Imperial Japanese Navy
The
Imperial Japanese Navy (
IJN) (
: 大日本帝國海軍
Shinjitai: 大日本帝国海軍
' or 日本海軍 Nippon Kaigun) or sometimes referred to as the Combined Fleet''' was the
Navy of
Empire of Japan (Dai Nippon Teikoku) from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional
renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes.
The origins of the Imperial Japanese Navy trace back to early interactions with
nations on the
Asian continent, beginning in the early
medieval period and reaching a peak of activity during the 16th and 17th centuries at a time of
cultural exchange with
European
powers during the
Age of Discovery. After two centuries of stagnation during the country's ensuing
seclusion policy under the
shoguns of the
Edo period, Japan's Navy was comparatively backward when the country was forced open to trade by
American intervention in 1854. This eventually led to the
Meiji Restoration, a period of frantic
modernization and
industrialization accompanied by the re-ascendance of the
emperor, making the IJN the third largest navy in the world by 1920, and perhaps the most modern at the brink of
World War II. The navy's history of successes, sometimes against much more powerful foes as in the 1895
Sino-Japanese war and the 1905
Russo-Japanese War, ended in almost complete annihilation during the concluding days of
World War 2. The IJN was officially dissolved in 1945.
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Kanji for "Imperial Japanese Navy" |
Japan has a long history of naval interaction with the Asian continent, involving transportation of troops between
Korea and Japan, starting at least with the beginning of the
Kofun period in the 3rd century.
Following the attempts at
Mongol invasions of Japan by
Kubilai Khan in 1281, Japanese "
Wakō"
pirates became very active in
plundering the coast of the
Chinese Empire.
Japan undertook major naval building efforts in the 16th century, during the
Warring States period, when feudal rulers vying for supremacy built vast coastal navies of several hundred ships. Around that time, Japan may have developed one of the first
ironclad warships, when
Oda Nobunaga, a
Japanese
daimyo, had six iron-covered
Oatakebune made in 1576
[THE FIRST IRONCLADS In Japanese: [1], [2]. Also in English: [3]: "Iron clad ships, however, were not new to Japan and Hideyoshi; Oda Nobunaga, in fact, had many iron clad ships in his fleet." (referring to the anteriority of Japanese ironclads (1578) to the Korean Turtle ships (1592)). In Western sources, Japanese ironclads are described in CR Boxer "The Christian Century in Japan 1549–1650", p122, quoting the account of the Italian Jesuit Organtino visiting Japan in 1578. Nobunaga's ironclad fleet is also described in "A History of Japan, 1334–1615", Georges Samson, p309 ISBN 0804705259. Korea's "ironclad Turtle ships" were invented by Admiral Yi Sun-sin (1545–1598), and are first documented in 1592. Incidentally, Korea's iron plates only covered the roof (to prevent intrusion), and not the sides of their ships. The first Western ironclads date to 1859 with the French Gloire ("Steam, Steel and Shellfire").].
During the
Japanese invasion of Korea (1592-1598), a navy of about 700 ships and manned by 10,000 sailors was organized by
Toyotomi Hideyoshi for the transportation and support of a land force of about 160,000. The transportation ships were subject to the attacks of the powerful Joseon Dynasty navy. The Japanese Navy suffered a series of defeats, at the hands of Korean Admiral
Yi Sun-sin, using
turtle ships, or Geobukson. After re-organizing the Navy, Japan won an engagement against Admiral
Won Kyun of the
Joseon Dynasty navy, and several skirmishes against Admirals
Yi Eok Ki and
Choi Ho of the
Ming China navy. The sea route between the Japanese mainland and the Korean south coast was maintained by the activity of the navy throughout the campaign, allowing for the circulation of men and goods.
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A 1634 Japanese Red seal ship, combining eastern and western naval technologies. |
Japan built her first large ocean-going warships in the beginning of the 17th century, following contacts with the Western nations during the
Nanban trade period. In 1613, the Daimyo of
Sendai, in agreement with the
Tokugawa Bakufu, built
Date Maru, a 500 ton
galleon-type ship that transported the Japanese embassy of
Hasekura Tsunenaga to the Americas, which then continued to Europe. From 1604, about 350
Red seal ships, usually armed and incorporating some Western technologies, were also commissioned by the Bakufu, mainly for
Southeast Asian trade.
From 1640, Japan chose the policy of
Sakoku (seclusion), which forbade contacts with the West, eradicated
Christianity, and prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships on pain of death.
