- Conversion
- Final battle
- References
- External links
{{Other ships|Japanese ship Chitose}}{{Infobox ship image| Ship image=Japanese seaplane carrier Chitose.jpg | Ship caption=Chitose before conversion as a seaplane tender
}}{{Infobox ship career | Hide header= | Ship country=Empire of Japan | Empire of Japan|naval}} | Ship name=Chitose (千歳) | Ship namesake=Japanese for "thousand years" | Ship ordered= | Ship awarded= | Ship builder= | Ship yard number= | Ship laid down=26 November 1934 | Ship launched=29 November 1936 | Ship sponsor= | Ship christened= | Ship completed= | Ship acquired= | Ship commissioned= 25 July 1938 | Ship reclassified= 15 December 1943 as light carrier | Ship decommissioned= | Ship in service= | Ship out of service= | Ship renamed= | Ship refit=1942 to 1944 | Ship struck= | Ship reinstated=1 January 1944 | Ship homeport= | Ship motto= | Ship nickname= | Ship honors= | Ship fate=Sunk in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944. | Ship status= | Ship notes= | Ship badge=
}}{{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header= | Header caption= | Chitose|aircraft carrier}} | 11200|LT|t|abbr=on}} (standard)- {{convert|15300|LT|t|abbr=on}} (full load)
| 192.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | 20.8|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | 7.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | 56000|shp|kW|lk=in|abbr=on}} | Ship propulsion=*2 × geared steam turbines | 28.9|kn|km/h mph|lk=in|abbr=on}} | Ship range= | Ship capacity= | Ship complement=800 | Ship sensors= | Ship armament=*Seaplane Tender: 4 × 12.7 cm/40 Type 89 naval guns- 12 × Type 96 25 mm AA gunss
- Aircraft carrier 8 × 12.7 cm/40 Type 89 naval guns
- 30-48 × Type 96 25 mm AA guns
| Ship armor= | Ship aircraft=*Seaplane Tender 24 × floatplanes- Aircraft Carrier: 30 × aircraft
| Ship aircraft facilities=*Seaplane Tender: 4 × catapults- Aircraft Carrier: 2 × elevators
| Ship notes=
}} | {{nihongo|Chitose|千歳}} was a light aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. First laid down as a seaplane tender in 1934 at Kure Navy yard, the ship originally carried Kawanishi E7K Type 94 "Alf" and Nakajima E8N Type 95 "Dave" floatplanes. Although it has been speculated that Chitose also carried Type A midget submarines, only her sister ship, {{Ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Chiyoda||2}} had that capability. Chitose saw several naval actions, taking part in the Battle of Midway though seeing no combat there. She was bombed by B-17 Flying Fortresses off Davao, Philippines on 4 January 1942, sustaining negligible damage. She covered the Japanese landings in the East Indies and New Guinea from January–April 1942, and was damaged in the Eastern Solomons in August 1942.ConversionChitose underwent conversion to a light aircraft carrier at Sasebo Navy Yard commencing on 26 January 1943, was recommissioned on 1 November 1943 as CVL (24) and completed as a carrier on 1 January 1944. She was assigned to Carrier Division 3 as part of the Japanese Third Fleet.[1]Final battleBoth Chitose and {{ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Chiyoda||2}} were sunk by a combination of naval bombers, cruiser shellfire and destroyer-launched torpedoes during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. According to the plan for the Sho-ichi go operation, both carriers were divested of aircraft and successfully used to decoy the main body of the American fleet away from the landing beaches in the Philippines. Chitose was sunk by torpedo hits during the first air strike made by naval aircraft of Task Force 38 (TF 38) from the aircraft carrier {{USS|Essex|CV-9|6}} off Cape Engaño. At 08:35, she took three torpedo hits, or possibly near misses from bombs on the port side forward of the number 1 elevator. This resulted in boiler rooms 2 and 4 being flooded with an immediate list to 27° and rudder failure. The list was reduced to 15°, but by 08:55 further flooding had brought it back up to 20°. At 08:55, the starboard engine room flooded, cutting speed to {{convert|14|kn|km/h mph|lk=in|abbr=on}}. The port engine room followed at 09:25. Chitose was dead in the water, and her list grew to 30°. At 09:37, at position {{coord|19|20|N|126|20|E|display=inline, title}}, she rolled over to port and nosed under, with the loss of 903 men. The cruiser {{Ship|Japanese cruiser|Isuzu||2}} rescued 480 men, and destroyer {{Ship|Japanese destroyer|Shimotsuki||2}} a further 121.[1] References1. ^1 IJN Chitose: Tabular Record of Movement, accessed on 26 August 2008
External links- Chitose specifications
- Chitose record of movements
{{Chitose class aircraft carrier}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitose}} 9 : Chitose-class aircraft carriers|Ships built in Japan|1936 ships|World War II aircraft carriers of Japan|Aircraft carriers sunk by aircraft|World War II shipwrecks in the Philippine Sea|Maritime incidents in October 1944|Ships sunk by US aircraft|Seaplane tenders of the Imperial Japanese Navy |