''Shinshū Maru'' (神州丸 or 神洲丸) was a ship of the

Japanese Imperial Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. She was the world's first

landing craft carrier Landing craft carriers or landing craft depot ships were an innovative type of amphibious warfare ship developed by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The prototype was developed in secrecy under the pseudonyms ''Ryujo Maru'' and ''Fu ...

ship to be designed as such, and a pioneer of modern-day

amphibious assault ship An amphibious assault ship is a type of warship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory during an armed conflict. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers (which, as a result, ar ...

s. During some of her operations, she was known to have used at least four cover names, ''R1'', ''GL'', ''MT'', and ''Ryujo Maru''. During her career, she was outfitted with a dummy forefunnel in an effort to disguise her as the submarine tender ''Taigei'', which was converted to the light carrier ''Ryūhō''. ''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, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

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 , ...

, 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 traditional nautical use, well decks were decks lower than decks fore and aft, usually at the main deck level, so that breaks appear in the main deck profile, as opposed to a flush deck profile. The term goes back to the days of sail. Late-2 ...

. 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 The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

's LHA and LHD amphibious assault ships.

Fate

On 3 January 1945, while returning to Takao after a supply mission to

Leyte Island Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...

, ''Shinshū Maru'' was heavily damaged by a US air attack by

Task Force 38 The Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38 when assigned to Third Fleet, TF 58 when assigned to Fifth Fleet) was a group of ships in World War II. It was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific War from January 1944 through th ...

; after the ship was abandoned she was sunk by the

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

in the Formosa Straits off Takao.

Photos

File:ShinshuMaru.jpg, ''Shinshū Maru'' in 1934. File:ShinshuMaru-1938.jpg, ''Shinshū Maru'' on 12 October 1938 at Bias Bay. 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 was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 1996. .

External links