Four fire control directors were installed, two on the port side and two to starboard. [4], Shōkaku was 10,000 tons heavier than Sōryū, mainly due to the extra armor incorporated into the ship's design. She then returned to the home islands via Truk for training and aircraft ferrying duties. [7] Hangar space was not greatly increased in comparison to Sōryū and both Shōkaku and Zuikaku could each carry just nine more aircraft than Sōryū, giving them a normal operating capacity of seventy-two plus room for twelve in reserve. Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" fighters (fighter division commander : Tadashi Kaneko ) from the Shōkaku preparing for the attack on Pearl Harbor. Vertical protection consisted of 215 mm (8.5 in) on the main armor deck over the machinery, magazines and aviation fuel tanks while horizontal protection consisted of 215 mm (8.5 in) along the waterline belt abreast the machinery spaces reducing to 150 mm (5.9 in) outboard of the magazines[4], Unlike British carriers, whose aviation fuel was stored in separate cylinders or coffer-dams surrounded by seawater, all pre-war Japanese carriers had their aviation fuel tanks built integral with the ship's hull and Shōkaku was no exception. Shōkaku's 242 m (794 ft) long wood-planked flight deck ended short of the ship's bow and, just barely, short of the stern. In June, she was assigned to Operation A-Go, an attempt to repulse the Allied invasion of the Mariana Islands. The crew of the sinking Zuikaku salute as the flag is lowered on 25 October 1944. Her aircraft complement consisted of 18 Mitsubishi A6M fighters, 27 Aichi D3A dive bombers, and 27 Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers. List by death toll of ships sunk by submarines, http://www.combinedfleet.com/Akashi_t.htm, "IJN Shokaku: Tabular Record of Movement", List of ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Crisis: The Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor and Southeast Asia, https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Shōkaku&oldid=44201, World War II shipwrecks in the Philippine Sea, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, About Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core. [4], Shōkaku was 10,000 tons heavier than Sōryū, mainly due to the extra armor incorporated into the ship's design. Later versions, however, were bulkier and required eventual removal of the fifth fire control director in order to accommodate the larger and heavier antenna.[4]. Completed shortly before the start of the Pacific War in 1941, the Shōkaku and Zuikaku were called "arguably the best aircraft carriers in the world" when built. At 12:10, an aerial bomb exploded, detonating aviation fuel vapors which had spread throughout the ship. One of six carriers to participate in the Pearl Harbor attack, Zuikaku was the last of the six to be sunk in the war (four in the Battle of Midway and Shōkaku in the Battle of the Philippine Sea). Hidden by a rain squall, Zuikaku escaped detection, but Shōkaku was hit three times by bombs and was unable to launch or recover her aircraft. A Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" taking off from Zuikaku to attack Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. The order to abandon ship was given, but before the evacuation had progressed very far, Shōkaku abruptly took on water forward and sank quickly bow-first at position Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 668: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found., taking 1,272 men with her. During the Battle of the Philippine Sea, she was struck at 11:22 on 19 June by three (possibly four) torpedoes from the submarine USS Cavalla (Commander Herman J. Kossler). In 1944, she was based at Singapore. Shōkaku's primary air defense consisted of sixteen 127 mm (5.0 in) Type 89 dual-purpose AA guns in twin mountings. The Shōkaku-class carriers were part of the same program that also included the Yamato-class battleships. Together they had an approximate total area of 75,347 square feet (7,000 m2). In April 1942, she took part in the Indian Ocean raid, striking the British naval bases at Colombo and Trincomalee on Ceylon, and sinking the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and the heavy cruisers HMS Cornwall and Dorsetshire, also with the help of Shōkaku. [4], The carrier's forefoot was of the newly developed bulbous type, sometimes referred to informally as a Taylor pear, which served to reduce the hull's underwater drag within a given range of speeds, improving both the ship's speed and endurance. HISTORY: Shōkaku (“Flying Crane”, pronounced show-kah-koo) and her sister ship, Zuikaku, were 4th generation aircraft carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, completed almost literally on the eve of the Pacific war in the fall of 1941. Zuikaku was the last surviving Japanese carrier to have attacked Pearl Harbor before her loss. The time required for repairs, combined with the aircraft and aircrew losses incurred by her and Zuikaku, kept both carriers from participating in the Battle of Midway. (The Shokaku in 1944, as depicted by Takeshi Yuki, "Color Paintings of Japanese Warships") This shows Shokaku and the weather similar to as seen by Cavalla on 19 June 1944. After several months of repairs and training, Shōkaku, now under the command of Captain Matsubara Hiroshi, was assigned in May 1943 to a counterattack against the Aleutian Islands, but the operation was cancelled after the Allied victory at Attu. At 12:10, an aerial bomb exploded, detonating aviation fuel vapors which had spread throughout the ship. As Shōkaku had been in the process of refueling and rearming aircraft and was in an extremely vulnerable position, the torpedoes started fires that proved impossible to control. Her strike waves suffered heavy losses from US combat air patrols and anti-aircraft fire, but some survived and returned safely to the carrier. Maximum fuel bunkerage was 4100 tons, giving her a radius of action of 9,700 nmi (18,000 km; 11,200 mi) at 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph). As in Hiryū, the forecastle was raised to the level of the upper hangar deck to improve seakeeping. Shōkaku and Zuikaku formed the Japan­ese 5th Car­rier Di­vi­sion, em­bark­ing their air­craft shortly be­fore the Pearl Har­bor at­tack. Shōkaku — Japanese Tier VIII aircraft сarrier.. Shōkaku and Zuikaku formed the Japanese 5th Carrier Division, embarking their aircraft shortly before the Pearl Harbor attack. However, Shōkaku and Zuihō were both severely damaged by American air attacks, and Zuikaku had to recover their surviving aircraft in addition to her own. Zuikaku rolled over and sank stern-first at 14:14, taking the lives of Rear Admiral (promoted from captain 10 days earlier) Kaizuka Takeo and 842 of the ship's crew; 862 officers and men were rescued by the destroyers Wakatsuki and Kuwa. Shōkaku's primary air defense consisted of sixteen 127 mm (5.0 in) Type 89 dual-purpose AA guns in twin mountings. Two same-sized downward-curving funnels on the ship's starboard side, just abaft the island, vented exhaust gases horizontally from the boilers and were sufficiently angled to keep the flight deck free of smoke in most wind conditions.[6]. [8], Shōkaku's nine Type 4 electrically operated arrester wires followed the same standard arrangement as that on Hiryū, three forward and six aft. Vertical protection consisted of 215 mm (8.5 in) on the main armor deck over the machinery, magazines and aviation fuel tanks while horizontal protection consisted of 215 mm (8.5 in) along the waterline belt abreast the machinery spaces reducing to 150 mm (5.9 in) outboard of the magazines[4], Unlike British carriers, whose aviation fuel was stored in separate cylinders or coffer-dams surrounded by seawater, all pre-war Japanese carriers had their aviation fuel tanks built integral with the ship's hull and Shōkaku was no exception. A third crash barrier was added and a light collapsible wind-break screen was installed just forward of the island. Unlike the larger bulbous forefoots fitted to the battleships Yamato and Musashi, however, Shōkaku's did not protrude beyond the ship's stem. [8][11] The need for repairs kept her out of action for months, leaving other Japanese defensive operations in the Pacific lacking sufficient airpower. With the exception of the Battle of Midway, they participated in every major naval action of the Pacific War, including the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Indian Ocean Raid, the Battle of the Coral Sea, and the Guadalcanal Campaign. Shōkaku and Zuikaku formed the Japanese 5th Carrier Division, embarking their aircraft shortly before the Pearl Harbor attack. Two same-sized downward-curving funnels on the ship's starboard side, just abaft the island, vented exhaust gases horizontally from the boilers and were sufficiently angled to keep the flight deck free of smoke in most wind conditions.[6]. Shōkaku and Zuikaku joined the Kido Butai ("Mobile Unit/Force", the Combined Fleet's main carrier battle group) and participated in Japan's early wartime naval offensives, including Pearl Harbor and the attack on Rabaul in January 1942. They were capable of stopping a 6,000 kg (13,000 lb) aircraft at speeds of 60–78 knots (111–144 km/h; 69–90 mph). A fifth fire control director was located atop the carrier's island and could control any or all of the heavy-caliber guns as needed.