[Seizethecarp]

Per Wiki: "Shinano remains the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Shinano Shinano (信濃?), named after the old province of Shinano, was an aircraft carrier built by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Initially laid down as the third of the Yamato-class battleships, Shinano '​s partially complete hull was converted to a supercarrier in 1942, midway through construction. Over the next two years, the ship was heavily modified and she became the largest aircraft carrier built up to that time. Partially completed in November 1944, Shinano was sent from the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal to Kure Naval Base to complete fitting out and transfer a load of 50 Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka rocket-propelled kamikaze flying bombs. En route to Kure, she was sunk on 29 November 1944, 10 days after commissioning, by four torpedoes from the American submarine Archerfish. The ship carried an inexperienced crew, had serious design and construction flaws, and was not ready for combat. Over a thousand of her crew and passengers were rescued, but 1,435 sailors and civilians died, including her captain. Shinano remains the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine.[1]

[henkster]

Shinano was not completed when she sailed. A number of “minor” details were missing, such as the gaskets around the waterproof doors. And her crew was untrained; when it came to damage control, they were probably little better than a cruise ship full of tourists.

Archerfish’s torpedoes would probably not have been fatal if Shinano was completely fitted out with a trained crew. But by this stage, Imperial Japanese Navy is one of the poorer navies in the world.