Japanese aircraft carrier Chiyoda

Chiyoda (千代田) was an Chitose class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was originally built 1934-1936 as a seaplane carrier and midget submarine carrier, before being converted to a light carrier in 10 months time from March to December 1943 at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on Tokyo Bay, south of Yokohama.

She was damaged in the Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944), nicknamed the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot by American aviators, a decisive naval battle of World War II which effectively eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions.

Both Chiyoda and her converted sister ship Chitose were sunk by a combination of naval bombers, cruiser shellfire and destroyer-launched torpedoes during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, as part of Vice Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa's Northern Mobile ("Decoy") Force. According to the plan for the Sho-ichi go operation, both of these 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.

Chiyoda was sunk with all hands at the Battle of Cape Engano during the Battle of Leyte Gulf on 25 October 1944. After being crippled by four bombs dropped by aircraft from the carriers USS Franklin and Lexington that left Chiyoda dead in the water, the converted hybrid Japanese battleship/carrier Hyūga attempted to tow Chiyoda, but this was prevented by a third attack. The Japanese cruiser Isuzu was ordered to remove Chiyoda's crew, but this was also frustrated due to continuing danger from air and surface attack. After three attempts, the Isuzu was forced to retreat with U.S. surface forces in sight and Chiyoda under naval gunfire. She was finished off by gunfire from four cruisers USS Santa Fe, Mobile, Wichita and New Orleans along with nine destroyers, all under the command of Rear Admiral Laurence T DuBose, as Chiyoda stubbornly returned fire and was hit repeatedly. No survivors were permitted to be rescued, and apparently Captain Jyo Eiichiro and the entire crew of 1,470 officers and men perished. Chiyoda was the largest vessel of any nationality which is definitely known to have been sunk with all hands during World War II. She was also one of the few carriers sunk by surface forces in naval warfare's history.