As built Hiryu displaced 17,300 tons (long) under standard load and featured an overall length of 746 feet with a beam of 73.1 feet and a draught down to 25.6 feet. Power was from 8 x Kampon water-tube boiler units with 4 x geared steam turbines developing 153,000 shaft horsepower to 4 x shafts. Maximum speed (in ideal conditions) was 34 knots with a range out to 10,330 miles when steaming at 18 knots. Her crew complement totaled 1,100 men and armor protection reached six inches at the waterline belt and over two inches along the deck. Her onboard stowage and supply space allowed for up to sixty-four total combat aircraft to be hauled and up to nine or ten spare airframes could be held in reserve. Aircraft types supported included the Mitsubishi A6M fighter, Aichi D3A dive bomber and the Nakajima B5N torpedo bomber - this gave the warship a broad tactical reach against many target types including land-based ones, inbound aerial threats and enemy warships.
On the whole, her profile was consistent with the designs of the period - save perhaps her exposed and elevated island superstructure off to portside - pre-war designs typically had flushed top decks so as to provide a complete unobstructed landing/take-off surface for warplanes. Her hull looked very much the part of a traditional cruiser but with a flight deck eliminating an irregular profile silhouette. Three hangar elevators were in play when moving aircraft about and nine arrestor wires were stretched about the flight deck for aircraft recovery.
Armament, while largely defensive in nature, was led by 6 x twin-gunned 127mm Type 89 Dual-Purpose (DP) guns. She also carried 7 x triple-gunned 25mm Type 96 Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns and 5 x twin-gunned 25mm gun emplacements for closer-ranged defense. This gun arrangement left Hiryu lightly defended as warships of World War 2 went - particularly the ultra-important aircraft carrier.
For her career, Hiryu participated in the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (1941) which marked the American entry into the war, the Battle of Wake Island (December 1941), several operations encompassing the Dutch Indies campaign of 1942, the assault on Darwin, Australia, and Indian Ocean raiding operations. Her most notable action after Pearl was the Battle of Midway (June 1942) which saw her ultimate end - she was scuttled on June 5th after having taken bombs from aircraft launched by USS Enterprise, USS Hornet, and USS Yorktown. The American victory at Midway marked the first turning point against the Japanese Empire in the Pacific War, the battle marking the loss of four major IJN aircraft carriers.
With these losses, a sixteen-strong aircraft carrier program was enacted by the Japanese Navy to shore up losses. These were based on a further modified version of Hiryu. However, only three were commissioned in time to serve in the war - which ended with the Japanese surrender in August of 1945.
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