Dear readers! The Marine Collection magazine introduces you for the first time to the Japanese aircraft carrier - the first heavy aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Akagi, launched on April 22, 1925 and entered service in August 1927. Until 1934, the aircraft carrier actively participated in maneuvers , exercises and parades of the Japanese Navy, after which the ship was sent for modernization, which lasted until August 31, 1938. The converted ship, now able to carry A5M4 fighters, D1A2 dive bombers and B4Y1 torpedo bombers (91 aircraft in total), set off for the shores of China in January of the same year, where its aircraft took part in combat operations to capture this ship until February 1939. countries, begun by Japan in 1937. In April 1941, the aircraft of the air group were replaced at Akagi with the latest models - A6M2 fighters, D3A1 bombers and B5N2 torpedo bombers, and the crew began to master the new technology. There were only a few months left before the start of hostilities in the Pacific...