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Since the Shinano was sunk unachevied,I think it can count as a project. Regarding the deck paint,it was either a pattern like the one on the unryu class aircraft carrier or a grey deck,depend on the rule the carrier was used. Not all AA was installed on board too.
Here are some interpretation :
waldemar-goralski-shinano-bow.jpg

15248821431_f3581756a1_c.jpg

musashf1.jpg

http://www.combinedfleet.com/furashita/musash_f.htm (isn't it suppose to be the yamato class?)
Also does anyone have info regarding the preliminary design of this aircraft carrier?
 
There is a photo of Shinano from above but sadly you could not determine the deck paint shceme:
99cc9a83.jpg

Though the side photo shows the typical IJN camouflage paint shceme of late war:
Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Shinano.jpg
 
Does anyone tried to calculate how much aircraft could Shinano carry in a full fleet carrier configuration?
I have a drawing of her hanger shape and using C8N Suisei, A7M Reppu and B7A Ryusei planes I determined around 50 aircraft could be easily stored in her hanger (8 Suisei the rest are Reppu and Ryusei) with another 40-50 on the flight deck giving her an Akagi-Kaga like large capacity but with modern planes. But I wish to ask your opinions on this matter.
 

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Does anyone tried to calculate how much aircraft could Shinano carry in a full fleet carrier configuration?
I have a drawing of her hanger shape and using C8N Suisei, A7M Reppu and B7A Ryusei planes I determined around 50 aircraft could be easily stored in her hanger (8 Suisei the rest are Reppu and Ryusei) with another 40-50 on the flight deck giving her an Akagi-Kaga like large capacity but with modern planes. But I wish to ask your opinions on this matter.
I couldn't find the surface of Shinano's hangar but it had a length of 164 meters and a maximum width of 34 meters and a minimum of 18. Shokaku's hangars were respectively 200 and 180 meters long and up to 24 and 20 meters wide (18 meters in the narrowest point) for a combined surface of 5545 square meters. Shinano's hangar clearly had to be much smaller than this last figure so a full carrier conversion to be efficient would have to include a second upper hangar if stability could permit it. Also Japanese carriers never adopted a permanent deck park so no extra capacity should be expected in form of aircraft stored directly on flight deck. By the way those Shinano's drawings are simply amazing. One interesting thing I notice is that there was a seemingly second hangar aft of the main one, I suppose it was the storage for reserve planes and spared part. A full carrier conversion would eliminate that to enlarge the main hangar but I suspect the surface and thus the carrying capacity wouldn't still be larger than that of Shokaku's twin hangar.
 
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Actually Shinano has a single large Hanger separated into 4 smaller sections by walls and doors and what seems to be a small maintainance space forward of the forward elevator and under the hanger aft of the forward elevator. I think Hanger space could be not directly translated into aircraft space as you need some space between planes and also their mostly T to H shaped required area.
 
Space battleship Yamato

Space Battlecarrier Shinano !

Awesome ship. Shame it didn't survived, but, c'est la guerre.

99cc9a83.jpg


For a brief instant I thought it was a "sonar" image of the carrier wreck at the bottom of the sea. D'oooh !
 
Actually Shinano has a single large Hanger separated into 4 smaller sections by walls and doors and what seems to be a small maintainance space forward of the forward elevator and under the hanger aft of the forward elevator. I think Hanger space could be not directly translated into aircraft space as you need some space between planes and also their mostly T to H shaped required area.
The fact that the surface of an hangar has to be larger than the surface of the aircraft stored in it doesn't in no way contradict that storing capacity is proportional to full hangar's surface. If you look at the drawing there is a main area divided in 4 section, as you said, and a more clearly separated space with two more section bringing the total to 6. That only confirms that the reported Hangar dimensions refers only to a main, 4 sections hangar and don't include the aft space. That is also coherent with the support capability of Shinano requiring a large working space for not operational aircraft other than its own air complement. It seems a continuous hangar would have a length of 200-220 meters, a lot of space but still less than that available on Shokaku, I would therefore argue that a full carrier conversion having a single hangar would have an air complement similar in size to the double hangars equipped Taiho, while a double hangar variant would have a aircraft/displacement ratio similar to Taiho and an aircraft complement similar to Midway even without a permanent deck park, respectively about 60-70 and 120 or more next generation aircraft.
 
