Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 16, 2015

Hiryū ("Flying Dragon") was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the 1930s. The only ship of her class, she was built to a modified JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Sōryū design. Her aircraft supported the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in mid-1940. During the first month of the Pacific War, she took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Wake Island. In early 1942, the ship's aircraft supported the conquest of the Dutch East Indies and bombed Darwin, Australia. After a brief refit, Hiryū and three other fleet carriers of the First Air Fleet (Kido Butai) participated in the Battle of Midway in June. After bombarding American forces on the atoll, the carriers were attacked by aircraft from Midway and from the carriers USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Hornet (CV-8), and USS Yorktown (CV-5). Dive bombers from Yorktown and Enterprise crippled Hiryū and set her afire. She was scuttled the following day after it became clear that she could not be salvaged. The loss of Hiryū and three other carriers at Midway was a crucial strategic defeat for Japan and contributed significantly to the Allies' ultimate victory in the Pacific.