1st Carrier Division (Imperial Japanese Navy)

The First Carrier Division (第一航空戦隊, Dai Ichi Kōkū sentai, often abbreviated as 一航戦 Ichikō-sen) was an aircraft carrier unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy's First Air Fleet. At the beginning of the Pacific Campaign of World War II, the First Carrier Division consisted of the fleet carriers Akagi and Kaga. The division participated in the Attack on Pearl Harbor and Indian Ocean Raid. After Akagi and Kaga were sunk at the Battle of Midway in June 1942, carriers Shōkaku, Zuikaku, and Zuihō were redesignated as the First Carrier Division.

First Carrier Division
The First Carrier Division's Zuikaku (center) and two destroyers under attack by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft during the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
ActiveApril 1, 1928 – April 10, 1945
CountryEmpire of Japan
AllegianceAxis Powers of World War II
BranchImperial Japanese Navy
TypeNaval aviation unit
RoleAircraft carrier support
EngagementsAttack on Pearl Harbor
Battle of Rabaul
Bombing of Darwin
Indian Ocean raid
Battle of Midway
Battle of the Eastern Solomons
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
Battle of the Philippine Sea
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Chūichi Nagumo Jisaburo Ozawa

Organization (extract)
DateShips
1 April 1928 (original)Akagi, Hōshō and Destroyer Squadron 6: Ume, Kusunoki
1 December 1931Kaga, Notoro and Destroyer Squadron 2 : Minekaze, Okikaze, Yakaze, Sawakaze
15 November 1934Ryūjō, Hōshō and Destroyer Squadron 5: Asakaze, Harukaze, Matsukaze, Hatakaze
1 December 1937Kaga and Destroyer Squadron 29: Oite, Hayate, Asanagi, Yūnagi
15 November 1939Akagi and Destroyer Squadron 19: Isonami, Uranami, Ayanami, Shikinami
10 April 1941Akagi, Kaga and Destroyer Squadron 7: Akebono, Ushio
14 July 1942Shōkaku, Zuikaku, Zuihō
1 April 1944Taihō, Shōkaku, Zuikaku
15 August 1944Unryū, Amagi
15 December 1944Amagi, Unryū, Katsuragi, Jun'yō, Ryūhō
10 April 1945dissolved

Commander
RankNameDate
1R.ADMSankichi Takahashi1 April 1928
xDisbanded10 December 1928
2R.ADMSankichi Takahashi1 April 1929
3R.ADMYurikazu Edahara30 November 1929
4R.ADMTakayoshi Katō1 December 1930
5R.ADMKoshirō Oikawa15 November 1932
6R.ADMIsoroku Yamamoto3 October 1933
7R.ADMHideho Wada1 June 1934
8R.ADMSaburō Satō15 November 1935
9R.ADMShirō Takasu1 December 1936
10R.ADMJin'ichi Kusaka1 December 1937
11R.ADMBoshirō Hosogaya25 April 1938
12R.ADMJisaburō Ozawa15 November 1939
13R.ADMMichitarō Totsuka1 November 1940
14V.ADMChūichi Nagumo10 April 1941
15V.ADMJisaburō Ozawa11 November 1942
16R.ADMKeizō Komura1 October 1944
17R.ADMSueo Ōbayashi10 December 1944
xvacant post10 February 1945
xdissolved10 April 1945

The First Carrier Division participated in the largest carrier-to-carrier battle in history, the Battle of the Marianas, and specifically the aircraft carrier Battle of the Philippine Sea (the so-called “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”) on 19–20 June, where the Japanese naval forces were decisively defeated with heavy and irreplaceable losses to their carrier-borne and land-based aircraft.[1]

References
  1. Polmar, Norman (January 24, 2008). Aircraft Carriers: A History of Carrier Aviation and Its Influence on World Events, 1946-2006 (hardcover). Vol. II. Washington, D.C: Potomac Books Inc. pp. 377–400. ISBN 978-1574886658. Retrieved June 1, 2014.

Further reading


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