It was during one of such runs that Nisshin was sunk by American aircrafts in the Bougainville Strait on 22 July 1943 she was transporting troops, tanks, artillery pieces, food and fuel for the troops fighting the Americans at Buin (Shortland islands) but her anchorage position was discovered by the Americans thanks to decrypted communications and an elaborately planned ambush was prepared for her. From 3 October 1942 she started doing runs, her high speed, large range and cranes capable of unloading heavy equipment like artillery pieces and tanks made her very valuable for this kind of missions (her half-sister Chitose was also part of the Tokyo Express for the same reasons). While she was launched in 1939 it took three more years before her formal completion because it was decided to modify her in order to carry 12 Type A midget submarines, like in the case of the mines this configuration halved her seaplane complement.N isshin fst combat deployment was the Battle of Midway, where she was supposed to deploy her Type A midget submarines, together with Chiyoda, in order to reinforce the landing forces, but this never came to be. Her armament was downgraded to three 14 cm/50 double mounts, but her diesel propulsion system was greatly enhanced compared to Mizuho, giving her more than twice the horse powers and allowing for a maximum speed of 28 knots. Her seaplane operations were also hindered by the reduced number of catapults, 2 instead of 4 like in the Chitose class and Mizuho. Nisshin was built at Kure Naval Arsenal as part of the (1937), she was originally planned as a minelayer but ultimately converted to a hybrid seaplane carrier/minelayer design, albeit the optional 700 mines reduced her seaplane complement from 20 to 12. Also a midget submarine carrier and minelayer.
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