Special 2TL Type escort carrier

The Special 2TL Type was a class of auxiliary escort carriers built for the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II by converting Type 2TL tankers, and some western sources call it the Yamashio Maru class. In 1944 the army, which had already turned two passenger liners into combined assault ships and aircraft carriers, decided to acquire escort carriers of its own to give troop convoys air cover against submarines. It chartered two partly built tankers, Yamashio Maru and Chigusa Maru, for conversion. The conversion was very simple: a flush flight deck 107 metres long was added with no hangar, so the eight Ki-76 aircraft were stored on deck, and the defensive armament was sixteen 25 mm anti-aircraft guns and a depth charge projector. Only the lead ship was completed, commissioned on 27 January 1945 and sunk by American aircraft at Yokohama before she could operate. Her sisters were unfinished at the surrender and later served as tankers. The article names Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as the builder.