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IJN Shinano

1945 WORLD WAR 2

IJN Shinano Story

IJN Shinano served with the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as a major naval carrier during World War II. She originally existed as the hull of the Yamato-class battleship series, in which the IJN Yamato became the most famous performer of the war.

The class represents Yamato herself and her sister ship IJN Musashi. Yamato ended her career on April 7, 1945, in a suicide operation related to the Battle of Okinawa, while Musashi lost to the enemy at the Battle of Leyte Gulf on October 24, 1944.

On May 4, 1940, Shinano saw her keel laid at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, despite a decision in 1942 to convert her still incomplete hull into an aircraft carrier to offset losses elsewhere - she would become the most famous and The largest aircraft carrier of the war sank. Named for the province of Shinano in central Japan, it was launched on October 8, 1944, and was sunk by American submarine crews in November.

The origin of the Shinano is the "4th Naval Armament Replenishment Plan" developed by the Japanese Navy in 1939 - a plan to continue expanding Japanese firepower in the Pacific. Therefore, the Shinano was built with the intention of serving as a Yamato-class battleship, despite the Japanese Navy's setbacks, beginning with the Battle of Midway, which lost four aircraft carriers, forcing the authorities to consider the ship as a stopgap fleet carrier.

Once converted, she barely retained her Yamato identity, lost a lot of armor protection, and missed her sister ship's powerful main guns. Instead, the ship followed traditional notions about aircraft carriers, gaining an in-line flat-top flight deck with an offset island-style superstructure (with an additional funnel) on the starboard side.

The type is approved to carry up to 47 naval attack, reconnaissance and combat aircraft against the invaluable strength of US carrier groups. Upon completion, the vessel weighed 65,800 tons under standard load and over 69,000 tons under normal military load. She had a barrel length of 872 feet, a beam of 119 feet, and a draft of 33 feet 10 inches. Electricity is provided by 12 Kampon water tube boilers that power 4 geared steam turbines driving 4 shafts with 150,000 shaft horsepower - the same as all Yamato class ships.

This gives the ship a maximum surface speed of 27 knots in ideal conditions, making it a fairly fast carrier design. She has a range of 10,000 nautical miles (equivalent to about 12,000 miles) and a speed of 18 knots. It provides a quarter of about 2,400 officers, sailors, specialists and pilots.

The twin-barreled 8 x 127mm Type 89 (DP) gun plus the 35 x 25mm Type 96 anti-aircraft gun in a triple mount was quite formidable. There are also 12 x 120 mm (4.7 in) anti-aircraft rocket launchers and a 28-round magazine.

During her construction (and that of the Yamato and Musashi), the ship was built in secrecy to avoid prying eyes and retain the ultimate strategic element of surprise.

Despite all the work, the road to Shinano ended quickly in November 1944. She entered the transfer station from the construction berth at the Yokosuka Naval Shipyard, traveled to the Kure Naval Base, and began receiving supplies of aircraft and weapons to begin construction. During the voyage, however, she was under surveillance by the USS Archerfish (SS-311).

The Archer-Fish was a Balao-class attack submarine that entered service in September 1943, made a good life for the Americans, survived the war, and was eventually abandoned as a target ship off the coast of California in 1968. The American ship attacked the weakened Shinano, landing four torpedoes on her despite the presence of Japanese destroyers. Soon after, the Shinano began to surface on the starboard side - usually the death knell for any warship - then lost power completely and the ship became a target for swimming.

The accompanying ships tried to rescue her from the sinking, but her captain eventually ordered the ship to be abandoned. On November 29, 1944, the Shinano found the seafloor after sinking aft. The loss dealt another serious blow to the Japanese Navy's aspirations later in the war.

1,435 Japanese soldiers and civilians were killed in the attack, while some 1,080 souls were eventually rescued.

The Shinano was expected to complete formal sea trials in late 1944 and early 1945, before being commissioned sometime in late spring. However, as the Allied noose around mainland Japan tightened, the increased loss of Japanese naval assets spurred the construction of the Shinano - a hasty pace that left quality control in a rather dubious state.

Her design also proved to be deeply flawed, and her rapid flooding destroyed the ship and her crew in a short period of time.