''Shinshū Maru'' (神州丸 or 神洲丸) was a ship of the Japanese Imperial Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She was the world's first landing craft carrier ship to be designed as such, and a pioneer of modern-day amphibious assault ships. During some of her operations, she was known to have used at least four cover names, ''R1'', ''GL'', ''MT'', and ''Ryujo Maru''. ''Shinshū Maru'' was one of the ships sunk by friendly

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

fire at the

Battle of Sunda Strait The Battle of Sunda Strait was a naval battle which occurred during World War II in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java, and Sumatra. On the night of 28 February 1 March 1942, the Australian light cruiser , American heavy cruiser , a ...

, but later salvaged and returned to service.

Design features

''Shinshū Maru'' was a significant advance in amphibious warfare, having incorporated numerous innovative features, and as such she was shrouded in a veil of secrecy throughout her existence. She could carry 29 , 25 and four AB-Tei-class armoured gunboats, to be launched from a floodable well deck. In addition, it was planned that ''Shinshū Maru'' should carry aircraft in a hangar within her voluminous superstructure. The aircraft would have been launched by two catapults to support amphibious assaults, but the catapults were removed before completion and the ship never carried any operational planes. These concepts pioneered by ''Shinshū Maru'' persist to the current day, in the U.S. Navy's LHA and LHD amphibious assault ships.

Fate

On 3 January 1945, while returning to Takao after a supply mission to Leyte Island, ''Shinshū Maru'' was heavily damaged by a US air attack by Task Force 38; after the ship was abandoned she was sunk by the

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

in the

Formosa Straits The Taiwan Strait is a -wide strait separating the island of Taiwan and continental Asia. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is wide. The Taiwan Strait is itself a s ...

off Takao.

Photos

File:ShinshuMaru.jpg, ''Shinshū Maru'' in 1934. File:ShinshuMaru-1938.jpg, ''Shinshū Maru'' on 12 October 1938 at

Bias Bay Daya Bay (), formerly known as Bias Bay, is a bay of the South China Sea on the south coast of Guangdong Province in China. It is bordered by Shenzhen's Dapeng Peninsula to the west and Huizhou to the north and east. History The bay was a hideou ...

. File:306493shinsyu.jpg, ''Shinshū Maru'' File:Shinshu3.jpg, The crew preparing to launch some landing crafts.

References

Sources

* Murray, Williamson and Millett, Alan R. ''Military Innovation in the Interwar Period''. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 1996. .

External links