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You misunderstood me. I thought of Shinano as finished but rather then an oversize maintainance carrier but as a fleet carrier layout
 
Everything I've read said she was to provide additional aircraft to other carriers as well as maintenance and storage of other carrier's aircraft, I'm guessing carriers sunk or damaged and unable to recover aircraft. Now how much of that is truth will never be known unfortunately.

Being she was a conversion I'm guessing she'd have a lower aviation complement that a carrier built from the keel up, the same as all the other conversions. And as ceccherini said the IJN didn't use the deck for additional aircraft like the USN did further cutting back capability.
 
Yes... that was her desired mission after completion but I'm not sure that was the mission she was designed for in 1942 after Midway when the IJN sped up carrier production. That is why I asking what could be her air group if using for her true carrier mission. Though wiki says she was to be a support carrier from the start, knowing her size and capability I doubt the IJN would let such a hull go to waste for support roles.
 
Yes... that was her desired mission after completion but I'm not sure that was the mission she was designed for in 1942 after Midway when the IJN sped up carrier production. That is why I asking what could be her air group if using for her true carrier mission. Though wiki says she was to be a support carrier from the start, knowing her size and capability I doubt the IJN would let such a hull go to waste for support roles.
Exactly because of her value it was much better to use her as a multiplicator of other carriers airwing rather than in a much more dangerous first line employment.
 
According to the Nihon Kaigun site, there was indeed fleet carrier proposal for Shinano when the idea emerged how to finish her:

July 1942:
Shortly after at a IGHQ meeting Vice Admiral Seiichi Iwamura reportedly proposed converting the third Yamato-class battleship to a `floating aviation fortress.' It would actually not carry its own air wing, and would be more like a mobile impervious airdrome for other carriers that would steam in advance of them. However, Kami Shigenori disdained this idea and preferred that No.110 become a true attack carrier, a super-TAIHO. Whatever the concept's precise origin, re-design and reconstruction as an aircraft-carrier was now authorized.
 
What are your guys opinion what was the flight deck paint colour and scheme of Shinano?
 
It depend of the role that was chosen (from what I remember) ,it could like the LOS! 49 cover(wich present a achievied sinking shinano by the way) or something like this
Fig_of_japanese_aircraft_carrier_Zuiho_in_1944.png
 
The IJN really had weird ideas when discussing battleship conversions into carriers... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: o_O
 
Why? USN had the same with the Iowas, Royal Navy with Vanguard too had at one point discussed for conversion into carrier, then there was the French Jean Bart and the Italian Impero
 
Why? USN had the same with the Iowas, Royal Navy with Vanguard too had at one point discussed for conversion into carrier, then there was the French Jean Bart and the Italian Impero
¿There is information and images about the conversions of the Vanguard and Imperio?
 
There's an entire book about the Impero conversion proposals.
The whole Impero's conversion to carrier story was made up after a model of a carrier with a Littorio class hull was find in Venezia Naval Arsenal but none of the many official documents from '40 to' 43 on the future composition of the fleet ever mention such a conversion. Italian admirals were so much gun minded that even in early '43 they expected not on only to complete Impero as a battleship but even to put in service in the Regia Marina the sunken French battleships Dunkerque and Strasbourg. As incredible as might seem, less than 6 months before their surrender Italians still feel more need of increasing the battleships number than everyone else in the world. In the same document they expect up to 7 carriers in 1946 but all were to be conversion from liners and cruisers. Clearly the interest was for Escort and light carriers to provide air cover while the main offensive punch remained on battleships and land based aviation. There is absolutely no real fact to prove that a battleship to carrier conversion was ever studied let alone intended and such a project clearly didn't fit in the strategic concept dominant in RM that never contemplated a role for large fleet carriers. The best explanation I've read for the "carrier Littorio" model is that during Aquila's design they used a pre-existent Littorio's model to study the flight deck and superstructure's layout, resembling one of the proposal for Aquila, one more British inspired. The book you mention ("Aircraft carrier Impero" I suppose) talk about some conversion studies made by a private enterprise, Ansaldo. Whenever they credible or not they clearly never had any official support and they are irrelated to any real program for Impero.
 

