Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku

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Career
Ordered:
Laid down:	December 12 1937
Launched:	June 1 1939
Commissioned:	August 8 1941
Fate:	Sunk by US submarine Cavalla on 19 June 1944
Struck:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	32,105 tons (fully loaded), 25,675 tons (standard)
Length:	257.5 m
Beam:	26 m
Draught:	8.8 m
Propulsion:	Kanpon geared turbines, 160,000 hp (119 MW), 4 screws
Speed:	34.2 knots (63.3 km/h)
Range:	9,700 nmi. at 18 knots   (18,000 km at 33 km/h)
Complement:	1,660
Armament:	Sixteen 5 inch (100 mm) guns Up to 96 25 mm guns
Aircraft:	84

Shokaku (Japanese: 翔鶴 shōkaku meaning "flying crane") was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the lead ship of her class. Along with her sister ship Zuikaku, she is most famous for taking part in many key engagements of the World War II Pacific Theatre, including the battles of Pearl Harbor and the Coral Sea.

Shokaku was laid down at Yokosuka Dockyard on December 12 1937, launched on June 1 1939, and commissioned on August 8 1941. The Shokaku class were part of the same program that also included Yamato-class battleships. With an efficient modern design, a displacement of about 30,000 tons, and a top speed of 34 knots (63 km/h), Shokaku could carry 70 to 80 aircraft. Her enhanced protection compared to contemporary Allied aircraft carriers enabled Shokaku to survive serious battle damage during Coral Sea and Santa Cruz, although she met her end from submarine torpedoes.

She and her sister ship Zuikaku, forming the Japanese 5th Carrier Division, acquired their aircraft shortly before the Pearl Harbor attack and were ready just in time for it.

With Zuikaku, Shokaku joined the Kido Butai (Pearl Harbor attack force) and participated in Japan's series of early wartime naval offensives, including an attack on Rabaul in January 1942, and the Battle of the Coral Sea in May.

In the Indian Ocean raid of March 1942, she joined the aircraft carriers Akagi, Zuikaku, Soryu, and Hiryu in raiding Colombo. There Admiral Chuichi Nagumo succeeded in extensively damaging support facilities.

That task completed, the task force found and sank the British carrier Hermes, and two cruisers (Cornwall and Dorsetshire), prior to moving on to the Coral Sea. Here she helped to sink USS Lexington, but was herself severely damaged by USS Yorktown's aircraft in return. However, despite USN submarine presence, the Shokaku managed to retreat to Japan, thus earning it the unofficial nickname anoung the US forces of "Lucky Limper."

After repairs, Shokaku took part in two further 1942 battles, both in concert with her sister: the battle of the Eastern Solomons, where they damaged USS Enterprise, and the battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, where they sank USS Hornet but Shokaku was once again seriously damaged by dive bombers.

Planes from the Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku preparing the attack on Pearl Harbor.

In 1943 under the command of Captain Matsubara Hiroshi she resumed her role as one of the Japanese Navy's most important fleet carriers. She was assigned to a counter-attack against the Aleutian Islands, but the operation was cancelled after the Allied victory at Attu. For the remainder of 1943 she was based at Truk.

In 1944 she was based at Lingga near Singapore. On 15 June 1944 she departed with the Mobile Fleet for Operation A-Go, a counterattack against allied forces in the Mariana Islands. During the Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19 June 1944 she was hit at 11:23 by three (possibly four) torpedoes from the U.S. submarine Cavalla (Commander Herman J. Kossler). As Shokaku had been in the process of refueling aircraft and was in an extremely vulnerable position, the torpedoes started fires that proved impossible to control. At 14:08 an aerial bomb exploded, detonating aviation fuel. Shokaku sank quickly, killing 1,272 men. The cruisers Yahagi, Urakaze, Wakatsuki, and Hatsuzuki rescued Captain Matsubara and 570 men.

External links

• [US Navy photos of Shokaku]
• [Tabular record of movement] from [combinedfleet.com]
• Anthony Tully, Jon Parshall and Richard Wolff, [The Sinking of Shokaku — An Analysis]

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