Źródła japońskiej koncepcji pancerników lotniczych

Abstract

Japanese aircraft-carrier battleships Ise and Hyuga were the only ships of this battleship subclass in the world. They were rebuilt from classic battleships in 1943. The main reason why the imperial fleet decided to implement such an extravagant concept was the disastrous number of Japanese aircraft carriers. To stop the American offensive, they needed as much as possible, but the fleeing time was also important. American industrial and military power was becoming more and more visible every month. The Japanese decided that if they could not recreate their deck air forces in 1944, they would lose all chance of stopping the enemy. The construction of hybrid ships combining the features of a battleship and an aircraft carrier was the result of fighting against time. It was considered that their full conversion to aircraft carriers would take too long. If they were to help the fleet at the most critical moment, they had to do it as soon as possible. In this way, the concept of an aircraft-carrier battleship was created. It is difficult to consider it as successful, but in the position in which the Japanese Empire was located after Midway it looked better than keeping obsolete and not very useful heavy artillery ships. After all, despite the completion of the reconstruction in time, Ise and Hyuga were never used in the role that was foreseen for them. Blame for this is the failure of Japanese logistics in the field of training of airline personnel and the insufficient production of modern aircraft.