Shokaku was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the lead ship of her class. Along with her sister ship Zuikaku, she is most famous for taking part in many key engagements of the World War II Pacific Theatre, including the battles of Pearl Harbor and the Coral Sea.With Zuikaku, Shokaku joined the Kido Butai (Pearl Harbor attack force) and participated in Japan's series of early wartime naval offensives, including an attack on Rabaul in January 1942, and the Battle of the Coral Sea in May.

In 1944 she was based at Lingga near Singapore. On 15 June 1944 she departed with the Mobile Fleet for Operation A-Go, a counterattack against allied forces in the Mariana Islands. During the Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19 June 1944 she was hit at 11:23 by three (possibly four) torpedoes from the U.S. submarine Cavalla (Commander Herman J. Kossler). As Shōkaku had been in the process of refueling aircraft and was in an extremely vulnerable position, the torpedoes started fires that proved impossible to control. At 14:08 an aerial bomb exploded, detonating aviation fuel. Shōkaku sank quickly, killing 1,272 men. The Yahagi, Urakaze, Wakatsuki, and Hatsuzuki rescued Captain Matsubara and 570 men.
                                                                                                                                        -- Wikipedia