Akagi
Nagumo’s flagship, her aircraft contribution and the fires that forced command to move to another ship.
Read the profile →CollectionCollection
The people and equipment within the story
Follow the connections
A ship’s service does not begin with its final battle. These profiles bring together equipment, changing circumstances and the events in which they mattered.
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Bismarck
The battleship’s construction, main armament and preparation for her first Atlantic operation.
Read the profile →Fuyutsuki
A destroyer in Yamato’s final force, and the rescue testimony that connects the battle to its surviving witnesses.
Read the profile →Hiryū
The Japanese carrier that launched two counterattacks after the morning disaster at Midway.
Read the profile →HMS Anson
Admiral Moore’s flagship for Operation Tungsten, the April 1944 carrier attack on Tirpitz.
Read the profile →HMS Ark Royal
The carrier whose searches, shadowing aircraft and torpedo strikes helped stop Bismarck.
Read the profile →HMS Dorsetshire
The cruiser’s contribution to Bismarck’s final action and the interrupted rescue of German survivors.
Read the profile →HMS Emperor
The escort carrier whose Hellcats supported both strikes against Tirpitz in Operation Tungsten.
Read the profile →HMS Fencer
The escort carrier whose Wildcats and Swordfish helped protect the fleet during the attack on Tirpitz.
Read the profile →HMS Furious
The carrier that shared the Barracuda strikes against Tirpitz and helped protect the attacking fleet.
Read the profile →HMS Hood
A battlecruiser’s service, people and significance beyond her final action.
Read the profile →HMS King George V
Tovey’s flagship, the final approach to Bismarck and the practical limits of sustained gunfire.
Read the profile →HMS Norfolk
Wake-Walker’s cruiser, whose reports and shadowing helped connect the Denmark Strait pursuit to Bismarck’s final battle.
Read the profile →HMS Prince of Wales
A new battleship’s damaged guns, continued resistance and decision to withdraw after Hood’s loss.
Read the profile →HMS Pursuer
The escort carrier whose approach to the Tirpitz attack included a steering failure, a snowstorm and the task of launching fighter escorts.
Read the profile →HMS Rodney
Heavy guns, restricted firing arcs and the battleship’s part in Bismarck’s final action.
Read the profile →HMS Royalist
The cruiser carrying Rear-Admiral Bisset’s flag during the carrier operation against Tirpitz.
Read the profile →HMS Searcher
The escort carrier that supplied Wildcats and the second strike’s close-escort leader during Operation Tungsten.
Read the profile →HMS Sheffield
The cruiser attacked by her own side before helping guide Ark Royal’s aircraft towards Bismarck.
Read the profile →HMS Stubborn
The submarine that delivered X.7 towards Tirpitz and recovered X.10 during Operation Source.
Read the profile →HMS Suffolk
The cruiser that first sighted Bismarck in the Denmark Strait and used radar to keep contact through poor visibility.
Read the profile →HMS Victorious
The carrier that attacked Bismarck in 1941 and helped launch Operation Tungsten against Tirpitz in 1944.
Read the profile →Isokaze
The Japanese destroyer that helped receive Sōryū’s survivors at Midway and later sailed in Yamato’s final force.
Read the profile →Kaga
A major part of Japan’s opening air attack, followed by the destruction of her bridge and a desperate fight against fire.
Read the profile →Mikuma
The Japanese cruiser lost during the withdrawal from Midway, whose survivors connect the air battle to the days spent searching the sea.
Read the profile →Mogami
The Japanese cruiser that survived collision and air attack during the withdrawal from Midway, despite an early American claim that she had sunk.
Read the profile →Prinz Eugen
Bismarck’s cruiser companion, her independent raiding orders and the machinery problems that brought her to Brest.
Read the profile →Sōryū
The carrier’s island strike, the rapid spread of fire and the evacuation of her surviving crew.
Read the profile →Tirpitz
Bismarck’s sister ship, whose threat from Norway changed as attacks, repairs and trials altered her capabilities.
Read the profile →Tone
The Japanese cruiser whose No. 4 reconnaissance aircraft reported American ships during the critical morning at Midway.
Read the profile →USS Bennington (CV-20)
The Essex-class carrier whose aircraft attacked the Japanese surface force on 7 April 1945.
Read the profile →USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)
The carrier whose Corsairs and Avengers attacked Yamato on 7 April 1945, seen through two squadron reports.
Read the profile →USS Enterprise
The carrier, her mixed air groups and the practical work of sustaining attacks at Midway.
Read the profile →USS Hackleback
The submarine that shadowed Yamato’s force while destroyers, aircraft and a radio failure complicated her reports.
Read the profile →USS Hammann
Yorktown’s escort and salvage assistant, lost while helping the damaged carrier after Midway’s air attacks.
