She had a top speed of . Taihōs maximum fuel oil storage of gave her a radius of at . Taihō had two rudders positioned along the longitudinal center-line of the ship: a semi-balanced main rudder (so-called because a portion of the rudder comes before the hinged axis and therefore requires less force to turn) located astern and an unbalanced auxiliary rudder forward of the main rudder. Both were turned via electro-hydraulically powered steering gears, but the auxiliary rudder could also be turned via a diesel engine in the event the primary steering gear was damaged. Flight deck Taihō was the first Japanese aircraft carrier to feature an armored flight deck, designed to withstand multiple bomb hits with minimal damage. The armor varied slightly in thickness between and formed a protective lid over an enclosed upper hangar whose sides and ends were unarmored. The floor of the upper hangar was also unarmored but the lower hangar deck had plating. Taihōs flight deck, measuring long and wide, had the largest total area of any Japanese carrier until the completion of and was offset to port to compensate for the weight of her island structure. Unlike all pre-war Japanese carriers, Taihōs flight deck was not wooden-planked. Rather, the steel deck was covered with a newly developed latex coating approximately thick. This offered several advantages over wood: it was cheaper, it saved weight, it required fewer man-hours to apply and it was less likely to interfere with air operations in the event of minor damage. On the negative side, the material had only mediocre anti-skid qualities and tended to become brittle and crack over time. Fourteen hydraulically operated arrester wires were distributed transversely across the flight deck between the fore and aft elevators. Taihō also had three hydraulically powered crash barriers, designed to abruptly stop any plane failing to catch an arrester wire upon landing. Two were located abreast the island and one was set at the bow. Taihō was equipped with two large armored elevators, capable of transferring aircraft weighing up to between decks. The elevators were widely spaced apart, with one at the far aft end of the ship and one forward of the island. It was originally desired to install a third elevator amidship, but because of wartime urgency this was deleted from the final design, thus saving both time and material. The elevators were roughly pentagonal in shape, with