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The book is:
Aircraft Carrier Impero: The Axis Powers' V-1 Carrying Capital Ship

It was extensively researched by my late Italian friend who had extensive knowledge on Italian projects!

As for Vanguard:
From Norman Friedman's British Battleships 1906-1946:
At the same time the Royal Navy was badly short of carriers, so in July 1942 Director of Plans asked whether Vanguard could be converted into a fleet carrier. DNC said that would not be a problem. As a carrier, she could be completed at the end of 1945, if the decision to convert were taken soon enough. Nothing came of this idea.
 
The book is:
Aircraft Carrier Impero: The Axis Powers' V-1 Carrying Capital Ship

It was extensively researched by my late Italian friend who had extensive knowledge on Italian projects!

As for Vanguard:
From Norman Friedman's British Battleships 1906-1946:
At the same time the Royal Navy was badly short of carriers, so in July 1942 Director of Plans asked whether Vanguard could be converted into a fleet carrier. DNC said that would not be a problem. As a carrier, she could be completed at the end of 1945, if the decision to convert were taken soon enough. Nothing came of this idea.

Re Vanguard, at the time of these discussions (June/July 1942) she was estimated to complete as a battleship in Dec 1944 or early 1945 at the latest. It was hoped that by prioritising her this could be brought forward by 3 months. The conversion plan was initially rejected for 2 reasons
1. She was the only capital ship then planned to complete before 1946 or 1947. Given the losses to date then clearly more could be expected.
2. If she were to have been converted to a carrier there would have been substantial disruption and considerable waste. Conversion was estimated to push her completion back by at least 9 months.

The First Sea Lord concurred with that rejection on 17 July but even then the conversion plan did not die. Some preliminary calculations were then carried out. The First Sea Lord confirmed plans to complete her as a battleship on 25th Sept 1942.
Details extracted from "Building for Victory" by George Moore.

The above plans were for Vanguard to be fully converted to a carrier. But ideas for battleship/carriers in the RN in WW2 date back to initial proposals in Oct 1940.

In Jan 1941 Sir Stanley Goodall was asked to work up a design based on the Lion class (Vanguard, then in the design stage, having been rejected) which was presented to the Controller in March. It wasn't liked. It retained all the main battery turrets and so the flight deck was too short to be useful. Then the following month DofP suggested a new design, losing the aft turret but perhaps making the forward turrets quads, which he illustrated with a very crude drawing based on Richelieu. That was followed by a further design based on the Lion with 2x3 forward turrets and presented in July 1941. That brought forth the comment from the Director of the Gunnery Division that I love "...these abortions are the results of a psychological maladjustment....". The matter was then deferred indefinitely in Sept 1941 only to rear its ugly head again in March 1942 by Admiral Boyd following on from his experience in the Med and the loss of Force Z. It was finally killed off in May 1942 by reference back to the 1941 work and the conclusion that fighter protection of the fleet was best provided by separate ships built for that purpose. Of course by that time the Colossus class light fleet carriers were already designed and being ordered.

The discussions concerning Jean Bart's possible conversion to a carrier were short lived, lasting only from about Feb to Sept 1945. Rejection was based on the small number of aircraft (40 plus 14 spares slung from the deckhead) that the proposed design could carry.

