Ship Modelers Database
Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano
Sunk (29 November 1944)
Shinano was an Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier converted from an incomplete Yamato-class battleship hull during World War II. Laid down in May 1940 as the third Yamato-class battleship, her construction was redirected to a carrier after the Battle of Midway in 1942 cost Japan four of its six fleet carriers. She briefly held the record as the largest aircraft carrier ever built, a distinction she kept until the US Navy's Forrestal-class carriers arrived in the 1950s.
Kits of this ship
+ Add a kit| 1/700 Japanese Aircraft Carrier Shinano | Tamiya | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
No image | 1/800 IJN CV Shinano (Collectors' Reissue of 1962 kit) | Tamiya | — | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued |
No image | 1/250 Shinano Japanese Aircraft Carrier | Doyusha | 1:250 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued |
No image | 1/1200 IJN Shinano | Revell | 1:1200 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued |
| 1/700 Japanese Aircraft Carrier Shinano (Concrete Deck) With Photo-Etched Parts | Fujimi | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
No image | 1/450 IJN Shinano Aircraft Carrier 80th (Ltd Edition) | Hasegawa | 1:450 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available |
| 1/450 IJN Aircraft Carrier Shinano | Hasegawa | 1:450 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
| 1/700 IJN Aircraft Carrier Shinano (See-Through Ver.) | Fujimi | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued | |
| 1/700 IJN Aircraft Carrier Shinano | Fujimi | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
No image | 12'' Aircraft Carrier Shinano | Nichimo | — | — | Discontinued |
Plans
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Build logs
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Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- Wikipedia: Japanese aircraft carrier ShinanoWebsite
Comprehensive overview of design, conversion, armament, and sinking with full specifications useful for scale modeling accuracy.
Museums & archives
- NHHC Online Library: Shinano (Aircraft Carrier, 1944)Museum
Naval History and Heritage Command photo index page with period sketches of Shinano's profile, useful for silhouette reference.
Photos
- Wikimedia Commons: Shinano Underway During Sea TrialsPhoto
High-resolution public domain photo of Shinano underway in Tokyo Bay during sea trials, sourced from the Kure Maritime History Science Museum collection.
History
Specifications
As completed she displaced about 65,800 long tons standard (up to 71,900 tons full load), measured 265.8 m (872 ft) overall with a 36.3 m (119 ft) beam, and was powered by 12 Kampon boilers driving four geared turbines for 150,000 shp and a designed speed of 27 knots. Armament included 8 twin 12.7 cm dual-purpose guns, 35 triple 25 mm AA mounts, and 12 28-barrel AA rocket launchers, with an armored 75 mm flight deck and a waterline belt up to 400 mm. She was designed to carry 47 aircraft in an air-ferry/support role rather than as a strike carrier.
Service history
Shinano was launched on 8 October 1944 and commissioned on 19 November 1944, but was still incomplete — lacking finished watertight compartmentation — when ordered to sail from Yokosuka to Kure for fitting-out. The zig-zagging movement of the carrier and her escorts inadvertently turned the task group back into the Archerfish's path, and a few minutes later Shinano turned south, exposing her entire side to Archerfish—a nearly ideal firing situation for a submarine; four torpedoes struck Shinano. The first tow cables snapped under the strain and the second attempt was aborted; the ship lost all power around 09:00 and was listing over 20 degrees, and at 10:18 Abe released the crew to save themselves, by which time Shinano had a list of 30 degrees, finally capsizing and sinking stern-first at 10:57. She sank on 29 November 1944, just ten days after commissioning, with the loss of 1,435 men including her captain.
Notable facts
She remains the largest ship ever sunk by a submarine. The ship is only known to have been photographed on three occasions: one taken by a Japanese aircraft in mid-October 1944 to review camouflage efforts, and another on 1 November 1944 by a B-29 reconnaissance aircraft near Yokosuka Harbor. Her island, modeled on that of the carrier Taihō, was offset to starboard and integrated with the funnel, and her flight deck was covered in a shock-absorbent latex-sawdust compound — distinctive details for modelers to capture.