Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō 1942
Marker: recorded wreck position (Second World War).
Key facts
| Name | Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1942 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Second World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | light aircraft carrier | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | Empire of Japan | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Imperial Japanese Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | World War II | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | South Pacific Ocean | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Position | -6.1667, 160.8333 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
Ryūjō (Japanese: 龍驤 "Prancing Dragon") was a light aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the early 1930s. Small and lightly built to exploit a loophole in the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, she proved to be top-heavy and only marginally stable and was back in the shipyard for modifications within a year of completion. With her stability improved, Ryūjō returned to service and was employed in operations during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
During World War II, she provided air support for operations in the Philippines, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies, where her aircraft participated in the Second Battle of the Java Sea. During the Indian Ocean raid in April 1942, the carrier attacked British merchant shipping. Ryūjō was next in the Battle of Dutch Harbor, the opening battle of the Aleutian Islands campaign, in June 1942. She was sunk by American carrier-based aircraft in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24 August 1942.
Location
- Recorded position: -6.1667, 160.8333 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: South Pacific Ocean
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.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō (revision 1380751034), 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.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Other wrecks of the World War II
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- USS Arizona (BB-39) 1941
- USS Hopewell 1941
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- Zara 1941
- Akagi 1942
- Aviere 1942
- Diana 1942
- Giovanni delle Bande Nere 1942
- HMAS Nestor 1942
All 599 wrecks of the World War II →
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