The study of Western
shipbuilding techniques resumed in the 1840s during the
Late Tokugawa shogunate ("Bakumatsu"). In 1853 and 1854,
U.S. Navy Commodore
Matthew Perry made a demonstration of force with the newest steam warships of the U.S. Navy. Perry finally obtained the opening of the country to international trade through the 1854
Convention of Kanagawa. This was soon followed by the 1858 "
unequal"
U.S.-Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce, which allowed the establishment of foreign concessions, extra-territoriality for foreigners, and minimal import taxes for foreign goods.
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Kanrin Maru, Japan's first screw-driven steam warship, 1857. |
As soon as Japan agreed to open up to foreign influence, the Tokugawa shogun government initiated an active policy of assimilation of Western naval technologies. In 1855, with Dutch assistance, the Shogunate acquired its first steam warship, the
Kankō Maru, which was used for training, and established the
Nagasaki Naval Training Center. In 1857, it acquired its first screw-driven steam warship, the
Kanrin Maru. Naval students were sent to study in Western naval schools for several years, such as the future Admiral
Takeaki Enomoto (who studied in the
Netherlands from 1862–1867), starting a tradition of foreign-educated future leaders such as Admirals
Heihachiro Togo and, later,
Isoroku Yamamoto. In 1865, the French naval engineer
Léonce Verny was hired to build Japan's first modern naval arsenals, at
Yokosuka and
Nagasaki.
By the end of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1867, the Tokugawa navy already possessed eight Western-style steam warships around the flagship
Kaiyō Maru which were used against pro-imperial forces during the
Boshin War, under the command of Admiral Enomoto. The conflict culminated with the
Naval Battle of Hakodate in 1869, Japan's first large-scale modern naval battle, and ended with the defeat of the last Tokugawa forces and the restoration of Imperial rule.
From 1868, the restored
Meiji Emperor continued with reforms to industrialize and militarize Japan to prevent the United States and European powers from overwhelming her. The Imperial Japanese Navy was formally established in July 1869, two months after the last combats of the
Boshin War. The new government drafted an ambitious plan to create a Navy with 200 ships organized into 10 fleets. It was abandoned within a year due to lack of resources. Domestic rebellions, especially the
Satsuma Rebellion (1877) forced the government to focus on land warfare. Naval policy, expressed by the slogan
Shusei Kokubō (Jp:守勢国防, lit. "Static Defense"), focused on coastal defenses, a standing army, and a coastal Navy, leading to a military organization under the
Rikushu Kaijū (Jp:陸主海", Army first, Navy second) principle.
British support
During the 1870s and 1880s, the Imperial Japanese Navy remained an essentially coastal defense force, although the Meiji government continued to modernize it. The
Jho Sho Maru (soon renamed
Ryujo Maru) commissioned by
Thomas Glover was launched at
Aberdeen,
Scotland on
March 27,
1869. In 1870, an Imperial decree determined that
Britain's
Royal Navy should be the model for development. Ships such as the
Fuso,
Kongo and the
Hiei were built in British shipyards specifically for the Imperial Japanese Navy. A British naval mission visited Japan in 1873, headed by Comdr.
Archibald Douglas. Later, Comdr.
L.P. Willan was hired in 1879 to train naval cadets. Private construction companies such as
Ishikawajima and
Kawasaki also emerged around this time.
Two large warships were ordered from British shipyards.
Naniwa and the
Takachiho were 3,650 ton ships. They were capable of speeds up to 18 knots (33 km/h) and were armed with 2 to 3-inch deck armor and two 10.2-in (260 mm)
Krupp guns. The naval architect Sasō Sachū designed these on the line of the
Elswick class of
protected cruisers but with superior specifications. An
arms race was taking place with
China however, who equipped herself with two huge German
battleships of 7,335 tons (
Ting Yüan and
Chen-Yüan). Unable to confront the Chinese fleet with only two modern cruisers, Japan resorted to French assistance to build a large, modern fleet which could prevail in the upcoming conflict.
Influence of the French "Jeune Ecole" (1880s)
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The French-built Matsushima, flagship of the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Yalu River (1894). |
During the 1880s, France took the lead in influence, due to its "
Jeune Ecole" ("Young school") doctrine favoring small, fast warships, especially
cruisers and
torpedo boats, against bigger units. The Meiji government issued its First Naval Expansion bill in 1882, requiring the construction of 48 warships, of which 22 were to be torpedo boats. The naval successes of the
French Navy against China in the
Sino-French War of 1883–85 seemed to validate the potential of torpedo boats, an approach which was also attractive to the limited resources of Japan. In 1885, the new Navy slogan became
Kaikoku Nippon (Jp:海国日本, lit. "Maritime Japan").
