Hiryū's forward flight deck and hangar were devastated, yet the bomb positions initially left her propulsion working. Later explosions stopped the engines and led to abandonment, followed by Japanese torpedo attempts to sink the carrier. A reconnaissance aircraft found her still afloat the next morning with crewmen aboard, who escaped in the ship's cutter shortly before Hiryū finally sank. The cutter drifted for fourteen days before an American Catalina sighted it and the seaplane tender Ballard recovered the survivors. Destruction of a carrier's fighting function came well before the hull sank and the last crewmen were rescued.
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Hiryū survives abandonment before her last crew escapes
Hiryū retained propulsion, survived abandonment and Japanese torpedoes, and remained afloat long enough for overlooked crewmen to escape before an American rescue two weeks later.