Aoshima 01229 Akitsumaru Std

Akitsu Maru was a Japanese escort aircraft carrier and a unit that in today's nomenclature could be called a large landing ship. The construction of the unit was completed in January 1942. The length of the ship was approximately 144 meters and a width of 20 meters. The displacement reached approx. 11,800 tons, and the maximum speed - approx. 20 knots. The deck armament, at the time of launching, consisted of, among other things, 2 75 mm AA guns or 6 25 mm AA guns. His air group could consist of 8-10 aircraft.

The Akitsu Maru was initially designed and built as a civilian passenger ship, but before it was completed as such, it was taken over by the Japanese army (yes - an army, not a fleet!), Which completed its construction as a "large landing ship". The unit received a continuous flight deck from which light planes (eg Kokusai Ki-76) and autogyra (Kayaba Ka-1) could easily take off, but the planes could not land on Akitsu Maru later. The unit could also carry up to 27 landing barges. It was assumed that Akitsu Maru would play a large role in Japanese amphibious operations, but in practice it was used primarily for transporting aircraft. The vessel was sunk on November 15, 1944 by the American submarine USS Queenfish.