 Their light AA armament consisted of a dozen triple @-@ gun mounts for license @-@ built Hotchkiss 25 mm ( 1 in ) Type 96 AA guns , six mounts on each side of the flight deck . The gun was the standard Japanese light AA weapon during World War II , but it suffered from severe design shortcomings that rendered it largely ineffective . According to historian Mark Stille , the weapon had many faults including an inability to " handle high @-@ speed targets because it could not be trained or elevated fast enough by either hand or power , its sights were inadequate for high @-@ speed targets , it possessed excessive vibration and muzzle blast " . These guns had an effective range of 1 @,@ 500 – 3 @,@ 000 meters ( 1 @,@ 600 – 3 @,@ 300 yd ) , and a ceiling of 5 @,@ 500 meters ( 18 @,@ 000 ft ) at an elevation of + 85 degrees . The effective rate of fire was only between 110 and 120 rounds per minute because of the frequent need to change the 15 @-@ round magazines . The Type 96 guns were controlled by six Type 95 directors , one for every pair of mounts . 