In 1886, the leading French Navy engineer
Emile Bertin was hired for four years to reinforce the Japanese Navy and to direct the construction of the arsenals of
Kure and
Sasebo. He developed the
Sanseikan class of cruisers; 3 units featuring a single powerful main gun, the 12.6 in (320 mm)
Canet gun. Altogether, Bertin supervised the building of more than twenty units. They helped establish the first true modern naval force of Japan. It allowed Japan to achieve mastery in the building of large units, since some of the ships were imported, and some others were built domestically at the arsenal of
Yokosuka:
* 3 cruisers: the 4,700 ton
Matsushima and
Itsukushima, built in France, and the
Hashidate, built at Yokosuka.
* 3 coastal warships of 4,278 tons.
* 2 small cruisers: the
Chiyoda, a small cruiser of 2,439 tons built in Britain, and the
Yaeyama, 1800 tons, built at Yokosuka.
* 1
frigate, the 1600 tons
Takao, built at Yokosuka.
* 1
destroyer: the 726 tons
Chishima, built in France.
* 16 torpedo boats of 54 tons each, built in France by the
Companie du Creusot in 1888, and assembled in Japan.
This period also allowed Japan "to embrace the revolutionary new technologies embodied in
torpedoes, torpedo-boats and
mines, of which the French at the time were probably the world's best exponents" (Howe, p281). Japan acquired its first torpedoes in 1884, and established a "Torpedo Training Center" at Yokosuka in 1886.
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The torpedo boat Kotaka (1887). |
These ships were the last major orders placed with France. Japan turned again to Britain, with the order of a revolutionary torpedo boat, the 1887
Kotaka, which is considered the first ever effective design of a destroyer (Evans
Kaigun, p17), and with the purchase of the
Yoshino, built at the
Armstrong works in
Elswick,
Newcastle upon Tyne, the fastest cruiser in the world at the time of her launch in 1892.
["Her armament of twelve quick-firing guns was formidable for her size, and her 23-knot speed made her the fastest cruiser in the world" Evans Kaigun, p17]Japan continued the modernization of its navy, especially as China was also building a powerful modern fleet with foreign, especially German, assistance, and the pressure was building between the two countries to take control of
Korea. The
Sino-Japanese war was officially declared on
August 1,
1894, though some naval fighting had already taken place.
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Video footage of a naval battle during the first Sino-Japanese war[Video footage of the Sino-Japanese war: Video (external link).] |
The Japanese navy devastated Qing's
Beiyang Fleet off the mouth of the
Yalu River at the
Battle of Yalu River on
September 17,
1894, in which the Chinese fleet lost 8 out of 12 warships. Although Japan turned out victorious, the two large German-made battleships of the Chinese Navy remained almost impervious to Japanese guns, highlighting the need for bigger capital ships in the Japanese Navy (the
Ting Yuan was finally sunk by torpedoes, and the
Chen-Yuan was captured with little damage). The next step of the Imperial Japanese Navy's expansion would thus involve a combination of heavily armed large warships, with smaller and innovative offensive units permitting aggressive tactics.
As a result of the conflict, under the
Treaty of Shimonoseki (April 17th, 1895),
Taiwan and the
Pescadores Islands were transferred to Japan. The Imperial Japanese Navy took possession of the island and quelled opposition movements between March to October 1895, and the islands continued to be a Japanese colony until 1945. Japan also obtained the
Liaodong Peninsula, although she was forced by Russia to return it to China, only to see Russia take possession of it soon after.
The Imperial Japanese Navy further intervened in China in 1900, by participating together with Western Powers to the suppression of the Chinese
Boxer Rebellion. The Navy supplied the largest number of warships (18, out of a total of 50 warships), and delivered the largest contingent of Army and Navy troops among the intervening nations (20,840 soldiers, out of total of 54,000).
