Japanese aircraft carrier Katsuragi

Katsuragi serving as a troop transport, 1946
History
Japan
Name:	Katsuragi
Namesake:	Mount Katsuragi
Operator:	Imperial Japanese Navy
Ordered:	25 June 1942
Builder:	Kure Naval Arsenal
Laid down:	8 December 1942
Launched:	19 January 1944
Completed:	15 October 1944
Struck:	15 November 1945
Fate:	Scrapped 22 December 1946 – 30 November 1947
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	Unryū-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	22,534 tonnes (22,178 long tons) (deep load)
Length:	227.35 m (745 ft 11 in)
Beam:	22 m (72 ft 2 in)
Draft:	7.93 m (26 ft 0 in)
Installed power:	104,000 shp (78,000 kW)
Propulsion:	4 shafts 4 geared steam turbine sets 8 Kampon water-tube boilers
Speed:	32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Complement:	1,536 (1,600 as flagship)
Sensors and processing systems:	2 × Type 2, Mark 2, Model 1 air search radars 2 × Type 3, Mark 1, Model 3 air search radars 1 × Type 93 sonar 2 × Type 0 hydrophones
Electronic warfare & decoys:	1 × Type E-27 radar detector 1 × Model 3 radar detector
Armament:	6 × 2 – 12.7 cm/40 Type 89 anti-aircraft guns 22 × 3, 30 × 1 – 25 mm (0.98 in) Type 96 AA guns 6 × 28 - 12 cm (4.7 in) AA rocket launchers
Armor:	Belt: 25–100 mm (0.98–3.94 in) Deck: 25–130 mm (0.98–5.12 in)

Katsuragi (葛城^?) was the third and final Unryū-class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy built during World War II. Named after Mount Katsuragi, in Nara Prefecture, and completed late in the war; she never embarked her complement of aircraft and spent the war in Japanese waters. The ship was badly damaged in a July 1945 airstrike by American carrier aircraft on Kure Naval Base. Repaired after the end of the war, Katsuragi was then used as a repatriation transport for a number of months, bringing Japanese soldiers and civilians back to Japan from overseas locations. She was scrapped in Japan beginning in late 1946.

The last purpose-built Japanese carrier construction during World War II was a group of vessels based on an improved Hiryū design, but with individual units differing in detail reflecting the changing circumstances as the conflict in the Pacific approached its conclusion. Katsuragi was ordered 25 June 1942, under the provisional name of #5003, as part of the Kai-Maru 5 Program of 1942. This was a massive naval construction program intended to replace losses suffered at the Battle of Midway and focused on aircraft and aircraft carriers. The ship was one of 16 Unryū-class aircraft carriers planned, although only three were completed before the end of the war.