The only full sized fleet carrier that the Japanese produced during the war to see combat. The Taiho's life was short lived indeed;
The ship only ever launched 2 waves of aircraft for combat before she was torpedoed and sunk by a lurking USN submarine (USS Albacore). The irony? She was the
first IJN carrier with an armored flight deck to make her resistant against bombs. She was the epitome of grace with her hurricane bow
(a first for the IJN) and she would have proved a tough nut to crack with her superb 3.9" AA weapon suite (another first on a IJN carrier).
