Shimane Maru

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The Special 1TL Type (特1TL型, Toku 1TL gata) was a class of auxiliary escort carriers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. They were converted from Type 1TL tankers. It is also called the Shimane Maru (しまね丸) class in some western sources. Although four conversions were reportedly considered, only two ships were launched, with just one being completed, and neither entered active service before being destroyed. The concept of the class was similar to the British merchant aircraft carrier. The class consisted of two oil tankers of 10,002 gross register tons (GRT) that were modified by the Navy to provide minimal anti-submarine air cover for convoys going from Southeast Asia to the Japanese homeland. The conversion consisted of fitting a full-length flight deck, a small hangar, and a single elevator. An island and catapults were not installed. The only other change was the rerouting of the boiler uptakes to the aft starboard side where they discharged in a typical downward-facing funnel. The ships had a length of 160.5 meters (526 ft 7 in) overall and 150 meters (492 ft 2 in) between perpendiculars.