IJN
Shōkaku Class
Aircraft
15 x A6M Zero
27 x D3A2 Val
27 x B6N Jill
Armament
16 x 5" DP guns
70 x 25mm AA guns
Crew
1,660
1941
December 7, 1941
Ship History
Shōkaku (Japanese: 翔鶴) means "flying crane" was 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.
Laid down at Yokosuka Dockyard on December 12, 1937, launched on June 1, 1939, and commissioned on August 8, 1941.
Pearl Harbor Attack
Shōkaku 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. Shōkaku joined the Kido Butai (Pearl Harbor attack force) and participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Afterwards, the carrier attacked Rabaul in January 1942. In March 1942 she joined the Indian Ocean raid along with Akagi, Zuikaku, Sōryū, and Hiryū attacking Colombo on Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and helped to extensively damaging support facilities on April 4, 1942. That task completed, the task force found and sank the British carrier Hermes, and two cruisers: Cornwall and Dorsetshire.
Next she participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Here she helped to sink USS Lexington, but was herself severely damaged by USS Yorktown aircraft.
After repairs, Shōkaku 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 aircraft sank the USS Hornet but Shōkaku was again seriously damaged by dive bombers.
Repaired in 1943 under the command of Captain Matsubara Hiroshi. 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.
Sinking History
On June 15, 1944 she departed with the Mobile Fleet for Operation A-Go, a counterattack against the Mariana Islands. During the Battle of the Philippine Sea on June 19, 1944 she was hit at 11:23 by three (possibly four) torpedoes from the U.S. submarine Cavalla. As Shōkaku 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. Shōkaku sank quickly at position 11°40′N, 137°40′E , killing 1,272 men. The Yahagi, Urakaze, Wakatsuki, and Hatsuzuki rescued Captain Matsubara and 570 men.
11°40′N, 137°40′E
