An astonishing 3D animation exploring the strengths and weaknesses of theJapanese aircraft carrier Shokaku, one of the most powerful carriers of her time, capable of carrying three times the number of aircraft than her British or American contemporaries.
Launched in the summer of 1939, just before the outbreak of the
Second World War she was the third Imperial Japanese Navy fleet carrier designed as such from the keel up, and the first outside the constraints of the Washington Naval Treaty. The treaty restricted the tonnage of aircraft carriers Japan could build. Shokaku was one of the largest and fastest carriers in the world at the time she was
launched, and for several years after that.
She was capable of 34 knots and carried almost three times as many aircraft as comparable British carriers. Shokaku’s 160,000hp engines drove four shafts, each turning a three-blade screw of 14ft diameter. In many ways she set the pattern for a modern carrier, with excellent capacity and performance, and extensive armour protection of the hull. She displaced 32,000 tons, making her significantly larger than contemporary British and US carriers.
She was, however, flawed in other respects such as dangerous aviation fuel storage and weak anti-aircraft armament. Shokaku was built with her island on the starboard side, which was then the conventional location; some earlier Japanese carriers had islands positioned to port, and others had no island at all.
She did, however, continue the less common Japanese practice of funnels below deck level, projecting sideways out of the hull. Equivalent British and American carriers carried the funnels upwards, through the island, to raise exhaust gases away from the flight deck.
The hangars were closed in, unlike American carriers, but were unarmoured, unlike British carriers. This was arguably the worst of both worlds, preventing easy venting of petrol fumes but vulnerable to dive-bombing.
Shokaku stored her aircraft in two hangars, one atop the other, immediately below the flight deck. Three large lifts brought aircraft up from the two hangars - these are the square ‘hatches’ that can be seen amidships, level with the island, and towards the stern.
The nets extending from the flight deck amidships are to prevent aircraft from falling over the side in the event of a bad landing or take-off.Just level with the after lift, rows of coloured lights can be seen to either beam. This is part of the system used by the IJN to control aircraft landings, with the pilot lining up the lights to ensure the correct approach. Unlike the British and American Navies, the IJN did not rely on a human Deck Landing Control Officer to guide incoming aircraft, relying mainly on the lights.
However, signalmen were stationed on the platforms projecting either side of the flight deck at the stern, to wave a red flag if the landing was to be aborted. The after section of the deck was painted in red and white stripes to further aid pilot orientation. A windbreak was positioned forward of the island, which can be extended to protect aircraft as they are ranged on deck, and folded flush with the deck when the aircraft are ready to
take off.
Shokaku’s air group was initially made up of 18 Mitsubishi A6M ‘Zero’ fighters, 27 Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ torpedo-bombers, and the same number of Aichi D3A ‘Val’ dive-bombers. These were among the most modern and capable carrier aircraft in the world at the time in terms of their performance, endurance and striking power, though they lacked protection for systems and crew.
The guns that can be seen in sponsons alongside the flight deck are Shokaku’s defensive armament. The twin-barrelled guns are heavy 5-inch Type 89 dual-purpose weapons, for use against both aircraft and torpedo boats. The smaller triple-barrelled guns are light 25mm Type 96 anti-aircraft weapons.
This made for a defensive armament that was powerful on paper, but the guns themselves and their control systems were outdated, and the anti-aircraft defences were relatively ineffective.
Shokaku formed half of the 5th Carrier Division for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The Japanese navy’s surprise attack on the main US Navy anchorage in the Hawaiian islands brought America into the Second World War. Aircraft from no fewer than six IJN aircraft carriers launched a huge strike on the unwary American ships with bombs and torpedoes, sinking four battleships and damaging a further four, as well as many smaller warships.
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