Shimane Maru class escort carrier
 Shimane Maru on 28 July 1945 |
|
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders: | Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation |
| Operators: |  Imperial Japanese Navy |
| Built: | 1944–1945 |
| In commission: | 1945 |
| Planned: | 4 |
| Completed: | 1 |
| Cancelled: | 1 |
| Lost: | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | 11,800 long tons (12,000 t) |
| Length: | 160.3 m (526 ft) |
| Beam: | 22.8 m (75 ft) |
| Draught: | 9 m (29 ft 6 in) |
| Installed power: | 8,600 shp (6,400 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 1 shaft Steam turbines 2 boilers |
| Speed: | 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph) |
| Range: | 3,000 nmi (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) |
| Complement: | 600 to 800 (estimated due to no full crew at end of war) |
| Armament: | 2 × 120 mm (4.7 in) guns 52 × single 25 mm (1 in) AA guns |
| Aircraft carried: | 12 |
Shimane Maru was a class of auxiliary escort aircraft carriers intended to be operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II.
The concept of the class was similar to British Merchant aircraft carrier. The class consisted of two tankers that were very minimally converted by the Navy to provide minimal anti-submarine air cover for convoys going from Southeast Asia to the Japanese homeland. Conversion consisted of fitting a full length flight deck, small hangar, and a single elevator. An island and catapults were not installed. The only other change was the rerouting of the boiler uptakes, run aft to the stern, where they discharged to starboard. The Shimane Maru class ship could also be used as a tanker.
Four additional conversions were reportedly considered but not carried out. Although both ships were launched, only one was completed, and neither entered active service before being destroyed.
Contents |
[edit] Ships in class
- Shimane Maru (しまね丸) - Laid down by Kawasaki on 8 June 1944, and launched on 17 December 1944. She was completed on 28 February 1945, but was sunk 24 July 1945 by British aircraft at Shido Bay, Kagawa Prefecture[1] at position 34°20′10″N 134°10′15″E / 34.33611°N 134.17083°E. Her hulk was also mined, then scrapped at Naniwa in 1948.
- Ōtakisan Maru (大瀧山丸) - Laid down by Kawasaki on 18 September 1944, and launched on 14 January 1945. Her construction was 70% completed when she drifted onto a mine on 25 August 1945 and sank. Her hulk was scrapped at Kobe in 1948.
- Daiju Maru (大邱丸) - Laid down by Kawasaki on 18 December 1944, construction stopped in February 1945. Constructions were restarted and sold to Iino Lines K.K. on 19 October 1949, and renamed Ryūhō Maru (隆邦丸). Scrapped at Yokosuka in May 1964.
- Taisha Maru (大社丸) - Cancelled in 1944.
[edit] Photo
-
Shimane Maru in postwar
-
3rd sister Ryūhō Maru (ex.-Daiju Maru) in postwar
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- The Maru Special, Japanese Naval Vessels No.38, Japanese aircraft carriers II, Ushio Shobō (Japan)
[edit] External links
- Shimane Maru Aircraft Carrier from Voodoo-world.cz
- Shimane-Maru type merchant carriers from Nifty.com
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
