75th Anniversary : Sinking of Yamato Class Battleship Conversion - IJN Shinano
User Name: Wayne Little
Kit: Tamiya
Scale : 1/700
Today, the 29th November marks the 75th Anniversary of the sinking of the Third Yamato Class Ship - IJN Shinano.
So here I present the Second Yamato Class build.
Originally to be the third Yamato Class Battleship, the decision was made to convert her to an Aircraft Carrier after the disastrous losses of 4 Carriers at the Battle of Midway
On the 19th November 1944 Shinano was commissioned, but still not ready for action, it was decided to move her from Yokosuka to Kure to complete her fit out.
Shinano departed Yokosuka late afternoon on the 28th November and mid evening she was picked up on radar by the US submarine Archerfish.
Shinano in fact had already detected the Submarines radar and could have outrun the Archerfish as she was faster.
However maintaining a zig-zag pattern of movement to avoid submarine attack, Archerfish stayed in contact with the Carrier and when Shinano had to slow down with machinery problems and still zig-zagging it placed itself in a position for attack.
At approximately 3.15am Archerfish fired 6 torpedoes at Shinano, 4 hit the huge Carrier on her Starboard side.
Damage was severe, however confident in the ships armour and strength the Carrier maintained maximum speed, this mistake pushed huge amounts of water through the holes causing extensive flooding and causing a list of 10 degrees to starboard.
Counter flooding was ordered but after the starboard boiler rooms flooded the engines stopped from lack of steam to power them, the ship was doomed.
By 9.00am Shinano had lost all power and was listing 20 degrees, the list increased further to 30 degrees over the next hour and a half, at 10.57am she capsized and sank stern first taking 1435 Crew and civilians down with her. A total of 1080 survivors were rescued.
At first US Naval intelligence did not believe Commander Enright's claim to have sunk such a large carrier,
And eventually credited him with sinking a Hiyo Class Carrier based on the Drawing he submitted of the carrier he attacked.
The Americans only learned about the existence of Shinano after the war, following this discovery Enright was credited with her sinking and awarded the Navy Cross.
The following site gives a good sequence of the events from my condensed version,
This is How a Navy Submarine Sunk the Japanese Aircraft Carrier Shinano, the Largest Warship in History to be Sunk by a Sub
T
User Name: Wayne Little
Kit: Tamiya
Scale : 1/700
Today, the 29th November marks the 75th Anniversary of the sinking of the Third Yamato Class Ship - IJN Shinano.
So here I present the Second Yamato Class build.
Originally to be the third Yamato Class Battleship, the decision was made to convert her to an Aircraft Carrier after the disastrous losses of 4 Carriers at the Battle of Midway
On the 19th November 1944 Shinano was commissioned, but still not ready for action, it was decided to move her from Yokosuka to Kure to complete her fit out.
Shinano departed Yokosuka late afternoon on the 28th November and mid evening she was picked up on radar by the US submarine Archerfish.
Shinano in fact had already detected the Submarines radar and could have outrun the Archerfish as she was faster.
However maintaining a zig-zag pattern of movement to avoid submarine attack, Archerfish stayed in contact with the Carrier and when Shinano had to slow down with machinery problems and still zig-zagging it placed itself in a position for attack.
At approximately 3.15am Archerfish fired 6 torpedoes at Shinano, 4 hit the huge Carrier on her Starboard side.
Damage was severe, however confident in the ships armour and strength the Carrier maintained maximum speed, this mistake pushed huge amounts of water through the holes causing extensive flooding and causing a list of 10 degrees to starboard.
Counter flooding was ordered but after the starboard boiler rooms flooded the engines stopped from lack of steam to power them, the ship was doomed.
By 9.00am Shinano had lost all power and was listing 20 degrees, the list increased further to 30 degrees over the next hour and a half, at 10.57am she capsized and sank stern first taking 1435 Crew and civilians down with her. A total of 1080 survivors were rescued.
At first US Naval intelligence did not believe Commander Enright's claim to have sunk such a large carrier,
And eventually credited him with sinking a Hiyo Class Carrier based on the Drawing he submitted of the carrier he attacked.
The Americans only learned about the existence of Shinano after the war, following this discovery Enright was credited with her sinking and awarded the Navy Cross.
The following site gives a good sequence of the events from my condensed version,
This is How a Navy Submarine Sunk the Japanese Aircraft Carrier Shinano, the Largest Warship in History to be Sunk by a Sub
T
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