If you want a look at some of the many crazy and not so crazy carrier schemes of the last 100 years I'd recommend "The Hybrid Warship. The Amalgamation of Big Guns and Aircraft" by RD Layman and Stephen McLaughlin. Don't just blame the Japanese. Virtually every major maritime nation got in on the act at some point. And that includes the US with various Iowa proposals and the DD963 Spruance class.

 
Indeed and I had it in pdf format if required.
I knew about Lion but that is more like a hybrid conversion rather a full CV conversion. As the Lion class never constructed to a main deck level, fleet carrier conversion was never proposed if I'm right. It would had been easier to just order more Illustrious at that time and use the collected steel for their construction.
 
Italian admirals were so much gun minded that even in early '43 they expected not on only to complete Impero as a battleship but even to put in service in the Regia Marina the sunken French battleships Dunkerque and Strasbourg. As incredible as might seem, less than 6 months before their surrender Italians still feel more need of increasing the battleships number than everyone else in the world.

Considering the narrows of Mediterranean, it was actually perfectly reasonable. Fast battleships were still decisive force here. Regia Marina admirals wanted carriers more as a way to obtain their own naval aviation, not controlled by Regia Aeronautica.
 
The book is:
Aircraft Carrier Impero: The Axis Powers' V-1 Carrying Capital Ship

Yep. I was pretty surprised to find out that Italian guided missile program was so advanced (DAAC missile). Ironically, it may become exactly the game-changer that Regia Marina so desperately sought...
 
Italian admirals were so much gun minded that even in early '43 they expected not on only to complete Impero as a battleship but even to put in service in the Regia Marina the sunken French battleships Dunkerque and Strasbourg. As incredible as might seem, less than 6 months before their surrender Italians still feel more need of increasing the battleships number than everyone else in the world.

Considering the narrows of Mediterranean, it was actually perfectly reasonable. Fast battleships were still decisive force here. Regia Marina admirals wanted carriers more as a way to obtain their own naval aviation, not controlled by Regia Aeronautica.
Absolutely, even aircraft carriers were not really needed and the rush to obtain some after 1941 was not much more than a scapegoat to not resolve the real problem, the lack of cooperation between air force and navy because of interservice rivalty. What is simply incredible is the wish to obtain new battleships few months before surrender even if there were huge difficulties in building an handful of modern destroyers and submarines and the existing battle fleet was locked in port because of the fuel shortage. Roma in more than a year of existence made not more than 2000 miles, about half of her quite short full range. Some dose of reality would have been advisable.
 
What is simply incredible is the wish to obtain new battleships few months before surrender even if there were huge difficulties in building an handful of modern destroyers and submarines and the existing battle fleet was locked in port because of the fuel shortage. Roma in more than a year of existence made not more than 2000 miles, about half of her quite short full range. Some dose of reality would have been advisable.

Again, I think it was pretty much based in reality. The one advantage Italian navy have, was its reserves - which made even Mapatan not a total catastrophe (like, for example, Narwick was for Kriegsmarine). They have reserves; they could replenish losses they sustained and continue to carry on. While Regia Marina have its moments of defeat, they never were completely knocked out of action (until the fuel supplies were down to near-zero). So, the idea that "we need more heavy ships" was rather... understandable. And they still have a healthy supply of destroyers and cruisers to serve as escorts, so they weren't as much a priority here.
 
Why? USN had the same with the Iowas, Royal Navy with Vanguard too had at one point discussed for conversion into carrier, then there was the French Jean Bart and the Italian Impero

Sorry - I meant, THIS >
`floating aviation fortress.' It would actually not carry its own air wing, and would be more like a mobile impervious airdrome for other carriers that would steam in advance of them.

Really sound like a weird ship...

The discussions concerning Jean Bart's possible conversion to a carrier were short lived, lasting only from about Feb to Sept 1945. Rejection was based on the small number of aircraft (40 plus 14 spares slung from the deckhead) that the proposed design could carry.

