A bit of history.
Builders.
Kawasaki Kobe Shipyard
Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
Operator.
:
Imperial Japanese Navy.
Built.
1938–1941In commission:1941–1944
Displacement.
32,105 t (31,598 long tons) (deep load)
Length.
257.5 m (844 ft 10 in)
Beam.
29 m (95 ft 2 in)Draft:9.32 m (30 ft 7 in) (deep load)
Depth.
23 m (75 ft 6 in)
Installed power.
160,000 shp (120,000 kW)8 × water-tube boilers.
Propulsion.
4 × shafts; 4 × Kampon geared steam turbines
Speed.
34.5 knots (63.9 km/h; 39.7 mph)
Range.
9,700 nmi (18,000 km; 11,200 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement.
1660 officers and crewmen
Armament.
8 × twin 127 mm (5 in) Type 89 dual-purpose guns
12 × triple 25 mm (1 in) Type 96 AA guns
Armor.
Waterline belt: 46–165 mm (1.8–6.5 in)
Deck: 65–132 mm (2.6–5.2 in)
Aircraft carried.
72 (+12 spares)
On 7th December 1941
18 × Mitsubishi A6M Zeros
27 Aichi D3A "Val"s
27 Nakajima B5N "Kate"s
Flight Deck and Hangars.
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. It was supported by four steel pillars forward of the hangar box and by two pillars aft.
The flight deck and both hangars (upper and lower) were serviced by three elevators, the largest being the forward one at 13 m (43 ft) by 16 m (52 ft), the middle and the rear elevators measured 13 m (43 ft) by 12 m (39 ft). All three were capable of transferring aircraft weighing up to 5,000 kg (11,000 lb) and raising or lowering them took approximately 15–20 seconds.
Shōkaku's nine Type 4 electrically operated arrester wires followed the same standard arrangement as that on
Hiryū, three forward and six aft. 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 third crash barrier was added and a light collapsible wind-break screen was installed just forward of the island.
The upper hangar was 623.4 by 65.6 feet (190 by 20 m) and had an approximate height of 15.7 feet (4.8 m); the lower was 524.9 by 65.6 feet (160 by 20 m) and had an approximate height of 15.7 feet (4.8 m). Together they had an approximate total area of 75,347 square feet (7,000 m2).
[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. Unlike on
Sōryū, the reserve aircraft did not need to be kept in a state of disassembly, however, thereby shortening the time required to make them operational.
After experimenting with port-side islands on two previous carriers,
Akagi and
Hiryū, the IJN opted to build both
Shōkaku and her sister ship
Zuikaku with starboard-side islands.
In September 1942, a Type 21 air-warning radar was installed on
Shōkaku's island atop the central fire control director, the first such device to be fitted on any Japanese carrier. The Type 21 had a "mattress" antenna and the initial prototypes were light enough that no major structural modifications were necessary. Later versions, however, were bulkier and required eventual removal of the fifth fire control director in order to accommodate the larger and heavier antenna.
The presence of this radar however, undoubtedly saved
Shōkaku one month later at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, when the ship was bombed by SBD-3 Dauntless dive bombers from USS
Enterprise; the early detection of the US strike planes by this radar alerted refuelling crews below deck, giving them time to drain and purge the aviation gasoline lines before they were ruptured by bomb hits, thus saving the ship from the catastrophic avgas fires and explosions that caused most of the carrier sinkings in the Pacific theater.
Operational History.
Shōkaku and
Zuikaku formed the Japanese 5th Carrier Division, embarking their aircraft shortly before the Pearl Harbor attack. Each carrier's aircraft complement consisted of 15 Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" fighters, 27 Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive bombers, and 27 Nakajima B5N1 or −2 "Kate" torpedo bombers.
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.
In the Indian Ocean raid of March–April 1942, aircraft from
Shōkaku, along with the rest of
Kido Butai, attacked Colombo, Ceylon on 5 April, sinking two ships in harbor and severely damaging support facilities. The task force also found and sank two Royal Navy heavy cruisers, (HMS
Cornwall and
Dorsetshire), on the same day, as well as the aircraft carrier HMS
Hermes on 9 April off Batticaloa.
The Fifth Carrier Division was then deployed to Truk to support Operation Mo (the planned capture of Port Moresby in New Guinea). During this operation,
Shōkaku's aircraft helped sink the American aircraft carrier USS
Lexington during the Battle of the Coral Sea but was herself seriously damaged on 8 May 1942 by dive bombers from USS
Yorktown and
Lexington which scored three bomb hits: one on the carrier's port bow, one to starboard at the forward end of the flight deck and one just abaft the island. Fires broke out but were eventually contained and extinguished. The resulting damage required
Shōkaku to return to Japan for major repairs.
On the journey back, maintaining a high speed in order to avoid a cordon of American submarines out hunting for her, the carrier shipped so much water through her damaged bow that she nearly capsized in heavy seas. She arrived at Kure on 17 May 1942 and entered drydock on 16 June 1942. Repairs were completed within ten days and, a little over two weeks later on 14 July, she was formally reassigned to Striking Force, 3rd Fleet, Carrier Division 1.
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.
Following her return to front-line duty, both
Shōkaku and her sister-ship
Zuikaku, with the addition of the light carrier
Zuihō, were redesignated as First Carrier Division and took part in two further battles in 1942: the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, where they damaged USS
Enterprise, but
Shōkaku was in turn damaged by dive-bombers of
Enterprise, which therefore prevented the bombardment of nearby Henderson Field, and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, where they crippled USS
Hornet (
Hornet was abandoned and later sunk by Japanese destroyers
Makigumo and
Akigumo). At Santa Cruz, on 26 October 1942,
Shōkaku was again seriously damaged, taking at least three (and possibly as many as six) 1,000-lb. bomb hits from a group of fifteen Douglas SBD-3 dive bombers launched from
Hornet. With ample warning of the incoming American strike,
Shōkaku's aviation fuel mains to the flight deck and hangars had been drained down and she had few aircraft on board at the time of the attack. As a result, no major fires broke out and her seaworthiness was preserved. Her flight deck and hangars, however, were left in shambles and she was unable to conduct further air operations during the remainder of the battle.The need for repairs kept her out of action for months, leaving other Japanese defensive operations in the Pacific lacking sufficient airpower.
After several months of repairs and training,
Shōkaku, now under the command of Captain Hiroshi Matsubara, was assigned in May 1943 to a counterattack against the Aleutian Islands, but the operation was cancelled after the Allied victory at Attu. For the rest of 1943, she was based at Truk, then returned to Japan for maintenance late in the year.
Sinking.
In 1944 on the15th June during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, she was struck at 11:22 on 19th June by three (possibly four) torpedoes from the submarine USS
Cavalla (Commander Herman J. Kossler). 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. At 12:10, an aerial bomb exploded, detonating aviation fuel vapors which had spread throughout the ship. 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 11°40′N 137°40′E, taking 1,272 men with her. The light cruiser
Yahagi and destroyers
Urakaze,
Wakatsuki, and
Hatsuzuki rescued Captain Matsubara and 570 men
Shōkaku at Yokosuka, 8 August 1941, shortly after she was completed.
Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" fighters (fighter division commander : Tadashi Kaneko ) from the
Shōkaku preparing for the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" leaves the
Shōkaku for Pearl Harbor.
Shōkaku crewmembers fight fires on the flight deck after being hit by American bombs during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.
Pete.
sorry theres not many pictures.
