Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku (1944): Wreck Map & Facts

Name	Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku	Wikidata label
Year lost	1944	Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier
Era	Second World War	derived from year
Ship type	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, 125.8500	Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0)

About the wreck

Zuikaku (Japanese: 瑞鶴; meaning "Auspicious Crane") was the second and last Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) shortly before the beginning of the Pacific War. Zuikaku was one of the most modern Japanese aircraft carriers when commissioned, and saw successful action throughout numerous battles during the Pacific War; usually operating alongside her sister ship Shōkaku.

Zuikaku started the war as part of Kidō Butai. Her aircraft struck airfields during the attack on Pearl Harbor that formally brought the United States into the war, 7 December 1941. She attacked land positions to cover the Japanese invasions of New Guinea, before she participated in the Indian Ocean raid from 5-9 April 1942 where her aircraft helped to sink the light carrier HMS Hermes and the cargo ship SS Sagaing, alongside damaging others and destroying land facilities.

Location

Recorded position: 19.3333, 125.8500 (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 Zuikaku (revision 1380750771), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.