Ships
- IJN Kuroshio Captain from 15 November 1940
Shinchiro Maekawa was born on 6 July 1900 and entered the Imperial Japanese Navy through the Naval Academy, graduating in the 50th class, 87th of 272. He trained in torpedo work and in gunnery, and his early sea duty was in destroyers. From 5 September 1930 he was torpedo officer and division officer in Harukaze. In January 1932 he served as a division officer in the battleship Nagato, and that September he returned to the same torpedo billet in the destroyer Shirakumo.
His first command was the old destroyer Kiku, which he took on 1 June 1934. On 15 November 1934 he was appointed captain of Kisaragi, with Mutsuki also named in that command. Shore duty followed, first with a temporary defense unit and then as adjutant and staff officer at the Ryojun fortress. From June 1938 he was adjutant of the Fourth Fleet. On 15 November 1938 he went back to sea as captain of Hatsuharu, and on 20 November 1939 he took command of Shirakumo, the destroyer he had already served in as torpedo officer.
On 15 November 1940 Maekawa, then a commander, was appointed captain of Kuroshio. The new Kagero-class destroyer had been in commission since January. The day he joined her she left the 16th Destroyer Division for the 15th, which then had its four ships together: Oyashio, Hayashio, Natsushio, and Kuroshio. The division served in the Second Destroyer Squadron of the Second Fleet.
The year in Kuroshio was spent on squadron duty. She collided with Minegumo while Minegumo was backing, and the blow damaged Kuroshio's bow. Repairs at the Kure Navy Yard lasted about a month and were finished on 26 July 1941. From 28 August to 3 September she carried the flag of the 15th Destroyer Division in place of Hayashio. On 10 September 1941 Maekawa left the ship to become an adjutant at the Naval Academy, and Tamaki Ugaki succeeded him.
He remained at the academy into the spring of 1943. On 10 April he was attached to the 10th Squadron, and on 25 April he returned to a destroyer as captain of Tanikaze. He left that command on 8 November 1943 for the staff of the Yokosuka Defense Squadron. Kuroshio was lost on 8 May 1943, when she struck a mine in Blackett Strait in the Solomons and sank. Nagahide Sugitani was her captain by then, having taken the ship on 23 February.
On 5 October 1944 Maekawa was appointed to command the Oshima Defense Unit and the 22nd Transport Unit. In December he moved onto escort and Okinawa-area staff duty, and from 25 February 1945 his post was staff officer of the Okinawa Area Base. He was killed in action on 13 June 1945 and was promoted rear admiral after his death.