IJN Shinano Carrier as Sunk

According to the numerous sources and the two available photos of Shinano this was how she looked when torpedoed by USS Archerfish on that fateful day, 1944, November 29th. IJN Shinano was the 3rd ship of the Yamato class battleship, the largest capital ships to float on the world oceans until USS Forrestal and USS Enterprise commissioned. USS Forrestal while had larger full load displacement when commissioned in 1955 but Shinano was still leading with standard displacement which was only surpassed by the very first Nuclear Carrier: USS Enterprise in 1961!
Shinano laid down as the 3rd sister ship of the Yamato class battleship whose construction started in 1940 May 4th and was steadily going till it was temporary halted after the attack on Pearl Harbour to investiage the requirements of Navy during the war. It was decided to launch her to clear the slipway for other vessels while her construction was continued though with a reduced workforce. After the battle of Midway ideas emerged to scrap or convert Shinano into either a giant oil tanker, full scale fleet carrier or maintenance and support carrier. Scrapping would took too much time and work, as an oil tanker it would be a waste of resources so the debate was about what kind of carrier conversion could be done. Vice Admiral Seiichi Iwamura wanted her as a mobile fortress for carrier forces eg a heavily armoured support carrier which don't have it's own air group but would support the carrier fleet and could take the beating of the enemy forces, while admiral Kami Shigenori wished for the hull to be converted into a full scale aircraft carrier for fleet operations.
The conversion was preceding steadily but as the war situation worsened and skilled construction personal was at high demand the schedule set by the Admiralty could not be met which resulted in an increase pace of lower quality workmanship by the Yokosuka Naval Yard's builders. The ship was launched in early october and after various trials and tests including testing the flight deck with various aricrafts like N1K-J Shiden land based fighters, it was decided to move the ship to a different yard for fitting out for completion at the Kure Naval Yard in mid-late November that year despite the home water was swarming with enemy submarines...


The design had the following characteristics:
Dimensions: 244 (pp) x 256 (wl) x 266 (oa) x 36,3 x 10,3 meters
Displacement: 62.000tons (standard), 71.890tons (full load)
Armour: 400mm Belt at Magazines, 160mm at Machinery inclined at 20 degrees, 190mm Deck over Magazines and 100mm over Machinery, 230mm Slopes, 76mm Flight deck
Engines: 150.000shp Kanpon Steam Turbines, 4 shafts
Range: 18.500km at 33km/h (10.000nm at 18knots)
Speed: 50km/h (27knots)
Armaments:
8x2 12,7cm/40 Type 89 DP-AA Guns,
35x3,40x1 25mm Type 96 AA Guns,
12x21 12cm Type 5 AA Rockets
Aircraft Capacity: Hanger: maximum 60 aircraft plus around 10 on deck.