How many Tachibana class escort ships be made with the first 30% of a Yamato class battleship?

For those who don’t know, Shinano was originally planned as a Japanese Yamato class battleship. However, midway through construction Japan decided to convert it into a carrier.

Not an aircraft carrier though, a “support carrier” which would only carry 47 aircraft for self defense but held almost a hundred more aircraft as spares and many supplies to support the actual fleet carriers on extended operations. It was sunk by a US submarine in 1944.

Another such support carrier actually did exist, the HMS Unicorn.

What if the Shinano was converted into an actual fleet carrier though? It takes space to house not just replacement aircraft, but additional pilots, mechanics, etc.

So Shinano probably wouldn’t have been able to carry the 120 aircraft it theoretically could’ve. But it still probably would’ve carried a lot of aircraft owing to its size.

The question is, how much? I look forward to your responses!

@king_of_tanks

Good point.

@jim010:

Good analysis. +1 to you.

Had the Germans had these, though, it would be hard to say what they would match up against.  Britain and France would have ships to counter these.  Instead of being an answer to the Deutschland class, they would have had to have built answers to the more powerful Mackensens.  The KGV very likely would have had 15 guns rather than 14s.Â

Very hard to figure out what France and Britain would have responded with.  And in turn, whatever the French did would influence the Italians.  My guess is you would have seen a much more aggressive battleship race between the major powers.  The super battleships planed by everyone probably would have materialized sooner.

Well said.

The official USN designation for the class was ‘heavy cruiser’.

The only ‘battle-cruisers’ the USN ever built were the six Lexington class; none were completed as such, two being converted into carriers and the other four scrapped per the WNT.

Rob.

@abworsham4

Please send me his strategies and game reports!

@Frontovik:

@shermantank28:

Read Antony Beevor’s Stalingrad, by far the best work on the subject

that is unbelievebly true
i have Berlin and D-day too
those books are very good and well-detailled

Yes, I have read all of them…all good reads

@Raunchy:

Was anyone else aware of the most Southerly German grave?

I wrote about it in the “favorite WWII ship post”. The commerce raider Atlantis is my favorite WWII ship.

It was built, Panzer Leader.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Ise