The Japanese had two heavy cruisers converted so that on the back half they had a flight deck and could carry 6 aircraft each. There names are the Tone and Tikuma.
Damaged fatally during the Battle of Samar, in which my father was a participant on the Fanshaw Bay. He watched the Chikuma (and others) pound the Gambier Bay until she sunk, the only American aircraft carrier ever to be sunk by naval gunfire.