Japanese Aircraft Carrier: Soryu 日本帝国海軍蒼龍 Aoshima 1/700

Sōryū (蒼龍, Sōryū, meaning "Blue (or Green) Dragon") was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the mid1930s. A sister ship, Hiryū, was intended to follow Sōryū, but Hiryū's design was heavily modified and she is often considered to be a separate class.[Note 1] Sōryū's aircraft were employed in operations during the Second SinoJapanese War in the late 1930s and supported the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in mid1940. During the first months of the Pacific War, she took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Wake Island, and supported the conquest of the Dutch East Indies. In February 1942, her aircraft bombed Darwin, Australia, and she continued on to assist in the Dutch East Indies campaign. In April, Sōryū's aircraft helped sink two British heavy cruisers and several merchant ships during the Indian Ocean raid.