I understand and respect this point of view.

Just wanted to note that, compared to what France got OTL before 1963 and the Clems - Arromanches and Lafayette - it still might have been an interesting ship to have in the postwar fleet...
When subsonic naval jets become a reality for the French Navy, in the shape of licence-build Sea Venoms, it was found that
- Arromanches deck was long enough (200 m +) but the ship was too slow at 24 kt
- Lafayette was fast enough (31 kt) but the deck was too short (180 m)
Talk about a bout of bad luck there !
Hence Suez 1956 had to be fought with good old F-4U Corsairs, which also stayed in service until 1963 and the Crusaders...
Even with too few aircraft, a Jean Bart carrier seems to have both deck length (250 m long hull at least) and speed (31 kt) into the same ship...
 
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What is simply incredible is the wish to obtain new battleships few months before surrender even if there were huge difficulties in building an handful of modern destroyers and submarines and the existing battle fleet was locked in port because of the fuel shortage. Roma in more than a year of existence made not more than 2000 miles, about half of her quite short full range. Some dose of reality would have been advisable.

Again, I think it was pretty much based in reality. The one advantage Italian navy have, was its reserves - which made even Mapatan not a total catastrophe (like, for example, Narwick was for Kriegsmarine). They have reserves; they could replenish losses they sustained and continue to carry on. While Regia Marina have its moments of defeat, they never were completely knocked out of action (until the fuel supplies were down to near-zero). So, the idea that "we need more heavy ships" was rather... understandable. And they still have a healthy supply of destroyers and cruisers to serve as escorts, so they weren't as much a priority here.
in 1943 about 30 destroyer were left, not all battle ready, some ex French ships, most old, none with a significant AA and antisom capabilities, not exactly a healthy supply... Destroyer construction was seen by Cavagnari as the top priority even before the war because they were in short supply and mostly of low quality. The most important (by far) construction program of Regia Marina during WW2 was the Comandanti Medaglie D'oro destroyer class, none of which completed. In 3 years of war Italian navy received about 150000 ton of new ships of all types mostly started before the war and Roma alone was nearly a third of the total. With such a scarce shipbuilding capacity, to complete an half finished battleship an to rebuilt the two French battleship while facing an imminent invasion and conducting a convoy battle was simply impossible. Also the main concern in having more battleships was not an operational one but a diplomatic one: they were expected to put Italy in a better position in peace negotiations. Again not a very realistic assessment of the military situation.
 
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I have these image about Lion batleship convertion. ¿Someone have Vanguard convertion images?
 

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Somewhat off topic, but in connection with the Italian plans mentioned above, I went into some thoughts on Italian shipbuilding around my what-if 1942 RN Far East scenario over at All the worlds battlecruisers.
I think we can take any Italian naval plans with a pinch of salt, by 1940 they were already firmly down the industrial priority list behind the Army and the Air Force and their shipbuilding industry could just not make up any shortfalls in capacity.

Italian shipbuilding during the war was not a huge success.
The Venetos took about six years each to build and Impero was never completed.
Aquila was a substantial reconstruction, nearly completed just as Mussolini's regime crumbled. The more basic Sparviero was more akin to a large merchant carrier the British were converting rather quickly. Only begun in 1942 the time ran out before much more than stripping her superstructure was completed.
No heavy or light cruiser was completed after 1937, the two Cianos being cancelled even before she entered the war. Even the two Thai cruisers taken over were never completed due to material shortages.
Twelve Capitani Romanis were laid down during September-October 1939, a rather grandiose gesture that must have caused bottlenecks in material and armament and engines. Despite being relatively small 3,600 ton unarmoured ships, only three were ever completed nearly 4 years later.
No fleet destroyers were laid down between 1937 and 1940, just 7 repeat Soldatis. The following D'Oro-class was a sound design but the crash programme of 20 ships barely got onto the slips, only 9 being laid down just months before Italy was out of the war.
The bulk of the wartime destroyers built were the Ciclones, repeats of the 1933-35 Orsa-class and it was late 1942 before most of these completed, only 16 being built. More escorts were sought and in 1942 the Spica was enlarged as the Ariete, a 745-ton torpedo boat, 42 were planned but actually these small ships did relatively well with 16 completed for the Italians or the Germans. The true escort corvette, the Gabbiano-class, was built in bulk and at speed but again it was 1942 before Italy reacted to its wartime needs and most of them again fell into German hands.
During the 1930s the Italians had been churning out submarines, by 1940 most had been completed. Wartime construction totalled about 22 completed submarines, most of the Flutto series submarines never completed and the Romolos were an interesting way to try and beat the Allied blockade but perhaps a waste of precious resources.

