The Aircraft Carrier Hiryu Hardback

Description

A uniquely detailed study of a Japanese aircraft carrier that took part in the attack onPearl Harbor, before being sunk at Midway.Hiryu was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the 1930s.Her aircraft supported the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in mid-1940 andduring the first month of the Pacific War, she took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor andthe Battle of Wake Island. She supported the conquest of the Dutch East Indies inJanuary 1942 and her aircraft bombed Darwin, Australia, and continued to assist in theDutch East Indies campaign. In April, Hiryu's aircraft helped sink two British heavycruisers and several merchant ships during the Indian Ocean raid.After a brief refit, Hiryu and three other fleet carriers of the First Air Fleet participated inthe Battle of Midway in June 1942. After bombarding American forces on the atoll, thecarriers were attacked by aircraft from Midway and the carriers USS Enterprise, Hornet,and Yorktown. Dive bombers from Yorktown and Enterprise crippled Hiryu and set herafire. She was scuttled the following day after it became clear that she could not besalvaged. The loss of Hiryu and three other IJN carriers at Midway was a crucialstrategic defeat for Japan and contributed significantly to the Allies' ultimate victory in thePacific.Drawing on new research and technology, this edition is the most comprehensiveexamination of Hiryu ever published. It includes a complete set of detailed line drawingswith fully descriptive keys and full-color 3D artwork, supported by technical details,photographs, and text on the building of the ship and a record of the ship’s servicehistory.Sales and Marketing HighlightsThis book adds the first aircraft carrier to the re-launched Anatomy of a Shipseries with superbly executed line drawings, contemporary photographs, awealth of newly researched material and supplemented by superb 3D fullcolourillustrations.The most detailed book available on a warship that represents the World WarII Japanese Navy at the height of its power.The Imperial Japanese Navy has been one of the biggest-selling areas ofnaval history for some years.