The Japanese Navy in World War II is worthy of their own boasting, from design to battle examples, which cannot be compared with the German three. Of course, as the old saying goes, as much success comes failure. It all started with the design.
There are many advantages and disadvantages that can be talked about. They're not as crowded and uncomfortable as people say they are, and the meals aren't just about rice and cuttlefish. In terms of living conditions, a cruiser is much more comfortable than a destroyer or a submarine.
In terms of combat and sailing performance, they are very good ships. Possession of decent artillery, albeit in a ...... way of layoutIt's very Japanese, but it's normal. And torpedoes......
If you turn the wheel of history a little back, you will see that at some point in the past, Japan did not have a navy in the modern sense at all. The history of the Japanese Navy dates back to 1894. Before that, of course, they had ships, but what kind of ships ......
Apparently, with the arrival of representatives of European countries, everything began to develop. Japan began to have steamships, mainly built in the UK. In the following articles, the history of the Japanese Navy, ships and their role in different wars will be told.
The Japanese Navy: The pinnacle of World War II.
The Japanese Navy has always been exotic, and reached the peak of its development during World War II. To their credit, the Japanese, having learned from their British allies, soon began to innovate independently. They have created some very unique, original ships that are unique in comparison to their "kinds" in other countries of the world.
After the end of World War I, Japan's shipbuilding industry made a huge leap forward. It was during this period that the enthusiastic Japanese shipbuilders began to create true masterpieces.
The battleships "Yamato" and "Musashi" were miraculous, their performance was unparalleled for their time. The heavy cruisers of the "Mogami" and "Ligen" classes, although not supercruisers, were very good representatives of their class. The "Blowing Snow", "Autumn Moon" and "Yangyan" class destroyers have their own characteristics, but they are undoubtedly very advanced fighting machines.
The story behind the design and construction of the Sea of Japan's ** boat.
The uniqueness of the ship-building process.
Of course, we will talk about destroyers in detail later. Now I would like to briefly introduce a little-known part of history. It has to be said that the shipbuilding process in Japan is very interesting, although it is not bureaucratic, but there are some unique rules.
Institutions and responsibilities.
Ship design projects are tendered by the Navy General Staff (MGS), and the design and construction itself is handled by the Admiralty. However, the Admiralty will refer the project to the Naval Technical Department (MTD) for implementation.
The MTD has several divisions, such as the 4th Division, which is responsible for the construction of ships, and the 6th Division, which is responsible for the construction of submarines. Other departments are responsible for the work of **, armor, power units, etc., and carry out their work under the leadership of the relevant departments.
In the 1930s, the battleships Yamashiro and Fuso, as well as the battlecruiser Haruna, in Tokyo Bay.
Naval Technical Committee.
In addition to the above-mentioned bodies, there is also a body called the Naval Technical Committee (MTC). MTC steps in when a project encounters an unsolvable problem during implementation. For example, if a preset parameter cannot be met, an MTC meeting is held. The MTC is not a permanent establishment, but it is able to quickly resolve issues that arise.
Member of the MTC.
The MTC is made up of three key figures: the Deputy Secretary of the Navy, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Navy, and the head of the 4th (or 6th) Department. In addition, the commission includes the heads of other relevant departments and bureaus of the General Staff of the Navy, as well as one or two authoritative shipbuilding engineers.
The Fengxiang, the world's first purpose-built aircraft carrier, was completed in 1922.
Flexible and efficient mechanism.
This committee-style structure is flexible enough to maximize the balance of aspirations and capacities of the various sectors. The aspirations of the General Staff of the Navy, of course, are many, and the capabilities of the designers are a limiting factor.
Project process. The project developed by the MTD, adjusted by the MTC if necessary, was finally approved jointly by the General Staff of the Navy and the head of the Navy Department. After that, the Secretary of the Navy will give the MTD the corresponding instructions, and the real construction work will officially begin.
Fourth division: the birthplace of heavy cruisers. Now, let's focus on the fourth division, which is where these cruisers were born.
Department Responsibilities. The Fourth Department is functionally on an equal footing with other departments of the Admiralty, and consists of two departments: the Basic Design Department and the Detailed Design Department. The basic design department is usually headed by the head of the department and is the "brain" of the department, responsible for developing all plans and coordinating the work of other departments. In addition, the Department of Basic Design is responsible for coordination with other departments of the Admiralty and the General Staff of the Navy.
The detailed design department is responsible for the final refinement of the project, and its head is responsible for horizontal liaison with other departments and leads the internal design work.
High-speed voyage "Yamato", October 20, 1941.
Departmental structure. Each department has a dedicated group of ship types. Of these, the battleship group dominated both divisions, also headed by the head of the department.
Efficient mode of operation.
Although this structure may seem a bit bloated, it has proven its ability to function efficiently. Japan's naval hierarchy is also very complex, but it is also capable of selecting excellent leaders.