Some of these problems outlined were due to the war cutting off supplies and material but its clear that naval shipbuilding (apart from submarines) tailled off quite dramatically during 1937-40 and even for 1941 little new construction seems to have been planned. This suggests cost cutting by reducing naval construction expenditure. There seems to have been a lack of foresight about escorts and certainly it took the Italians too long to begin any kind of wartime construction programme which never really got going until 1942 with any momentum.
In my scenario its possible some of the planned sloops and auxiliaries may have been started during 1941, the diesel-powered Orsa derivative might have taken a while to come to fruition until the engines were ready, a pair of Cianos would probably have been built as planned but I doubt much concrete would have been accomplished by 1942 towards a proper 'breakout fleet'.

The above is a rather lamentable record for any belligerent in the war, certainly one that aspired to Great Power status as a naval power.
I did not touch the question of the ex-French ships and submarines acquired or salvaged after Toulon, the majority never entered Italian service, even the relatively undamaged ones and the bulk of them were only nearing completion of refits when the Germans grabbed them. As ceccherini says, the lack of oil fuel was crippling. The Navy certainly never shied away from the fighting, they would have done more had they had better resources behind them.
 
Somewhat off topic, but in connection with the Italian plans mentioned above, I went into some thoughts on Italian shipbuilding around my what-if 1942 RN Far East scenario over at All the worlds battlecruisers.
I think we can take any Italian naval plans with a pinch of salt, by 1940 they were already firmly down the industrial priority list behind the Army and the Air Force and their shipbuilding industry could just not make up any shortfalls in capacity.

Italian shipbuilding during the war was not a huge success.
The Venetos took about six years each to build and Impero was never completed.
Aquila was a substantial reconstruction, nearly completed just as Mussolini's regime crumbled. The more basic Sparviero was more akin to a large merchant carrier the British were converting rather quickly. Only begun in 1942 the time ran out before much more than stripping her superstructure was completed.
No heavy or light cruiser was completed after 1937, the two Cianos being cancelled even before she entered the war. Even the two Thai cruisers taken over were never completed due to material shortages.
Twelve Capitani Romanis were laid down during September-October 1939, a rather grandiose gesture that must have caused bottlenecks in material and armament and engines. Despite being relatively small 3,600 ton unarmoured ships, only three were ever completed nearly 4 years later.
No fleet destroyers were laid down between 1937 and 1940, just 7 repeat Soldatis. The following D'Oro-class was a sound design but the crash programme of 20 ships barely got onto the slips, only 9 being laid down just months before Italy was out of the war.
The bulk of the wartime destroyers built were the Ciclones, repeats of the 1933-35 Orsa-class and it was late 1942 before most of these completed, only 16 being built. More escorts were sought and in 1942 the Spica was enlarged as the Ariete, a 745-ton torpedo boat, 42 were planned but actually these small ships did relatively well with 16 completed for the Italians or the Germans. The true escort corvette, the Gabbiano-class, was built in bulk and at speed but again it was 1942 before Italy reacted to its wartime needs and most of them again fell into German hands.
During the 1930s the Italians had been churning out submarines, by 1940 most had been completed. Wartime construction totalled about 22 completed submarines, most of the Flutto series submarines never completed and the Romolos were an interesting way to try and beat the Allied blockade but perhaps a waste of precious resources.

