Shokaku-class Fleet Carrier

Ships in class: Shokaku, Zuikaku

The two Shōkaku-class aircraft carriers were built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the late 1930s. Completed shortly before the start of the Pacific War in 1941, they were judged by historian Mark Peattie as "arguably the best aircraft carriers in the world until the emergence of the American Essex class in 1943." With the exception of the Battle of Midway, they participated in every major naval action of the Pacific War, including the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Indian Ocean Raid, the Battle of the Coral Sea, and the Guadalcanal Campaign.