Sixteen carriers planned, only three completed

Japan planned sixteen related carriers, completed only three, and cancelled the other thirteen at different construction stages. Although the yards received a common starting design, local changes made the resulting ships less uniform than the word class suggests. Unryu was built at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal with boilers, turbines, and other machinery sharing components intended for a heavy cruiser. That commonality was meant to use equipment and skills already available instead of waiting for an entirely new production system. The program therefore shows the central purpose of a light fleet carrier: mobilizing industrial capacity quickly enough to put many useful flight decks into service.