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S. Fukui (Naval Historical Center
# NH
63437)
| Tonnage | 62,000 tons standard displacement |
| Dimensions | 872'8" by 119'1" by 33'10" 266.0m by 36.3m by 10.3m |
| Maximum speed | 27 knots |
| Complement | 2400 |
| Aircraft | 827' (252m) flight deck 2 elevators 42 aircraft operational Additional replacement aircraft |
| Armament | 8x2 5"/40
dual-purpose guns 35x3 25mm AA guns 12x28 5" rocket launchers |
| Protection | 6.3"
(160mm) VH machinery belt inclined 20 degrees 15.7" (400mm) VH magazine belt inclined 20 degrees 10.6" to 3" (270 to 75 mm) lower VH magazine belt inclined 14 degrees 6.5" to 3" (200 to 75 mm) lower VH machinery belt inclined 14 degrees 13.4" (340mm) VH bulkheads inclined 20 degrees 4" (100mm) armor deck over machinery 7.5" (200mm) armor deck over magazines 3.1" (80mm) flight deck 0.47" (12mm) hangar deck 1" (25mm) upper deck 3.6" (140mm) MNC uptakes 13.8" (350mm) VH steering room sides 3" (75mm) steering room floors 4-bulkhead void-void-void-liquid torpedo protection (0.35", 0.63", lower armor belt, 0.4", 0.6" or 9mm, 16mm,l over armor belt, 11mm, 15mm bulkheads) from inboard to outboard) |
| Machinery
|
4-shaft geared turbines
(150,000
shp) 12 Kanpon boilers |
| Bunkerage | 8900 tons fuel oil 155,000 gallons (590,000 liters) aviation gasoline |
| Sensors |
Type
13 air search radar Type 21 radar (two sets) |
| Range | 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km) at 18 knots |
The Shinano was the largest carrier built during the war (62,000 tons) and probably also the shortest-lived, being torpedoed by the U.S. submarine Archerfish on 29 November 1944 while still incomplete and under way between shipyards. The skipper, Abe Toshio, assumed the damage was light and continued on course, but this only hastened progressive flooding and resulted in the loss of the ship. At the time of her loss, Shinano was lacking some of her boilers and pumps and poor yard work had compromised her watertight integrity. Nor were her hatches and manholes sealed, since civilian workers were actually still aboard and working during this voyage.
Shinano was
originally to be the third ship of the Yamato
class, but the Japanese
realized after the disaster at Midway
that carriers were needed much
worse than battleships. The hull of Shinano was then just 45%
complete,
giving considerable latitude in converting her on the ways to a
carrier. She was
rather a peculiar
improvisation, retaining heavy belt armor and adding a heavily
armored
flight
deck. She also departed from previous Japanese pratice in being
designed with an open hangar and with facilities for refueling and
rearming aircraft on the flight deck.
The design was terribly inefficient in the sense
that
she could operate only
42 planes, but she could ferry an additional 30 aircraft and the
Japanese
apparently intended to operate her as a support ship for forward
units.
Her own air group was to consist of 18 A7M Reppu fighters, 18 B7A "Grace" dive bombers, and 6 C6N "Myrt" reconnaissance
aircraft,
but the Reppu never went
into
production.
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References
CombinedFleet.com
(accessed
2008-2-23)
Garzke
and Dullin (1985)
Gogin
(2010; accessed 2013-4-5)
Jentschura, Jung, and Mickel (1977)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2009, 2013, 2016 by Kent G. Budge. Index
