"Akitsushima" - the Japanese aviation tender

The Imperial Japanese Navy ship "Akitsushima" was launched on April 25, 1941 at the Kawasaki Shipyard in Kobe. But the ship was not completed until April 29, 1942. "Akitsushima" - an aviation tender, designed to transport Kawanishi H8K "Emily", one of the largest airplanes, produced in the world at that time. The ship's displacement was 4724 tons, maximum length - 117.95 m, width - 15.8 m, draft - 5.4 m. The ship is equipped with 4 diesel engines with a total power of 8,000 h.p. and they turned two propellers, the maximum speed of the ship was 19 knots. The ship was armed with 4 anti-aircraft guns of 25 mm caliber and 4 127 mm universal guns, 1 twin-barreled depth charge launcher and one "Emily" flying boat. Although it was planned to build 5 more such ships in the near future, only "Akitsushima" was completed. In September 1942, during the Battle of Guadalcanal, the tender was based in the Solomon Islands. On February 17, 1944, "Akitsushima" dropped anchor in the southern part of Doubloon Island in Truk Lagoon. During the first battle swimming, the ship was hit by two 1-ton bombs, dropped by bombers from the USS "Enterprise" air group. One of them hit the command bridge, the other hit the rudder. Planes from the USS "Interpid" destroyed both sides and the ship caught fire. On the same day, the tender was also attacked by bombers - torpedo aircraft's Douglas "Dauntless". Although, it is hard to believe, the ship survived another day and sailed for major repairs. After a quick layover, most likely in the Philippines, it set off with a convoy of 12 ships towards the Busuang Islands. Together with the tanker "Okikawa Maru", "Akitsushima" docked in the western part of Lusong Island. On September 24, 1944, during the battles in the Coron Bay area, the tender was attacked by "Heldiwer" type bombers. The center of the hull was hit and the ship exploded and sank very quickly.

A beautiful model of atypical Japanese World War II period camouflage of medium difficulty and well detailed for intermediate to advanced modelers. The model represents the ship as it was in 1943 and is as detailed, as possible on this scale. There is even a model airplane.