Kaga was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and was named after the former Kaga Province in present-day Ishikawa Prefecture. Originally intended to be one of two Tosa-class battleships, Kaga was converted under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty to an aircraft carrier as the replacement for the battlecruiser Amagi, which had been damaged during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. Kaga was rebuilt in 1933–1935, increasing her top speed, improving her exhaust systems, and adapting her flight decks to more modern, heavier aircraft.
Kaga’s aircraft first supported Japanese troops in China during the Shanghai Incident of 1932 and participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War in the late 1930s. With other carriers, she took part in the Pearl Harbor raid in December 1941 and the invasion of Rabaul in the Southwest Pacific in January 1942. The following month her aircraft participated in a combined carrier airstrike on Darwin, Australia, helping secure the conquest of the Dutch East Indies by Japanese forces. She missed the Indian Ocean raid in April as she had to return to Japan for repairs after hitting a reef in February.
Following repairs, Kaga rejoined the 1st Air Fleet for the Battle of Midway in June 1942. After bombarding American forces on Midway Atoll, Kaga and three other IJN carriers were attacked by American aircraft from Midway and the carriers Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown. Dive bombers from Enterprise severely damaged Kaga; when it became obvious she could not be saved, she was scuttled by Japanese destroyers to prevent her from falling into enemy hands.
IJN Kaga sliding down the slipwayKaga Fitting OutKaga undergoing conversion to an aircraft carrierKaga undergoing conversion to an aircraft carrierKaga undergoing conversion to an aircraft carrierKaga undergoing conversion to an aircraft carrierKaga undergoing conversion to an aircraft carrierKaga Fitting OutKaga undergoing conversion to an aircraft carrierKagaKaga during training off Japan, 1930; note B1M Type 13 aircraft on upper deck and A1N Type 3 aircraft on lower deckKaga anti-aircraft gunsKaga underway during air operations training, Japan, 1930; note B1M Type 13 and A1N Type 3 aircraft on flight deckJapanese Aircraft Carrier KagaKaga off Yokosuka, Japan, 1929Kaga as CompletedKaga during trials, off Tateyama, Japan, 15 Sep 1928Kaga off Ikari, Japan, 1930Yamashiro and Kaga in Kobe Bay, Japan, 22-23 Oct 1930Kaga’s stern, circa 1941Kaga, Hiei, Kasuga, and a Takao-class cruiser in harbor, 1937Kaga, Hiei, and Nagato during the annual naval review at Yokohama, Japan, 25 Aug 1933Kaga With Small IslandKaga off Ikari, Japan, 1930Aerial view of carrier Kaga, late 1930sKaga at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Japan, 20 Nov 1928Kaga after her 1936 modernizationJapanese Navy Type 96 biplane fighter flying over Kaga, off China, 1937-1938Hosho (foreground) and Kaga (background) off China, late 1937View of the edge of Kaga’s flight deck, 11 May 1937B2M, A2N, and Ki-4 aircraft operating aboard Kaga, 11 May 1937KagaKaga as seen in US War Department Basic Field Manual FM 30-58, published on 21 Dec 1941Kaga steams through heavy north Pacific seas, en route to attack Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, circa early December 1941Aircraft Taking Off From Kaga
