Soryu outgrows Japanese treaty arithmetic

Hosho, Ryujo, Akagi, and Kaga had already consumed most of Japan's treaty carrier allowance, leaving little declared tonnage for new construction. Soryu nevertheless emerged at roughly 16,200 tons, with 152,000 shaft horsepower, a speed of 34 knots, and sixty-three operational aircraft plus nine reserves. The gap between the expected 10,000-ton design and the completed ship made Japan's departure from the treaty calculation increasingly obvious. Soryu's later loss at Midway connects the interwar arithmetic to the carrier force Japan took into the Pacific War.