Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō

Oblique view of Ryūjō at speed, September 1934
Class overview
Operators:	Imperial Japanese Navy
Preceded by:	Kaga
Succeeded by:	Sōryū
Built:	1929–31
In commission:	1931–42
Completed:	1
Lost:	1
History
Empire of Japan
Name:	Ryūjō
Namesake:	Japanese: 龍驤 "Prancing Dragon"
Builder:	Mitsubishi, Yokohama
Laid down:	26 November 1929
Launched:	2 April 1931
Commissioned:	9 May 1933
Struck:	10 November 1942
Fate:	Sunk during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, 24 August 1942
General characteristics (as built)
Type:	Light aircraft carrier
Displacement:	8,000 t (7,900 long tons) (standard) 10,150 t (9,990 long tons) (normal)
Length:	179.9 meters (590 ft 3 in) (o/a)
Beam:	20.32 meters (66 ft 8 in)
Draught:	5.56 meters (18 ft 3 in)
Installed power:	65,000 shp (48,000 kW) 12 × Kampon water-tube boilers
Propulsion:	2 × shafts 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed:	29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph)
Range:	10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement:	600
Armament:	6 × twin 12.7 cm Type 89 dual-purpose guns 12 × twin 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine guns
Aircraft carried:	48
Aviation facilities:	6 × Arrestor wires
General characteristics (1936)
Displacement:	10,600 t (10,400 long tons) (standard) 12,732 t (12,531 long tons) (normal)
Beam:	20.78 meters (68 ft 2 in)
Draught:	7.08 meters (23 ft 3 in)
Complement:	924
Armament:	4 × twin 12.7 cm Type 89 dual-purpose guns 2 × twin 25 mm Type 96 AA guns

Ryūjō (Japanese: 龍驤 "Prancing Dragon") was a light aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the early 1930s. Small and lightly built in an attempt to exploit a loophole in the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, she proved to be top-heavy and only marginally stable and was back in the shipyard for modifications to address those issues within a year of completion. With her stability improved, Ryūjō returned to service and was employed in operations during the Second Sino-Japanese War. During World War II, she provided air support for operations in the Philippines, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies, where her aircraft participated in the Second Battle of the Java Sea. During the Indian Ocean raid in April 1942, the carrier attacked British merchant shipping with both her guns and her aircraft. Ryūjō next participated in the Battle of the Aleutian Islands in June. She was sunk by American carrier aircraft at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24 August 1942.

Ryūjō was planned as a light carrier of around 8,000 metric tons (7,900 long tons) standard displacement to exploit a loophole in the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 that carriers under 10,000 long tons (10,000 t) standard displacement were not regarded as "aircraft carriers". While Ryūjō was under construction, Article Three of the London Naval Treaty of 1930 closed the above-mentioned loophole; consequently, Ryūjō was the only light aircraft carrier of her type to be completed by Japan.