Some of these problems outlined were due to the war cutting off supplies and material but its clear that naval shipbuilding (apart from submarines) tailled off quite dramatically during 1937-40 and even for 1941 little new construction seems to have been planned. This suggests cost cutting by reducing naval construction expenditure. There seems to have been a lack of foresight about escorts and certainly it took the Italians too long to begin any kind of wartime construction programme which never really got going until 1942 with any momentum.
In my scenario its possible some of the planned sloops and auxiliaries may have been started during 1941, the diesel-powered Orsa derivative might have taken a while to come to fruition until the engines were ready, a pair of Cianos would probably have been built as planned but I doubt much concrete would have been accomplished by 1942 towards a proper 'breakout fleet'.

The above is a rather lamentable record for any belligerent in the war, certainly one that aspired to Great Power status as a naval power.
I did not touch the question of the ex-French ships and submarines acquired or salvaged after Toulon, the majority never entered Italian service, even the relatively undamaged ones and the bulk of them were only nearing completion of refits when the Germans grabbed them. As ceccherini says, the lack of oil fuel was crippling. The Navy certainly never shied away from the fighting, they would have done more had they had better resources behind them.
A very comprehensive and accurate description of the situation. The main limitation was steel production output, locked at 2 million tons per year. As army and air force reequipment became the priority, rate of new constructions declined and the few resources were concentrated on battleships because of their political and strategical value.
 
The Japanese wiki article about Shinano is much more extended that of the English sources and have way more source material as expected.
The aircraft storage was quite how can I say shows many variants from full hanger storage to hanger and deck storage (on flight deck via anchors)
According sources:

No.1: ( Showa Shipbuilding History 1 )
18 fighters + 2 spares
24 bombers + 3 spares
Total: 42+5

No.2: ( Navy Shipbuilding Technology Overview )
18 A7M Reppu fighters + 2 spares
18 B7A Ryusei Torpedo Bombers + 2 spares
6 C6N Saiun reconnaissance planes + 1 spares
Total: 42+5

No.3: ( Aviation Headquarters )
25 A7M Reppu Fighters + 1 spares (1 flightdeck stored)
25 B7A Ryusei Torpedo Bombers + 1 spares (7 flightdeck stored)
7 C6N Saiun reconnaissance planes (7 flightdeck stored)
Total: 57+2

No.4 ( Aircraft Carrier and Ship-Related Report Material )
24 A7M Reppu Fighters + 1 spares
17 B7A Ryusei Torpedo Bombers + 1 spares
7 C6N Saiun reconnaissance planes
Total: 48+2
This last source state that due to the slow development of the A7M, the fighter complement would be the N1K Shiden land based fighters
 
For Normal carrier operations what would her aircraft component be?
Fighters: A6M Zero / A7M Reppu / N1K2-5 Shiden-Kai
Dive Bombers: D4Y Suisei, D3Y Myojo / D5Y Myojo-Kai
Torpedo Bombers: B6N Tenzan / B7A Ryusei,
Reconnaissance: C6N Saiun / D4Y-C Suisei

Regarding bombers would it only carry the Torpedo-Dive bomber B7A Ryusei or mixed B7A, D4Y and D3Y/D5Y for separate torpedo and dive bombing role?
 
Well if everything had gone to plan for the Japanese re aircraft development
Fighter - A7M Reppu
Dive/torpedo bomber - B7A Ryusei
Recce - a handful of C6N

The B7A Ryusei was meant to replace both the D4Y Suisei in the dive bomber role and the B6N Tenzan in the torpedo bomber role. But relatively few were produced (c100).

So in reality, more likely to be A6M-5/D4Y-2/B6N-2 with a handful of C6N for recce.
 

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