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Mikasa, the most powerful battleship of her time, in 1905. |
Following the Sino-Japanese War, and the humiliation of the forced return of the
Liaotung peninsula to
China under
Russian pressure (the "
Triple Intervention"),
Japan began to build up its military strength in preparation for further confrontations.Japan promulgated a ten-year naval build-up program, under the slogan "Perseverance and determination" (Jp:臥薪嘗胆, Gashinshōtan), in which it commissioned 109 warships, for a total of 200,000 tons, and increased its Navy personnel from 15,100 to 40,800. The new fleet consisted of:
* 6
battleships (all British-made)
* 8
armored cruisers (4 British, 2 Italian, 1 German, and 1 French-made)
* 9 cruisers (5 Japanese, 2 British and 2 US-made)
* 24 destroyers (16 British and 8 Japanese-made)
* 63 torpedo boats (26 German, 10 British, 17 French, and 10 Japanese-made)
One of these battleships,
Mikasa, the most advanced ship of her time,
[Evans Kaigun, p60-61] was ordered from the
Vickers shipyard in the
United Kingdom at the end of 1898, for delivery to Japan in 1902. Commercial shipbuilding in Japan was exhibited by construction of the twin screw steamer
Aki-Maru, built for
Nippon Yusen Kaisha by the
Mitsubishi Dockyard & Engine Works,
Nagasaki. The imperial Japanese cruiser
Chitose was built at the
Union Iron Works in
San Francisco,
California.
These dispositions culminated with the
Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). At the
Battle of Tsushima, Admiral
Togo onboard
Mikasa led the combined Japanese fleet into what has been called "the most decisive naval battle in history".
[Corbett Maritime Operations in the Russo-Japanese War, 2:333] The Russian fleet was almost completely annihilated: out of 38 Russian ships, 21 were sunk, 7 captured, 6 disarmed, 4,545 Russian servicemen died and 6,106 were taken prisoner. On the other hand, the Japanese only lost 116 men and 3 torpedo boats. These victories broke Russian strength in
East Asia, and triggered waves of mutinies in the Russian Navy at
Sevastopol,
Vladivostok and
Kronstadt, peaking in June with the
Battleship Potemkin uprising, thereby contributing to the
Russian Revolution of 1905.
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Japan's first fleet of submarines (No1 to No5, all Holland designs), in the Naval Review of October 1905. |
During the Russo-Japanese war, Japan also made frantic efforts to have a fleet of submarines. Submarines had only recently become operational military engines, and were considered to be special weapons of considerable potential.The Imperial Japanese Navy acquired its first submarines in 1905 from the United States
Electric Boat Company, barely four years after the
U.S. Navy had commissioned its own first submarine,
USS Holland. The ships were
Holland designs. They were shipped in kit to Japan and then assembled at the
Yokosuka Naval Yard, to become hulls
No1 through
5, and became operational at the end of 1905.
Japan continued in its efforts to build up a strong national naval industry. Following a strategy of "Copy, improve, innovate",
[Howe, p284] foreign ships of various designs were usually analysed in depth, their specifications often improved on, and then were purchased in pairs so as to organize comparative testing and improvements. Over the years, the importation of whole classes of ships was progressively substituted by local assembly, and then complete local production, starting with the smallest ships, such as torpedo boats and cruisers in the 1880s, to finish with whole battleships in the early 1900s. The last major purchase was in 1913 when the
battlecruiser Kongo was purchased from the
Vickers shipyard. By 1918, there was no aspect of shipbuilding technology where Japanese capabilities fell significantly below world standards.
[Howe, p268] By 1920, the Imperial Japanese Navy was the world's third largest navy, and was a leader in many aspects of naval development:
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Satsuma, the first ship in the world to be designed and laid down as an "all-big-gun" battleship |
* The Japanese Navy was the first navy in the world to use
wireless telegraphy in combat (following its 1897 invention by
Marconi), at the 1905 Battle of Tsushima.
[Evans, Kaigun, p84]* In 1906, it launched the battleship
Satsuma, at the time the largest warship in the world by displacement, and the first ship in the world to be designed, ordered and laid down as an "all-big-gun" battleship, about one year before the British
HMS Dreadnought.
["Laid down before Dreadnought and intended to carry 12-inch guns, she should have been completed as the world's first all-big-gun battleship. However there were not enough Armstrong 1904 pattern 12-inch guns available, and 10-inch guns|had to be substituted for all but four of the weapons. Thus it was that future all-big gun battleships were to be called "dreadnoughts", and not "satsumas"." Jane's "Battleships of the 20th century", p68]* Between 1905 and 1910, Japan started to build battleships domestically. The 1906 battleship
Satsuma was built in Japan with about 80% parts from Britain, but the next battleship class, the 1910
Kawachi was built with only 20% imported parts.
