Shōkaku (, "Soaring Crane") was the lead ship of her class of two aircraft carriers for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) shortly before the Pacific War. Along with her sister ship , she took part in several key naval battles during the war, including the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands before being torpedoed and sunk by a U.S. submarine at the Battle of the Philippine Sea.