Carriers and bridges (IJN)

Hello; brand-new poster here.

My WWII is rather basic, so I hope ya'll humor my asking what must seem
a really basic question:

I've noticed in photos that several of the IJN light carriers (Rjuyo, Zuiho, etc.) don't seem to have "island" bridges.

So:

1. Is this correct? Or am I missing the bridges? Are they somewhere else on the ship?

2. If they ARE missing, why? Why didn't they have bridges?

3. Without bridges, how did they perform basic navigation, to say nothing of proper combat observation?

 

Many of the Japanese light carriers were without "islands", the superstructure which sticks up above the side of the flight deck about 1/3 to 2/3's of the way back from the bow. This was a design feature intended to smooth the air flow over the flight deck to make landings easier and safer for the pilots. It's debatable if it was worth it.

Carriers without Islands were difficult to conn and often had cramped navigation and command bridges. The Ryujo's bridge was positioned under the forward end of the flight deck (see picture) http://combinedfleet.com/ryujo01.jpg; the Zuiho's bridge was also under the flight deck about a fifth of the way back from the forward end. Obviously, the bridges on both carriers did not allow much of a view of aircraft operations, or afford much situational awareness in case of air attack.

Almost all US carriers had at least small islands on the starboard side of the flight deck. The USS Langley being the only exception I can think of. On the larger US carriers like the Lexington, Essex, and Midway classes the islands were relatively large and accommodated elaborate facilities.

 

Thanks for the help and the info!