Japan entered
World War I on the side of the Allies, against Germany and Austria, as a natural prolongation of the 1902
Anglo-Japanese Alliance. After the
Battle of Tsingtao, an Anglo-Japanese siege, the Japanese Navy seized the German naval base of
Tsingtao on the
Shantung peninsula in China, in November 1914. Concurrently a battle group was sent to the central Pacific in August and September to pursue the German East Asiatic squadron, which then moved into the Southern Atlantic, where it encountered British naval forces and was destroyed at the
Battle of the Falkland Islands. Japan seized the former possessions of Germany in
Micronesia on this occasion (the
Mariana Islands (excluding
Guam),
Caroline Islands and
Marshall Islands), which remained Japanese colonies until the end of World War II, under the
League of Nations'
South Pacific Mandate.
Hard pressed in Europe, where it had only a narrow margin of superiority against
Germany, Britain had requested, but was denied, the loan of Japan's four newest
Kongo-class battleships (
Kongo,
Hiei,
Haruna,
Kirishima), the first ships in the world to be equipped with 14-inch (356 mm) guns, and the most advanced capital ships in the world at the time of their launch.
["when completed, the most formidable and most superbly designed capital ships in the world" Evans, Kaigun, p161]Following further request to contribute to the conflict, and the advent of unrestricted German submarine warfare from 1917, the Imperial Japanese Navy sent a special force of destroyers to the Mediterranean in March 1917. The fleet, consisting of one armoured cruiser,
Nisshin, and eight of the Navy's newest destroyers under Admiral Satō Kōzō, was based in
Malta and efficiently protected allied shipping between
Marseilles,
Taranto and ports in
Egypt until the end of the War. One destroyer,
Sakaki, was torpedoed by an Austrian submarine with the loss of 59 officers and men.
After the conflict, the Japanese Navy received seven German submarines as spoils of war, which were brought to Japan and analysed, contributing greatly to the development of the Japanese submarine industry.
[Evans, Kaigun, p212]In the years before WW II the IJN began to structure itself specifically to fight the United States. A long stretch of
militaristic expansion and the start of the
Second Sino-Japanese war in 1937 had alienated the United States, and the country was seen as a rival of Japan.
The Imperial Japanese Navy was faced, before and during World War II, with considerable challenges, probably more so than any other navy in the world.
[Lyon World War II warships p34] Japan, like Britain, was almost entirely dependent on foreign resources to supply its economy, so that the Imperial Japanese Navy had to secure and protect sources for raw material (especially Southeast Asian oil and raw materials) that were far away, and controlled by foreign countries (Britain, the United States and
the Netherlands). To achieve this goal, she had to build large warships capable of a long range.
To achieve Japan's expansionist policies, the Imperial Japanese Navy also had to fight off the largest navies in the world (The 1922
Washington Naval Treaty allotted a 5/5/3 ratio for the navies of Britain, the United States and Japan). She was therefore numerically inferior and her industrial base for expansion was limited (in particular compared to the United States). Her battle tactics therefore tended to rely on technical superiority (fewer, but faster, more powerful ships), and aggressive tactics (daring and speedy attacks overwhelming the enemy, a recipe for success in her previous conflicts).
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Japan's innovative Fubuki-class destroyer (1928), introducing enclosed turrets capable of anti-aircraft fire and the 24-inch (610 mm) oxygen fuelled Type 93 torpedo, was a design later emulated by other navies. |
During the interwar, Japan therefore took the lead in many areas of warship development:
* In 1921 it launched the
Hosho, the first purpose-designed
aircraft carrier in the world to be completed, and subsequently developed a fleet of aircraft carriers second to none.
* In keeping with its belief in big-gun action, the Imperial Japanese Navy was the first navy to mount 14-in (356 mm) guns (with the
Kongo), 16-in (406 mm) guns (with the
Nagato), and the only Navy ever to mount
18.1-in (460 mm) guns (with the
Yamato).
* In 1928, it launched the innovative
Fubuki-class
destroyer, introducing enclosed turrets capable of anti-aircraft fire and the 24-inch (610 mm) oxygen fuelled Type 93 torpedo. The new destroyer design was soon emulated by other navies.
* Japan developed the oxygen fuelled
Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedo, generally recognized as the best torpedo in the world, down to the end of World War II (Westwood,
Fighting Ships).
Japan sometimes continued to solicit foreign expertise in areas where it needed to catch up with the West: in 1921 it welcomed for a year and a half the
Sempill Mission, a group of British aeronaval instructors who trained the Imperial Japanese Navy on several new aircraft, such as the
Gloster Sparrowhawk, and various techniques such as torpedo bombing and flight control.
