IJN Shinano

[sequoiaranger]

While perusing the "ship Whif's you've found" thread, ol' Admiral U. Furashita noticed the fine rendition of a pair of ship models



--the IJN carrier Shinano and the 20"-gunned Yamato follow-on that the Admiral would have named "Satsuma."

http://www.combinedfleet.com/furashita/satsum_f.htm

It got me thinking "WHAT-IF" the post-war Japanese were not so committed (or restricted) to disarmament, and either the Shinano or a sister-ship could have been outfitted by the US with an angled deck and US aircraft (sporting the red meatball) as a bulwark against Communism in Asia?

For "practical" reasons, one would think that with all those "surplus" Essex-class carriers around, "we" certainly wouldn't NEED a one-off design like the Shinano, but...the Japanese were good at shipbuilding, and this construction project would put many of them back to work, etc.

Anyway, as "crazy" a whif as it might seem, I just loved the envisioning of an angled-deck Shinano with, say, Cutlasses and Skywarriors with "meatballs" on the wings!

Any takers?  

[Sauragnmon]

Quite an interesting concept, old man.  I like the idea of an angled-deck Shinano, she'd be a right frigging Monster too, and if the design was centered around being a REAL carrier, she could probably carry quite an airwing too.  Banshees and the like rolling off the flight deck of Shinano would look just Sweet.

I have to admit, my own "Republic of Japan" concept precludes that idea in my case (convenient since I'm no Carrier fan anyways) but still, it'd be interesting as hell to see.

[Joe C-P]

Shinano had an 8" thick armored flight deck. Converting the Midway's with their thinner armored flight deck was quite difficult, so converting Shinano would have been nigh impossible, though not entirely so.

However, it could have served for some years in straight-deck, as a Pacific Ocean nuclear-armed carrier; the Midways were all in the Atlantic during those early, straight-deck years.

In fact, I dug shots of my interpretation thereof:





Panthers, Cougars, an HO3S-1 helo and a pair of nuclear-capable PV-2s. I renamed her USS Okinawa.

The BBG is Nagato, recovered and updated post-war by the USN because of the appearance of the battlecruiser Potemkin.

[proditor]

JoeP, that is awesome. 

I have some tenuous plans to re-do the flightdeck on mine, and then have it hang out with my Commando Carrier Ise.

The one thing I do have is plans for the Shinano somewhere...I'll see if I can whip them up at some point.

[ChernayaAkula]

Had a more or less similar idea for a current (or maybe a coupe of years into the future) angle-deck Shinano just the other day. Some quick research showed that the Shinano was apparently roughly the size of the French nuclear carrier Charles de Gaulle. JMSDF Rafales?

[Sauragnmon]

Proditor, I'm looking forward to your Commando Carrier Ise - I have my own plans for a BBGH Ise and look forward to seeing where You take the thought.  It's good to see more of the shipbuilders out and talking.

[Thorvic]

Strange, i too was considering teh post war upgrade path of a Shinano, it has a certain style like the Midways that says #Upgrade me !".

Looking at the carriers that did survive, the Amagi's may have been used (if allowed) as light fleet carriers and it part of the JMSDF then as ASW carriers with Tracker and Sea Horse.

I suspect if the Taiho design might have provided the basis for any post war designs as they had an armoured deck, enclosed bows, decent hanger height and therefore the potential to be operate naval jet aircraft.

G