Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku
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| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 25,675 tons |
| Length: | 257.5m |
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| Draught: | |
| Propulsion: | 160,000HP |
| Speed: | 34.2 knots |
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| Armament: | |
| Aircraft: | 84 |
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The Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Shokaku (空母 翔鶴) is most famous for taking part in the battles of Pearl Harbor and the Coral Sea. She was laid down at Yokosuka Dockyard on December 12 1937, launched on June 1 1939, and commissioned in August 8 1941.
With an efficient modern design, a displacement of about 30,000 tons, and a top speed of 34 knots, Shokaku could carry 70 to 80 aircraft and exceeded any other aircraft carrier in the world in performance and capability, until the wartime development of the American Essex-class aircraft carrier.
She and her sister Zuikaku forming the Japanese 5th Carrier Division, acquired their aircraft shortly before the Pearl Harbor attack and were ready just in time it.
With Zuikaku, Shokaku joined the Pearl Harbor attack fleet, and then 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.
After repairs, Shokaku took part in two further 1942 battles, both in concert with her sistership: the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, where they damaged USS Enterprise, and the Battle of Santa Cruz, where they sank USS Wasp but Shokaku was once again seriously damaged by dive bombers.
In 1943 she resumed her role as one of the Japanese Navy's most important fleet carriers, and was eventually sunk by the US submarine Cavalla on 19 June 1944, during the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
External links
- Anthony Tully, Jon Parshall and Richard Wolff, The Sinking of Shokaku -- An Analysis
| Imperial Japanese Navy | ||||||||||||
| Major battles | List of ships | List of aircrafts | Main admirals | |||||||||
ms:Kapal induk Jepun Shokaku ja:翔鶴 zh:翔鹤级航空母舰
