Terminus
Posts: 41459
Joined: 4/23/2005 From: Denmark Status: offline
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Info is very, very spotty on this. The CVE's were switched around all over the place, from escort to aircraft ferry to general transport and back to escort missions again as the IJN needed them. I've been looking at their TROMs on combinedfleet.com; here's a quote from Shinyo's: 9 November 1944: Upon assignment of SHINYO to the important Luzon re-inforcement convoy HI-81, fourteen Kates of the 931 Air Squadron fly out from Saeki Naval Air Station and land on SHINYO. Admittedly, this could be read as being a ferry mission, but why were the planes then landed on the ship, rather than being craned aboard in port? Here's one from Kaiyo's TROM: 21 April 1944: At 0700, departs Singapore with kaibokan ETOFORU, IKI, SHIMUSHU, CD-8 and CD-9 escorting convoy HI-58 consisting of oilers ITSUKUSHIMA, RYOEI, OMUROSAN and OTOWASAN MARUs, troop transport SHINSHU MARU, and probably ZUIHO and MAYASAN MARUs. That same day, one of KAIYO's attack planes sights LtCdr Manning M. Kimmel's (son of former CINCPAC, ADM H. E. Kimmel) USS ROBALO (SS-273) on the surface about 15 miles behind the convoy. The plane drops two bombs on ROBALO and calls for assistance. IKI and CD-9 arrive and drop depth charges. ROBALO is damaged, but escapes. I've never heard the Val referred to as an "attack plane"; this has always meant a torpedo plane, i.e. a Kate or Jill, and the latter is very unlikely on a CVE. Admittedly, this is all circumstantial, and I was hasty in my previous post, but the Kate could be operated from CVE's and was.
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