The carrier reeferred to in the Nimitz Graybook was about 200 miles south of Nagoya Japan and 300 miles east of Miyazka Japan heading due south. I assume this was not the boat the Redfish took out since that was previous reported.
Did these carriers ever run without escort or was this a referrence to just the biggest/primary boat?
I think the B29 pilot misidentified what he was looking at. At that point in the war, there were only three Japanese carriers afloat, the Amagi and Katsuragi of the Unryu class and the Junyo, a converted ocean liner. All three had islands on the right side. Katsuragi was not sea worthy (never was) and Junyo was badly damaged by torpedo attacks and sitting in port. Amagi was out in the inland sea acting as a torpedo target. Maybe the B-29 saw Amagi, but it’s doubtful.
By the way, Redfish did not sink a Furutaka class heavy cruiser. Of the four ships of that class, only Aoba is still afloat and it the Combined Fleet webpage lists it’s tabular record of movement. On this date her badly damaged hulk is sitting in the Kure naval yard, where she will spend the rest of the war. The Japanese records don’t show the loss of any heavy cruisers on this date, although the few surviving ones are pretty much laid up with irreparable damage in Japan or Singapore.
Redfish is not credited with sinking any Japanese surface combatants other than Unryu, and she participated in the attack that heavily damaged Junyo and knocked her out of the war. That’s credit enough.