A brief history of the Japanese aircraft carrier Hosho
Willie Bodenstein
01.09.2024
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Hosho was the world's second ship designed as an aircraft carrier and the first commissioned as such. Commissioned in 1922, the first aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), the Hosho was used for testing carrier aircraft operations equipment, techniques such as take-offs and landings and carrier aircraft operational methods and tactics. Superstructure and other obstructions to the flight deck were removed in 1924 on the advice of experienced aircrews.
Hosho and her aircraft group participated in the Shanghai Incident in 1932 and in the opening stages of the Sino-Japanese War in late 1937. The small size of the ship and her assigned air groups (usually around 15 aircraft) limited the effectiveness of her contributions to combat operations. As a result, the carrier was placed in reserve after her return to Japan from China and she became a training carrier in 1939.
During World War II, Hosho participated in the Battle of Midway in June 1942 in a secondary role. After the battle, the carrier resumed her training role in Japanese home waters for the duration of the conflict and survived the war with only minor damage from air attacks. She was used for repatriation transport after the war, making nine trips to bring some 40,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians to Japan from overseas locations. Hosho was scrapped in Japan beginning in 1946.
