Escort Carrier Shinyo
Open the military map護衛空母神鷹
Carrier
Shin'yō was an escort carrier converted from the Norddeutscher Lloyd liner Scharnhorst, the only Japanese aircraft carrier converted from a foreign ship. She was torpedoed and sunk by the US submarine Spadefish in the Yellow Sea on 17 November 1944 with the loss of most of those aboard.
- Armament
- 8× 12.7cm Type 89 DP guns (4×2), 30× Type 96 25mm AA guns (50 after 1944 refit)
- Fate
- Sunk by submarine
History
Shinyo was originally the German passenger liner Scharnhorst, built by AG Weser in Bremen, launched 14 December 1934, and operated by Norddeutscher Lloyd on the Far East route. At the outbreak of the Pacific War, Scharnhorst was interned at Kobe, Japan, where she had been stranded since 1939. The Imperial Japanese Navy purchased her in February 1942 for conversion into an escort carrier, with conversion work beginning in September 1942 at Kure Naval Arsenal. Commissioned as Shinyo on 15 December 1943, she was the only escort carrier in the IJN converted from a foreign vessel. Displacing approximately 17,500 tons, she carried around 33 aircraft. Shinyo conducted convoy escort duties in 1944. On 17 November 1944, while escorting convoy Hi-81 in the Yellow Sea about 200 km southwest of Jeju (Saishu) Island, she was hit by four torpedoes from USS Spadefish (SS-411). Her unarmored aviation fuel tanks exploded, triggering a massive fire that destroyed the ship rapidly. Only some 60–70 of the roughly 1,200 men aboard survived (more than 1,100 died), making Shinyo one of the deadliest single-ship losses in the IJN.
Related sites (2)
- Built53.076, 8.807
AG Weser Shipyard, Bremen, Germany — where the original liner Scharnhorst was built
- Sunk32.200, 124.800
Yellow Sea, about 200 km southwest of Jeju (Saishu) Island (approximate position) — hit by up to four torpedoes from USS Spadefish at about 23:03 on 17 November 1944 while escorting convoy Hi-81; more than 1,100 men died.