During the pre-war years, two schools of thought battled over whether the Navy should be organized around powerful battleships that could ultimately win over American ones in Japanese waters, or around an aggressive fleet of aircraft carriers. Neither really prevailed, and both lines of ships were developed, with the results that neither solution displayed overwhelming strength over the American adversary. A consistent weakness of Japanese warship development was the tendency to incorporate too much armament, and too much engine power, in comparison to ship size (a side-effect of the Washington treaty), leading to shortcomings in stability, protection and structural strength.
[Lyon World War II warships p35]The
Imperial Japanese Navy in World War Two was administered by the
Ministry of the Navy of Japan and controlled by the Chief of the
Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff at
Imperial General Headquarters. In order to combat the numerically superior American navy, the IJN devoted large amounts of resources to creating a force superior in quality to any navy at the time. Consequently, at the beginning of
World War II, Japan probably had the most sophisticated Navy in the world.
[Howe, p286] Betting on the speedy success of aggressive tactics, Japan did not invest significantly on defensive organization: she should also have been able to protect her long shipping lines against enemy submarines, which she never managed to do, particularly under-investing in
anti-submarine escort ships and
escort aircraft carriers.
The Japanese Navy enjoyed spectacular success during the first part of the hostilities, but American forces ultimately managed to gain the upper hand through technological upgrades to its air and naval forces and a vastly stronger industrial output. Japan's reluctance to use their
submarine fleet for commerce raiding and failure to secure their communications also added to their defeat. During the last phase of the war the Imperial Japanese Navy resorted to a series of desperate measures, including
Kamikaze (suicide) actions by a variety of
Special Attack Units.
Battleships
Japan continued to attribute considerable prestige to
battleships and endeavoured to build the largest and most powerful ships of the period.
Yamato, the largest and most heavily-armed battleship in history, was launched in 1941.
The second half of World War II saw the last battleship duels. In the
Battle of Guadalcanal on
November 15 1942, the United States battleships
South Dakota and
Washington fought and destroyed the Japanese battleship
Kirishima. In the
Battle of Leyte Gulf on
25 October 1944 six battleships, led by Admiral
Jesse Oldendorf of the
U.S. 7th Fleet fired upon and claimed credit for sinking Admiral
Shoji Nishimura's battleships
Yamashiro and
Fuso during the
Battle of Surigao Strait; in fact, both battleships were fatally crippled by destroyer attacks before being brought under fire by Oldendorf's old battleships.
Nevertheless, the
Battle of Samar on
25 October 1944 during the
Battle of Leyte Gulf showed that battleships could still be useful, albeit inefficient weapons. Only the indecision of Admiral
Takeo Kurita and the fight by American destroyers and
destroyer escorts saved the American aircraft carriers of "
Taffy 3" from being pounded to the bottom by the gunfire of
Yamato,
Kongo and
Nagato and their cruiser host. Miraculously for the Americans, only
USS Gambier Bay along with two destroyers and one destroyer escort were lost due to surface action. The
Yamato, for all the expense that went into building her, failed to score even a single hit.
Ultimately, the advent of air power spelled doom for the battleship. Battleships in the Pacific ended up primarily performing shore bombardment and anti-aircraft defense for the carriers. The
Yamato and
Musashi were sunk by aircraft attacks long before they could come within striking range of the American fleet. As a result of the changing technology, plans for even larger battleships, such as the Japanese
Super Yamato class, were cancelled.
Aircraft carriers
Japan put particular emphasis on
aircraft carriers. The Imperial Japanese Navy started the
Pacific War with 10 aircraft carriers, the largest and most modern carrier fleet in the world at that time. Its two
Shokakus were superior to any carrier in the world until the wartime appearance of the American
Essex-class aircraft carrier ["In many ways the Japanese were in the forefront of carrier design, and in 1941, the two Shokakus—the culmination of prewar Japanese design—were superior to any carrier in the world then in commission" Evans, Kaigun p323]. However, a large number of the Japanese carriers were of small size in accordance to limitations placed upon the Navy by the London and Washington Naval Conferences. There were 7 American aircraft carriers at the beginning of the hostilities, only 3 of them operating in the Pacific, and 3 British aircraft carriers, of which a single one operated in the Indian Ocean.
However, following the
Battle of Midway, in which four Japanese carriers were sunk, the Japanese Navy suddenly found itself short of full fleet carriers, resulting in an ambitious set of projects to convert commercial and military vessels into escort carriers such as the
Hiyo and
Shinano, which became the largest aircraft carrier of World War II. The Navy also attempted to build a number of full fleet carriers, though most of these projects were not completed by the end of the war.
