Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano
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 Shinano on trials in Tokyo Bay |
|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | 4 May 1940 |
| Launched: | 8 October 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 19 November 1944 |
| Fate: | Sunk on 29 November 1944 by the submarine Archer-Fish |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 71,890 tons full load 64,000 tons standard |
| Length: | 266.1 m (872.9 ft ) |
| Beam: | 36.3 m (119 ft) waterline 40 m (131.3 ft) flight deck |
| Draught: | 10 m (32.9 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 12 Kanpon oil-fired boilers, geared steam turbines, 4 screws, 153,000 hp (114 MW) |
| Speed: | 28 knots (52 km/h) |
| Range: | 7,200 nm. at 16 knots (13,300 km at 30 km/h) |
| Complement: | 2,400 |
| Armament: | Sixteen 100 mm (3.9 inch) / 40-caliber guns, twelve 120 mm (4.7 inch) / 45-caliber guns, 145 - 25 mm/60-caliber anti-aircraft guns, twelve 28-barreled 127 mm (5 inch) AA rocket launchers |
| Armor: | 127 mm (5 inch) side belt, 100 mm (4 inch) deck, 79 mm (3.1 inch) flight deck |
| Aircraft: | 47 (capable of storing 120) |
Shinano (Japanese:信濃) was an aircraft carrier operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II. It was laid down as the third of five projected Yamato-class battleships.
Shinano was laid down in May 1940, but construction was suspended in the summer of 1941 to free manpower and resources for approaching hostilities. Following the disastrous losses at the Battle of Midway, Shinano was selected for conversion to an aircraft carrier. It was the largest aircraft carrier, by tonnage, until the commissioning of the supercarrier USS Forrestal, eleven years later. Shinano was designed as a support carrier, using its extensive machine shops and large fuel capacity to service aircraft operating on other carriers. It would have had a very small air group of its own but a large number of unassigned aircraft to replace losses on other carriers.
Shinano was floated out of her dock at Yokosuka Navy Yard on November 11, 1944, and commissioned on November 19. On November 28, Shinano, escorted by four destroyers, sailed for Kure for further outfitting. At the time, the watertightness of pipes and connections between compartments had not been tested. The crew also had little training in damage control procedures.
Shinano had only been at sea for a few hours when it was sighted by USS Archer-Fish, a submarine under the command of Commander Joseph F. Enright. At 03:17, Archer-Fish fired six torpedoes. Four shallow-running torpedoes struck Shinano between the antitorpedo bulges and the waterline. Although the ship initially continued under way, it lost power around 06:00. The inexperienced crew was unable to contain the flooding and Shinano sank at 11:00. Approximately 1400 of the 2500 crew died. Postwar analysis by the US Technical Mission to Japan concluded that the defective design of Shinano's antitorpedo bulges, specifically the connection between the main armor belt and the antitorpedo bulkhead, contributed to her loss.
Like other Japanese battleships, Shinano took its name from a Japanese province. Shinano Province is located in present-day Nagano Prefecture. As with Kaga, and Akagi, Shinano retained its original name despite being converted from a battleship to an aircraft carrier.
