Japanese aircraft carrier Chitose: Shipwreck Map, Location & Facts

Name	Japanese aircraft carrier Chitose	Wikidata label
Ship type	light aircraft carrier	Wikidata P31 instance of
Cause of loss	War action	Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence
Nationality / flag	Japan	Wikidata P8047 country of registry
Operator	Imperial Japanese Navy	Wikidata P137 operator
Conflict	World War II	Wikidata P607 conflict
Sea / ocean	Philippine Sea	Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon
Position	19.3333, 126.3333	Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0)

About the wreck

Chitose (千歳) was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy that served from 1938 to 1944, seeing service as a seaplane carrier and later as a light aircraft carrier during World War II. In her initial guise as a seaplane carrier, she first saw service during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938, and subsequently played a key role in the Imperial Japanese Navy's development of a network of seaplane bases on the islands of the Pacific Ocean. After the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, she took part in the Philippines campaign, the Dutch East Indies campaign, the Battle of Midway, and the Guadalcanal campaign, during which she was damaged in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons and also saw service related to the Battle of Cape Esperance.

Chitose was converted into a light aircraft carrier during 1943, and subsequently took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. She was sunk in the Battle off Cape Engaño, one of several actions that made up the Battle of Leyte Gulf, on 25 October 1944.

Although it has been speculated that Chitose as a seaplane carrier also carried Type A midget submarines, only her sister ship Chiyoda had that capability.

Location

Recorded position: 19.3333, 126.3333 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
Sea / ocean: Philippine Sea

Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.

OpenStreetMap

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Japanese aircraft carrier Chitose (revision 1380750466), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.