Naval aviation
Japan began the war with a highly competent naval air force designed around some of the best airplanes in the world: the "
Zero" was considered the best carrier aircraft of the beginning of the war, the
Mitsubishi G3M bomber was remarkable for its range and speed, and the
Kawanishi H8K was considered as the world's best flying boat.
["For speed and maneuverability, for example the Zero was matchless; for range and speed few bombers surpassed the Mitsubishi G3M, and in the Kawanishi H8K, the Japanese navy had the world's best flying boat" Evans, Kaigun, p312] The Japanese pilot corps at the beginning of the war were of high caliber as compared to their contemporaries around the world due to intense training practices and frontline experience in the
Sino-Japanese War.
["by 1941, by training and experience, Japan's naval aviators were undoubtedly the best among the world's three carrier forces" Evans, Kaigun, p325] The Navy also had a competent tactical bombing force based around the Mitsubishi G3M and
G4M bombers, which astonished the world by being the first planes to sink enemy battleships under way, in the
sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse.
As the war dragged on, the Allies found weaknesses in Japanese Naval Aviation. Though most of the Japanese aircraft were characterized by having great operating ranges, they had very little in the way of defensive armament and armor. As a result, the more numerous, heavily armed and armored American aircraft were able to develop techniques that nullified the advantages of the Japanese aircraft. Although there were delays in engine development, several new competitive designs were developed during the war, but industrial weaknesses, lack of raw materials and disorganization due to Allied bombing raids hampered their mass-production. Furthermore, the IJN didn't have an efficient process for speedily replacing lost aviators, as several years of training were usually considered necessary. Therefore, they weren't able to effectively replace their seasoned pilots as they were lost through attrition following their initial successes in the Pacific campaign. The IJN pilot's later inexperience was especially evident during the
Battle of the Philippine Sea when their aircraft were shot-down in droves by the American naval pilots in what the Americans later called the, "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot". Following the
Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese Navy increasingly opted towards deploying aircraft in the kamikaze role.
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Japan's first jet-powered aircraft, the Imperial Japanese Navy's Nakajima Kikka (1945). |
Towards the end of the conflict, several competitive plane designs were developed, such as the 1943
Shiden, but such planes were produced too late and in insufficient numbers (415 units for the Shiden) to affect the outcome of the war. Radical new plane designs were also developed, such as the
canard design
Shinden, and especially jet-powered aircraft such as the
Nakajima Kikka and the rocket-fighter
Mitsubishi J8M. These jet designs were partially based on technology received from Nazi Germany, usually in the form of a few drawings only, and Japanese manufacturers had to play a key role in the final engineering. These developments also happened too late in the conflict to have any influence on the outcome. The Kikka only flew once before the end of the war.
Submarines
Japan had by far the most varied fleet of
submarines of
World War II, including manned torpedoes (
Kaiten), midget submarines (
Ko-hyoteki,
Kairyu), medium-range submarines, purpose-built supply submarines (many for use by the Army), long-range fleet submarines (many of which carried an aircraft), submarines with the highest submerged speeds of the conflict (
Senkou I-200), and submarines that could carry multiple bombers (WWII's largest submarine, the
Sentoku I-400). These submarines were also equipped with the most advanced torpedo of the conflict, the oxygen-propelled
Long Lance. A plane from one such long-range fleet submarine,
I-25, conducted what is still the only aerial bombing attack on the continental United States when Warrant Flying Officer
Nobuo Fujita attempted to start massive forest fires in the Pacific Northwest outside the town of
Brookings, Oregon on September 9th, 1942. Other submarines undertook trans-oceanic missions to German-occupied Europe, such as
I-30,
I-8,
I-34,
I-29 and
I-52, in one case flying a Japanese
seaplane over France in a propaganda coup
[Japanese submarines, p70]. In May 1942,
Type A midget submarines were used in the
Attack on Sydney Harbour, and the
Battle of Madagascar.
Overall, despite their technical prowesses, Japanese submarines were relatively unsuccessful. They were often used in offensive roles against warships, which were fast, maneuverable and well-defended compared to merchant ships. In 1942, Japanese submarines managed to sink two fleet carriers, one cruiser, and a few destroyers and other warships, and damage several others. They were not able to sustain these results afterwards, as Allied fleets were reinforced and became better organized. By the end of the war, submarines were instead often used to transport supplies to island garrisons. During the war, Japan managed to sink about 1 million tons of merchant shipping (184 ships), compared to 1.5 million tons for Britain (493 ships), 4.65 million tons for the US (1,079 ships) and 14.3 million tons for Germany (2,840 ships).
