Wreck of the HIJMS Shinano (信濃)

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, navy, shipwreck, aircraft carrier

Laid down in May 1940 at Yokosuka Naval Shipyard as the 3rd member of the Yamato Class of Super-Battleships, construction on the partially completed hull of the Shinano was suspended following the disastrous loss of Aircraft Carriers by the IJN at the Battle of Midway in 1942. Redesigned to be built as a Support Aircraft Carrier, the new HIJMS Shinano would eventually be launched on October 8th 1944 weighing a massive 72,000 tons and spanning 872 feet, by far the largest aircraft carrier in the world until the appearance of the United States Forrestal Class Carriers in the mid 1950's.

Following her November 19th, 1944 commissioning, the Shinano was hastily ordered to sail from Yokosuka to Kure for outfitting, as American aircraft were regularly overflying the port facilities at Yokosuka and were endangering the uncompleted Shinano. Despite the ship only having four boilers operational, none of her watertight doors installed, and over her Captain's protests the Shinano was ordered to sail on November 28th. After embarking her 2,176 mostly green crew, 300 shipyard workers and 40 civilian employees, the Shinano headed for sea escorted by three Destroyers.

The massive Shinano was immediately sighted by the USS Archerfish (SS-311), an American Submarine ordered to find and sink the carrier sighted by Army Air Force recon flights earlier in the month. The American Sub doggedly pursued the zig-zagging carrier and her escorts throughout the night and had several cat-and-mouse confrontations with the Shinano's escorting Destroyers before the sub got into a favorable submerged firing position.

At 0309hrs and approximately 108 miles from Omae-zaki lighthouse the USS Archerfish fired a spread of six shallow-running torpedoes at the Shinano, four of which were observed to hit the carrier along her Starboard side. The Shinano's escorts pounced on the Archerfish which quickly dove deep and withdrew from the area without further action, but the damage was done. Heavy flooding began to cause the Shinano to list to Starboard, but the ingress of water was deemed manageable and the ship continued towards Japan at 11 knots. Damage control teams went about counteracting the flooding in the deep hull of the ship, but incomplete fittings, lack of watertight doors and compartments and the overall inexperience of the crew took its toll on the Shinano, and four hours after the torpedo attack her boiler water supply failed and she went dead in the water.

At 07:45 Captain Toshio Abe ordered spaces on the Shinano's Port side flooded to counteract her list as her escorts moved in to take her under tow. In an attempt to beach the ship at Cape Ushio, the three Destroyers were able to get the Shinano moving up to three knots underway, however the then-uncontrollable flooding of both sides of the ship and her distance from shore prompted Captain Abe to order her abandoned at 1018hrs.

By 1050 the Shinano's list to Starboard had increased to an alarming level and the ship was still only partially evacuated of her crew. Suddenly at 1057hrs the Shinano rolled over to Starboard and floated bottom up briefly before she sank Stern-first at this position on November 29th, 1944. Captain Abe and 1,435 crew and contractors went down with the ship.

www.combinedfleet.com/Shinano.htm