IJN Shinano

Sinano

The Shinano as seen in-game. (Table statistics do not reflect flag bonuses)\*

Range: 970m > 1,182m

Damage: 7,389 > 9,007

Reload Time: 10s > 7s

DPS: 384 > 501

-= (x24) Class 2 =-

-Type 1-

DPS: 832 > 825

-Type 2-

DPS: 695 > 907

Torp. dmg: 19,152 > 21,929

Bomb dmg: 32,920 > 37,693

Reload Time: 10s > 8s

生きることは戦うことです。 戦うことは死ぬことです (to live is to fight. To fight is to die)

Shinano is a Japanese aircraft carrier featured in the game. It can only be obtained via Container or by real money.

## Historical Background

The IJN Shinano (信濃) was built by the Japanese to be a repair and support ship. She was originally planned to be one of the sister ships of the Musashi and the Yamato, but she was changed into a carrier and was laid down in May 1940. When fully operational she had many problems with her design only half of her boilers worked. Before her complete conversion into an Aircraft Carrier, she was ordered to depart from the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal to Kure Naval Base to be equipped with aircraft. She was sunk en route, ten days after her commissioning, on November 29, 1944; by the US Navy submarine Archerfish.

## Overview

Shinano is one of the three unique CVs of top tier, which means it holds very special features that differ from the others. Shinano is much more of a tanky, and clunky, leviathan that can spam planes the best whilst holding off air assaults rather well. Her secondaries are rather decent for carriers and can keep up with fleets while still being able to be make quicker turns than most other carriers.

## Tactics

Players who are well affiliated with the Graf Zeppelin and Midway will find it easy to tame this iron leviathan. The ship is basically a hybrid of the two, but packs more twists and additional quirks.

**When playing as a Shinano**

A well upgraded Shinano can do very well in matches especially in skilled hands. However, it's best to fully upgrade the ship with flags to know its full potential. The first immediate thing you'd notice about this beast is her high HP pool, her vast amounts of planes she can hold, and her higher-than-normal turning rates for CVs. These both come to a high advantage to her specialty as she is quite literally a floating castle. With low speeds and low secondary battery count you'd would need that kind of survivability. Her HP negates destroyer and cruiser damage for the most part and her ability to spam planes in a short period of time makes it very difficult for larger ships to keep steady aim while dodging torp or bombing runs. Her island hopping skill lacks, of course, with speed being very low but makes for more confident runs when enemies about because of her amazing tank. With low speeds and high defense it should be very obvious she is a more defensive style of CVs. As a bonus, using her speed boost and engaging enemies head on at close range can be a viable tactic because in most cases you'd outlive them especially when you're bombing or flooding them to death with your secondaries gnawing away at their hull.

Note that when fully upgraded, Shinano has the highest plane capacity with the fastest reload on planes, meaning she can ready a wing of planes within 40 second ( can be 8 second reload when launching planes one after other), faster than the 45 seconds on the Midway and 50 seconds with Graf Zeppelin's hardest hitting planes. Therefore, Shinano has can afford to throw planes around because of her ability to create more planes quickly and spam at an 15 seconds rate when launching one after another. This also means she can handle a more wide range of ships which include all ships - even destroyers. The Shinano can handle destroyers at a little bit longer ranges than Midway because she can attack more quickly and often make destroyers turn away unless they want to be sunk or flooded multiple times.

However, it is when she has a pirate flag that she can truly shine. At this point she is very much comparable to her half-sisters - Yamato and Musashi. Both yield high health and low speeds. Even Shinano's HP (250 k with with health boosting flags ) can rival the health on a fully upgraded Yamato-class. Her turn (and drift ability) becomes more apparent and her speed can truly shine in closing distance between island or target.

The best strategy at early stages of a fight is to get close to islands and skim around them slowly while waiting for at least 2-3 wings to be ready. While waiting look around using your aerial strike camera angle (the one you use when you're about to launch torp and bombing runs) and see where enemies are heading and see if any are engaging your teammates. Next, if you've got enough in the reserve, launch 1-2 wings at a distracted enemy ship (especially battleship). If the fight starts to kick off then stay near islands but stay as close as possible to your teammates for AA support, whether that be for you or your allies. If a battleship chooses to charge you, charge directly at them and ready bombers for close range combat. When you're within 1km of your enemy, launch your bombers and launch devastating strike after devastating strike until they are done for. Never engage a ship at close range that possess torpedoes, as though you have high health certain torpedo kinds can tear you apart and leave you flooding multiple times.

