was the name ship of her class of two light aircraft carriers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Originally laid down as the submarine tender Takasaki, she was renamed and converted while under construction into an aircraft carrier. The ship was completed during the first year of World War II and played a minor role in the Battle of Midway in mid-1942. She participated in the Guadalcanal Campaign during the rest of 1942. Significantly damaged during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in that campaign, after repairs Zuihō covered the evacuation of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal in early 1943. Her aircraft were disembarked several times in mid- to late-1943 and used from land bases in a series of battles in the Southwest Pacific. Zuihō participated in the Battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf in mid-1944. In this last engagement, she mainly served as a decoy for the main striking forces and was sunk by American aircraft. In between battles, the ship served as an aircraft ferry and a training ship. Design and conversion The submarine support ship Takasaki was laid down on 20 June 1935 at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal and was designed to be converted to either a fleet oiler or a light aircraft carrier as needed. She was launched on 19 June 1936 and began a lengthy conversion into a carrier while fitting-out. The ship was renamed Zuihō during the process which was not completed until 27 December 1940 when she was commissioned. After her conversion, Zuihō had a length of overall. She had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced at standard load. Her original diesel engines were intended to give her a top speed of , but they were replaced by a pair of geared steam turbine sets as part of her conversion. Each turbine set drove one propeller using steam provided by four water-tube boilers. The turbines produced a total of which gave Zuihō a maximum speed of . She carried enough fuel oil to give her a range of at a speed of . Her crew numbered 785 officers and men. Zuihō was a flush-deck design and lacked an island superstructure. Her flight deck was long and had a maximum width of . The ship was built with a single hangar long and wide, intended to house 30 aircraft. The hangar was served by two octagonal centerline aircraft