One of the forgotten warships of WW2 was the massive Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano that was originally to be a sister ship to Yamato and Musashi- the Super Battleships. But after losses in 1942, the IJN needed carriers and so Shinano was converted-over to serve as both a carrier with 47 strike aircraft and a floating airfield for rear carriers with a flight deck measuring 840x132 ft! She was 872 ft long and weighed an incredible 72,000 tons loaded (almost equal to a modern US carrier). She was heavily armored and carried an impressive array of defensive guns. But it took a long time to get her converted, so by late 1944 she had become obsolete anyway. On her first and only voyage Shinano was on trials but was caught by the USS Archerfish submarine and took hits. She continued on towards Kure, but the anti-flooding system was not totally installed and so she eventually capsized with the loss of 1400 men. She lasted a mere 10 days...

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