Name This AE...52

[Brady]

???

[Iridium]

Looks kinda like it might be a shot from the stern of the Akagi under the flight deck. Hard to tell though, that photo is horrible on the contrast.

EDIT: apparently it's my monitor that's bad on contrast...it looks better on another. Still rather bleak of anything I recognize beyond general lines.

[castor troy]

Akagi? Isn´t that a US CV in the far behind?[&:]

[Iridium]

ORIGINAL: castor troy

Akagi? Isn´t that a US CV in the far behind?[&:]

Honestly, upon my first look, I could barely tell anything from anything else beyond the girders holding the deck up.

If that CV is US? Maybe...doesn't have enough detail to show open sides though...Could be any decent sized CV from the way I look at it.

EDIT: You might be right though, if I recall correctly, the Akagi / Kaga pair had silly low angle batteries in these locations, which are not in the photo.

[Terminus]

Those are definitely Japs. I'd say we're on the Akagi, looking back at the Kaga and the Soryu.

[Iridium]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Those are definitely Japs. I'd say we're on the Akagi, looking back at the Kaga and the Soryu.

It would have been so much easier to tell if it was the Soryu and Hiryu due to the opposite towers...

[Terminus]

Yeah, but then you can just set the Hiryu aside and call it as the Kaga (which I'm 99,9% certain is the nearer of the two), which then makes the farthest carrier the Soryu.

[Iridium]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Yeah, but then you can just set the Hiryu aside and call it as the Kaga (which I'm 99,9% certain is the nearer of the two), which then makes the farthest carrier the Soryu.

I buy that, makes sense anyhow, Akagi is the flag and faster than Kaga so who's in front? Akagi.

[VSWG]

Good to hear that these ships made it into AE... [;)]

[Terminus]

We haven't quite decided yet...[:'(]

[VSWG]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

We haven't quite decided yet...[:'(]

Here's a thought: give the Japanese only 4 fleet carriers in Dec. 1941. The remaining carriers arrive only as replacements if one of those carriers is sunk. Call it "respawn"...

[:D]

[Terminus]

Sure... Just let me finish my last will and testament first...[:D]

[m10bob]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

We haven't quite decided yet...[:'(]

Oh yeah....there is always one!

[mbatch729]

Quiet a few in this forum, actually. EVERYBODY's a comedian...

[bigjoe96912]

a unique Japanese Carrier picture that I had never seen before

[Cap Mandrake]

Akagi with Kaga and Soryu following as stated above. You can see the wake.

To me that makes it not the Pearl Harbor attack as they were arrayed in 2-carrier divisions (Akagi and Kaga where in one, Soryu in another). I guess it is possible a second division might have been that close upon the first?


I think we can safely assume it is before the second week of June '42 [:)]

It looks warm, the sun is low on the horizon and to the starboard. Something about the apparent leisurely attitude of the sailors says sunset, so I would say they are making a generally Southerly course. Darwin raid perhaps?

Come to think of it..I have no idea. [:'(] You may no resume your web surfing.

[Local Yokel]

I think this photograph was taken in the course of the Hawaii Operation, and I'm confident was taken from the stern of Akagi, with Kaga as the nearer of the other two carriers visible.

Identification of the more distant carrier is a bit more difficult, because I've seen differing versions of the the formation adopted by KB. The Belote brothers have the carriers in two columns, one comprising Akagi, then Kaga, followed by Hiryu. I think that's wrong; it implies Carrier Div. 2 (the second most senior) was positioned at the rear of the formation. Clearly this picture does not show Hiryu at the rear, as both visible carriers have starboard side islands.

The more likely disposition is CarDiv's 1 and 2 alongside each other in two columns, with junior CarDiv 5 at the rear, in abreast formation. That makes the more distant carrier visible either Shokaku or Zuikaku, and my vote goes to Zuikaku.

[Cap Mandrake]

I changed my mine. If this Kido Butai on the Pearl attack, I think the third in line is Zuikaku.

Here is pic of Zuikaku following Kaga in same. A frame from a motion picture taken from Akagi in "early Dec. 41" (note the sea state, btw)



Some idea of the sea state on Dec 7.

[Brady]

Akagi (forground), it is[:)]
 
Then:
 
Kaga, it is[:)]
 
Finialy:
 
Zuikaku, it is[:)]