Japanese Forces

Aircraft getting ready for takeoff

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Japanese planes are preparing to take off from the flight deck of heavy aircraft carrier Shōkaku to attack Pearl Harbor; December 1941. Shōkaku was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She took part in several key naval battles during the Pacific War, including the attack on Pearl Harbor, before being torpedoed and sunk by a U.S. submarine at the Battle of the Philippine Sea.