Read the profile →USS Hornet
The carrier whose separated morning strike brought disaster to Torpedo Eight, and whose surviving air group kept fighting.
Read the profile →USS Threadfin
The submarine whose encounter with Yamato’s force brought a difficult choice between reporting and attacking.
Read the profile →USS Vireo
The small tug that tried to bring Yorktown home, and the practical limits of towing a damaged carrier.
Read the profile →USS Yorktown
Fighting damage, restoring capability and attempting salvage after Midway.
Read the profile →X-craft midget submarines
The small submarines, passage crews and explosive charges behind Operation Source.
Read the profile →Yahagi
The light cruiser that sailed with Yamato, and the difference between her place in the Japanese plan and her appearance in American attack reports.
Read the profile →Yamato
The battleship at the centre of the Okinawa surface operation, seen through orders, fuel evidence and survivor testimony.
Read the profile →Yukikaze
The destroyer that returned from Yamato’s final sortie and helped recover survivors after the air attacks.
Read the profile →Aichi D3A1 Val
The Japanese dive bomber that struck Midway and carried Hiryū’s first counterattack to Yorktown.
Read the profile →Avro Lancaster
The long-range bomber adapted to carry Tallboy against Tirpitz.
Read the profile →Consolidated PBY Catalina
The patrol aircraft connecting the search for Bismarck with reconnaissance and night attack at Midway.
Read the profile →Curtiss SB2C Helldiver
The later carrier dive bomber present in Bennington’s strike against Yamato’s force.
Read the profile →Douglas SBD Dauntless
The scout and dive bomber, its two-person crew and the bomb loads actually flown from Enterprise.
Read the profile →Douglas TBD Devastator
The American carrier torpedo bomber and the failures of protection and coordination that exposed it at Midway.
Read the profile →Fairey Barracuda
The carrier aircraft that bombed Tirpitz during Operation Tungsten and interrupted her return to service.
Read the profile →Fairey Swordfish
Search, shadowing and torpedo attack from Ark Royal during the Bismarck pursuit.
Read the profile →Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat
Folding wings, six machine guns and the trade-offs faced by American carrier fighters at Midway.
Read the profile →Grumman F6F Hellcat
A carrier fighter used against ships and gun positions in both the Yamato and Tirpitz campaigns.
Read the profile →Grumman TBF‑1 Avenger
The new torpedo bomber’s Midway debut, the island detachment of VT-8 and the limits of better equipment.
Read the profile →Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero
Japan’s carrier fighter, its armament and the competing demands of escort and fleet defence at Midway.
Read the profile →Nakajima B5N2 Kate
The three-seat Japanese carrier attack aircraft, its crew and its documented torpedo mission against Yorktown.
Read the profile →TBM-3 Avenger
Bennington’s torpedo aircraft on 7 April 1945, their long flight and the decision to attack Yamato’s escorts.
Read the profile →Vought F4U Corsair
A Marine F4U-1D’s bombing sortie from Bennington during the attack on Yamato’s force.
Read the profile →Bombs and torpedoes at Midway
The weapons recorded in American and Japanese carrier sorties, and what their expenditure can tell us.
Read the profile →Bombs in the Yamato strike
The different bomb loads recorded by Bennington’s Corsair and Helldiver reports on 7 April 1945.
Read the profile →Mark 13 aerial torpedo
The American aerial torpedo’s early water-entry problems, its role at Midway and the improvements that came later.
Read the profile →Naval guns and salvos
How calibre, turret arrangement, firing arcs and observation shaped the heavy-gun battle.
Read the profile →Tallboy
The 12,000-pound bomb used against Tirpitz, and what the damage investigation can and cannot establish.
Read the profile →The bombs of Operation Tungsten
The four bomb types selected for the Barracuda attacks on Tirpitz, and the difference between intended effects and demonstrated damage.
Read the profile →The Type 96 25 mm gun
Yamato’s light anti-aircraft weapon, its magazine limits and the difference between gun totals and effective defence.
Read the profile →Tirpitz’s air defences
Shipboard guns, the protected anchorage and what the accounts of Tungsten and the final attack actually establish.
Read the profile →Tirpitz’s main battery
The heavy guns behind the threat from Norway, and why armament alone did not establish operational readiness.
Read the profile →Torpedoes from the air
British firing-mechanism changes against Bismarck and the Japanese aerial torpedoes recorded at Midway.
Read the profile →Type 91 aerial torpedo
The modification recorded in Hiryū’s Midway attack, checked against the postwar naval technical investigation.
Read the profile →Yamato’s 46 cm guns
Nine heavy guns, three triple turrets and the limits of the surviving technical evidence.
Read the profile →The people behind the equipment
Read four personal accounts of escape, care and survival, connected to the stories and the documents behind them.