Japanese aircraft carrier Zuihō: Shipwreck Map, Location & Facts

Name	Japanese aircraft carrier Zuihō	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	Empire of 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, 125.2500	Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0)

About the wreck

Zuihō (瑞鳳; "Auspicious Phoenix" or "Fortunate Phoenix") was the name ship of her class of two light aircraft carriers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Originally laid down as the submarine tender Takasaki (Japanese: 高崎, "Tall Cape"), she was renamed and converted while under construction into an aircraft carrier. The ship was completed during the first year of World War II and played a minor role in the Battle of Midway in mid-1942. She participated in the Guadalcanal Campaign during the rest of 1942. Significantly damaged during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in that campaign, after repairs Zuihō covered the evacuation of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal in early 1943.

Her aircraft were disembarked several times in mid- to late-1943 and used from land bases in a series of battles in the Southwest Pacific. Zuihō participated in the Battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf in mid-1944. In this last engagement, she mainly served as a decoy for the main striking forces and was sunk by American aircraft. In between battles, the ship served as an aircraft ferry and a training ship.

Location

Recorded position: 19.3333, 125.2500 (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 Zuihō (revision 1380751074), 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.