Early models were not very maneuverable under water, could not dive very deep, and lacked
radar. Later in the war units that were fitted with radar were in some instances sunk due to the ability of US radar sets to detect their emissions. For example,
Batfish (SS-310) sunk three such equipped submarines in the span of four days. After the end of the conflict, several of Japan's most original submarines were sent to Hawaii for inspection in "Operation Road's End" (
I-400,
I-401,
I-201 and
I-203) before being scuttled by the U.S. Navy in 1946 when the Soviets demanded to have access to the submarines as well.
Special Attack Units
At the end of the
Second World War, numerous
Special Attack Units (Japanese: 特別"'隊,
tokubetsu kōgeki tai, also abbreviated to 特"隊,
tokkōtai) were developed for suicide missions, in a desperate move to compensate for the annihilation of the main fleet. These units included
Kamikaze ("Divine Wind") bombers,
Shinyo ("Sea Quake") suicide boats,
Kairyu ("Sea Dragon") suicide
midget submarines,
Kaiten ("Turn of Heaven") suicide
torpedoes, and
Fukuryu ("Crouching Dragon") suicide scuba divers who would swim under boats and use explosives mounted on bamboo poles to destroy both the boat and themselves. Kamikaze planes were particularly effective during the defense of
Okinawa, in which 1,465 planes were expended to damage around 250 American warships.
A considerable number of Special Attack Units were built and stored in coastal hideouts for the desperate defense of the Home islands, with the potential to destroy or damage thousands of enemy warships.
Following Japan's surrender to the
United States at the conclusion of
World War II, and Japan's subsequent occupation, Japan's entire imperial military was dissolved in the new 1947
constitution which states, "The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes." Japan's current navy falls under the umbrella of the
Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) as the
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).
*Boxer, C.R. (1993) "The Christian Century in Japan 1549–1650", ISBN 1-85754-035-2
*Delorme, Pierre,
Les Grandes Batailles de l'Histoire, Port-Arhur 1904, Socomer Editions (French)
*Dull, Paul S. (1978)
A Battle History of The Imperial Japanese Navy ISBN 0-85059-295-X
*Evans, David C & Peattie, Mark R. (1997)
Kaigun: strategy, tactics, and technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887–1941 Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland ISBN 0870211927
*Gardiner, Robert (editor) (2001)
Steam, Steel and Shellfire, The Steam Warship 1815–1905, ISBN 0785814132
*Howe, Christopher (1996)
The origins of Japanese Trade Supremacy, Development and technology in Asia from 1540 to the Pacific War, The University of Chicago Press ISBN 0-226-35485-7
*Ireland, Bernard (1996)
Jane's Battleships of the 20th Century ISBN 0-00-470997-7
*Lyon, D.J. (1976)
World War II warships, Excalibur Books ISBN 0-85613-220-9
*Nagazumi, Yōko (永積洋子)
Red Seal Ships (朱印船), ISBN 4642066594 (Japanese)
*Tōgō Shrine and Tōgō Association (東郷神社・東郷会),
Togo Heihachiro in images, illustrated Meiji Navy (図説東郷平八郎、目で見る明治の海軍), (Japanese)
Japanese submarines 潜水艦大作戦, Jinbutsu publishing (新人物"来社) (Japanese)
*
Naval history of Japan*
Imperial Japanese Navy Aviation Bureau*
Giretsu special forces operations *
Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces*
Imperial Japanese Navy Land Forces*
Tokei Tai-Navy Military Police
*
Imperial Japanese Navy fuel*
"Strike South" Group*
Fleet Faction — Navy political group
*
Treaty Faction — Navy political group
*
May 15 Incident — coup d'etat with Navy support
*
Imperial Way Faction*
Japanese nationalism*
The Japanese Navy Taiwan and South Pacific Mandate political project*
Emperor of Japan*
Nobunaga's ironclad navy*
Global Defence News, Military Pictures and Discussions @ DefenceTalk.com
*
Hiroshi Nishida's IJN site*
Imperial Japanese Navy Page*
Etajima Museum of Naval History*
JSDF video commercial*
Memorial Niten Ichy Ryu*
Fading Victory: The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki, 1941-1945 - book review
