the battle.
text source: http://www.history.navy.mil; http://www.wikipedia.org