The sinking of the British capital ships Prince of Wales and Repulse by Japanese land @-@ based aircraft on 10 December 1941 led the IJN to realize that battleships could not operate in the face of enemy aircraft and required friendly air support to protect them . The loss of four Japanese aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway in June 1942 severely limited the ability of the IJN to provide any air cover and alternatives were sought . Earlier proposals to convert one or more battleships into carriers had been made and rejected at the beginning of the war , but they were revived after Midway . Plans for more elaborate conversions were rejected on the grounds of expense and , most critically , time , and the IJN settled on removing the rear pair of turrets and replacing them with a flight deck equipped with two catapults to launch floatplanes . The Ise @-@ class ships were selected for the conversion because Hyūga had suffered an explosion in Turret No. 5 in early May that virtually destroyed the turret and their Turret No. 6 could not elevate to the full + 43 degrees deemed necessary for the long @-@ range engagement anticipated by the IJN . The Fusōs were scheduled to follow once the first two were completed .