Soryu was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Captain Ryusaku Yanagimoto took command on 6 October 1941 and was still her captain on the day she was lost.
On 7 December 1941 she joined the attack on Pearl Harbor and launched aircraft. She came through that day without a hit on her own hull.
On 11 December 1941 she was at the Battle of Wake Island. Her aircraft provided air cover for the second landing.
On 1 March 1942 she took part in the loss of Edsall. Nine of her dive bombers flew in the strike of twenty-six aircraft that stopped Edsall, and a dive-bomb hit in that attack is recorded from Soryu.
Her last action was the Battle of Midway. On 4 June 1942 American carrier dive bombers wrecked her. That bombing is not credited to one ship. She was scuttled the same day and sank at Midway, with Yanagimoto still in command.