Shimane Maru-class escort carrier
# Shimane Maru-class escort carrier

The Shimane Maru class was a pair of auxiliary escort carriers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II.

Four additional conversions were reportedly considered but not carried out. Although both ships were launched, only one was completed, and neither entered active service before being destroyed.

## Design and description

The concept of the class was similar to British merchant aircraft carrier. The class consisted of two oil tankers of 10,002 gross register tons (GRT) that were modified by the Navy to provide minimal anti-submarine air cover for convoys going from Southeast Asia to the Japanese homeland. The conversion consisted of fitting a full-length flight deck, a small hangar, and a single elevator. An island and catapults were not installed. The only other change was the rerouting of the boiler uptakes to the aft starboard side where they discharged in a typical downward-facing funnel.

The ships had a length of 160.5 meters (526 ft 7 in) overall and 150 meters (492 ft 2 in) between perpendiculars. They had a beam of 20 meters (65 ft 7 in) at the waterline and a mean draft of 9.1 meters (29 ft 10 in). They displaced 11,989 metric tons (11,800 long tons) at standard load.

The Shimane Maru-class ships were fitted with a single geared steam turbine set with a total of 8,600 shaft horsepower (6,400 kW). It drove one propeller shaft using steam provided by two boilers. The ships had a designed speed of 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph) and a range of 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

The flight deck was 154.99 meters (508 ft 6 in) long and had a maximum width of 23.01 meters (75 ft 6 in). The hangar, built on top of the well deck, was served by a single elevator from the flight deck. It had a capacity of a dozen aircraft.

## Ships

| Ship | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Shimane Maru (しまね丸) | Kawasaki Heavy Industries Shipyard, Kobe | 8 June 1944 | 17 December 1944 | 28 February 1945 | Sunk 24 July 1945 by British aircraft |
| Ōtakisan Maru (大瀧山丸) | Kawasaki Heavy Industries Shipyard, Kobe | 18 September 1944 | 14 January 1945 | Never | Scrapped, 1948 |

* She was completed on 28 February 1945, but was sunk 24 July 1945 by British aircraft at Shido Bay, Kagawa Prefecture at position 34°20′10″N 134°10′15″E﻿ / ﻿34.33611°N 134.17083°E﻿ / 34.33611; 134.17083. Her hulk was also mined, then scrapped at Naniwa in 1948.
* Her construction was 70% completed when she drifted onto a mine on 25 August 1945 and sank. Her hulk was scrapped at Kobe in 1948.
* Daiju Maru (大邱丸) - Laid down by Kawasaki on 18 December 1944, construction stopped in February 1945. Constructions were restarted and sold to Iino Lines K.K. on 19 October 1949, and renamed Ryūhō Maru (隆邦丸). Scrapped at Yokosuka in May 1964.
* Taisha Maru (大社丸) - Cancelled in 1944.

## Photo

* Shimane Maru in postwar
* 3rd sister Ryūhō Maru (ex.-Daiju Maru) in postwar
