Design and description
The concept of the class was similar to British merchant aircraft carrier. The class consisted of two oil tankers of 10,002 gross register tons (GRT) that were modified by the Navy to provide minimal anti-submarine air cover for convoys going from Southeast Asia to the Japanese homeland. The conversion consisted of fitting a full-length flight deck, a small hangar, and a single elevator. An island and catapults were not installed. The only other change was the rerouting of the boiler uptakes to the aft starboard side where they discharged in a typical downward-facing funnel.
The ships had a length of 160.5 meters (526 ft 7 in) overall and 150 meters (492 ft 2 in) between perpendiculars. They had a beam of 20 meters (65 ft 7 in) at the waterline and a mean draft of 9.1 meters (29 ft 10 in). They displaced 11,989 metric tons (11,800 long tons) at standard load. [1]
The Shimane Maru-class ships were fitted with a single geared steam turbine set with a total of 8,600 shaft horsepower (6,400 kW). It drove one propeller shaft using steam provided by two boilers. The ships had a designed speed of 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph) and a range of 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). [2]
The flight deck was 154.99 meters (508 ft 6 in) long and had a maximum width of 23.01 meters (75 ft 6 in). [2] The hangar, built on top of the well deck, was served by a single elevator from the flight deck. It had a capacity of a dozen aircraft. [1]
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Ryūhō was a light aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was converted from the submarine tender Taigei, which had been used in the Second Sino-Japanese War. One of the least successful of the light aircraft carrier conversions due to her small size, slow speed and weak construction, during World War II, Ryūhō was used primarily as an aircraft transport and for training purposes, although she was also involved in a number of combat missions, including the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
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Hachijo was one of four Shimushu-class escort ships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
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The Japanese destroyer Yakaze was one of 15 Minekaze-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the late 1910s. A decade later, the ship served as a plane guard. During the Pacific War, she was initially as the mother ship for a remotely controlled target ship and then became a radio-controlled target ship herself in 1942. Although she was badly damaged in mid-1945, Yakaze survived the war and was scrapped in 1948.
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Maki was one of 18 Matsu-class escort destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Completed in mid-1944, the ship was damaged during the Battle off Cape Engaño in October by American aircraft. After repairs she was assigned to escort duties and was torpedoed by an American submarine in early 1945. Maki resumed her duties once her damage was repaired and remained in home waters for the rest of the war.
Imperial Japanese Navy 
