Lots of faults happened to lead into Shinano's shameful sinking. Shinano was never fully fitted for damage / flooding control. Her CO was stupidly arrogant which is surprising since it was late 1944 with Japan losing badly and Allied Submarines were freely operating in strength in Japanese waters, which the IJN knew full well. What prompted Shinano's move was that the harbor she was being built at had undergone heavy air attacks. So the higher ups felt it was worth the risk of having her sail to another port than sit at the same one to get bombed to hell and back. It was a case of "Damned if you do, damned if you don't."

firefly99 said:

Lots of faults happened to lead into Shinano's shameful sinking. Shinano was never fully fitted for damage / flooding control. Her CO was stupidly arrogant which is surprising since it was late 1944 with Japan losing badly and Allied Submarines were freely operating in strength in Japanese waters, which the IJN knew full well. What prompted Shinano's move was that the harbor she was being built at had undergone heavy air attacks. So the higher ups felt it was worth the risk of having her sail to another port than sit at the same one to get bombed to hell and back. It was a case of "Damned if you do, damned if you don't."

Kind of a risky gamble... Which turn pretty bad for them anyway.