Alternatively, you can also play Shinano in a destructive way. You'll stock up on 3 to 4 planes then go to a medium distance and launch consecutive attacks that give your enemies no chance to retreat.

**When playing alongside a Shinano**

First of all, analyze your ally Shinano's health count and skill (sometimes shown in damage count or overall accuracy). If they do not show promise, then do not bother supporting them. However, if they do show true skill (especially equipped with pirate flag) then you can try to escort her.

Destroyers and cruisers are truly vital in staying close her, as they provide additional AA support and act as a barrier between her and her enemies because of low secondary battery count which lack damage compared to Midway. Plus, ships wielding torpedoes tend to make enemy destroyers keep their distance.

Fast battleships like that of the Iowa-class can also prove to be vital in luring enemies into traps and providing additional AA (depending on what Iowa-class ship it is). A combination of battleship firepower and torp/bombing runs are sure to put any enemy ship out of action.

**When against a Shinano**

A regular Shinano should be dealt with rather quickly but should not be the top priority. Maxed Shinanos, however, prove to be very threatening and possess the strength to tear apart your fleet. They should be targeted along with any ship guarding her, but do keep range. The best advised is to always keep turning to stop predicted torp runs. Here's some more strategies to counter her.

First of all comes destroyers. These are the most effective vessels against carriers with the smallest hitbox of any ship. Mahan can deliver blistering fire from range and come in close to launch torpedoes whilst dodging Shinano's torpedoes with your high turn rate. Shimakaze has the hardest hitting broadside torpedo and guns, and with her speed, can close the distance to the Shinano possibly making the player panic launch planes and wasting them. Yukikaze stands little chance in close range combat as she as the lowest HP count of high tier destroyers and poor maneuverability. However, she is equipped with one of the most effective AA suites in the game and can has potential to wipe out large amounts of fighters and therefore limiting the amount of times your allies are hit.

Cruisers are larger and more powerful than destroyers and still have torps to try to flood Shinano. Both cruisers are advised to keep long or medium range (3-5 km). San Diego should focus on setting her on fire multiple times as health will not matter when you're bleeding it out. Atago should try to get a clear torp path and lay down fire against any supporting vessel. Torps will also drain her HP and leave her vulnerable to typically weaker attacks.

Battleships vary largely, and weak AA battleships with poor turning rate should never engage Shinano. Fast battleship with high AA DPS should try to engage her but need to constantly turn to dodge possible torps. You still run the risk of being bombed, however.

Carrier vs carrier is extremely difficult. Shinano high turn rate, with her drifting ability, and can dodge most torpedoes. However, you can turn her gift into a curse. If she is close enough to an island, launch torps and try to make her run into the island stuck herself. Her slow speeds will make it even harder for her to reverse and gain speed to become free or move freely. In this short time launch bombing runs as they hit the hardest. Graf Zeppelin is best advised used with her more powerful planes as this makes Graf a carrier killer which is a perfect counter against Shinano. Midway can try to rush her using secondaries but bombing runs will make it difficult to achieve effective damage without dying.

## Advantages and Disadvantages

**Advantages**

* Very high, Battleship like, HP for an Aircraft carrier.
* Fastest aircraft reload of top tier CVs.
* Has the most number of Aircraft among all the other carriers.
* Quickest turning time to top tier CVs.
* God Tier AA, the best in the game, if Montana's interceptors are not taken into account.

**Disadvantages**

* The ship is rather slow - reacts late.
* Has the weakest aircraft in terms of damage among top-tier CVs.
* Gigantic deck, making it so easy to drop bombs.

## Trivia

* The Shinano remains as the largest warship sunk by a submarine.
* As with *Shinano*'s half-sisters, *Yamato* and *Musashi*, the new ship's existence was redacted to the public. The builders had to take precautions; including a tall fence that was erected on three sides of the graving dock, and those working on the conversion were confined to the yard compound. Serious punishment, up to and including death, awaited any worker who disclosed the new ship. As a result, *Shinano* was the only capital ship built during the early half of the 20th century to have avoided being officially photographed during its construction. The ship is only known to have been photographed twice: on 1 November 1944, by a Boeing B-29 Superfortress reconnaissance aircraft from an altitude of 9,800 meters (32,000 ft); and ten days later, by a civilian photographer aboard a harbor tug during *Shinano*'s initial sea trials in Tokyo Bay.

## Gallery

Shinano launching torpedo planes.Torpedo planes launched from the Shinano.The rudders of a sunken Shinano.