The first outstanding person: Rear Admiral Jean Hiraga.
Designer of the Yamato-class battleships. After the incident of Tomozuru and the Fourth Fleet, it was ordered to abolish electric welding with all rivet connections, which to a certain extent opened the technical reversal.
Undoubtedly, the first outstanding person was Vice Admiral Hiraga Jean.
Hiraga Jean was a well-known naval engineer in the Japanese Navy, who served as head of the Fourth Department from 1917 to 1923. Under his leadership, significant progress was made in the design and construction of heavy cruisers for the Japanese Navy.
Hiraga Jean's main contributions include:
led the design of the Furutaka-class and Mogami-class heavy cruisers; A series of innovative design concepts were proposed, such as the use of quadruple main guns; The foundation was laid for the development of heavy cruisers for the Japanese Navy.
Contributions and controversies of Jean Hiraga.
Hiraga moved the Navy into the Fourth Sector in 1916 and, after studying in England, became the designer of Japan's first heavy cruisers, the Furutaka, Aoba, and Myoko.
Hiraga Jean is talented, but he is also stubborn and difficult to get along with, and often gets into arguments with the ** of the Navy General Staff. He stood his own and was uncompromising, even when faced with high-ranking generals.
Due to his personality, Hiraga made many enemies in the Admiralty, and was eventually transferred out of the Fourth Department, where he successively served as the director of the Naval Technology Headquarters, the vice president and president of Tokyo Imperial University.
Successive leaders of the Fourth Division.
After Hiraga Jean, the head of the fourth department was held by the Navy Osaku Fujimoto. He designed the "Blowing Snow" class destroyers, the "Mogami" class and the "Kaohsiung" class heavy cruisers.
Fujimoto's character and style.
Fujimoto was not as stubborn as Hiraga Jean, he was more easy-going and obedient, so he was very popular with the Navy General Staff. His death in 1935 was a great loss for the Japanese naval shipbuilding industry. But the ships he designed became excellent representatives of their respective categories.
Fujimoto's design philosophy.
Fujimoto's design philosophy is different from that of Hiraga Jean, although they have worked together for a long time. Fujimoto prefers light, fast, and powerful ships. He believes that speed and striking power are more important than defense, and likes to solve technical problems with innovative layout solutions.
Fujimoto's controversy.
Fujimoto was also criticized for catering too much to the demands of the Navy's General Staff, even if those demands were unattainable. He is good at "adding a little more" in the case of excess displacement. But this also brings a hidden danger, because the ships he designed generally have the problem of insufficient stability. This was due to the fact that in order to reduce the weight of the hull, the superstructure was weighted, which led to an excessively high center of gravity of the ship.
"Friends Crane" incident.
On March 12, 1943, the destroyer "Tomozuru" capsized due to lack of stability, which eventually led to Fujimoto's dismissal. He did not experience any scandals, but died of a stroke in January 1935.
Fujimoto is innovative and forward-looking in design thinking, and is known as a "shipbuilding genius" in the military, among which the Fukiyuki-class destroyer is his masterpiece, but it is also inconsistent with the traditional school led by Hiraga Jean. When he first proposed the Kongoyo ship plan, his plan was more focused on artillery warfare and considered air-to-submarine defense than Hiraga, and after entering the naval vacation, he also participated in the design of the Kaohsiung-class heavy cruiser and the top class heavy cruiser. He was a proponent of electric welding shipbuilding technology, but after the Tomozuru Incident and the Fourth Fleet Incident, he was investigated and punished with caution (suspension for reflection), and died of a cerebral hemorrhage in anger. In fact, Fujimoto piled up a large number of ** for the ship, making the center of gravity too high and unstable is due to the urgent requirements of the Japanese Navy, in addition, Japan's technical reserves are not enough, and the strength of electric welding is not enough is also an important reason. Later, the designers of the Hiraga faction took over the charge of the shipbuilding department, and the members of the department destroyed a large number of materials and models in the name of cleaning out of disgust with Hiraga.
The battleship Nagato in the early 1920s.
Keiji Fukuda. After the "Tomozuru" incident, Keiji Fukuda was appointed head of the Fourth Division. It is said that he has been cultivated as a ** person of Fujimoto. Previously, Foton did not achieve much in the field of shipbuilding, but enjoyed a good reputation in the academic community. He was even a member of the Japanese delegation to the London Conference in 1930, where he participated in the signing of the new treaty of naval limitations.
Fukuda's talent.
However, Fukuda possessed a natural talent that he put to good use during his time studying in the United States. He is good at negotiation and is able to apply this ability to his work. He succeeded in re-integrating the ostracized Hiraga Jean into the design project of the battleship "Yamato", which had a positive effect on the project itself.
In September 1914, the seaplane carrier Wakamiya carried out the world's first air raid at sea.
Ezaki Iwayoshi. In 1943, Ezaki Iwayoshi became the last head of the Fourth Division. He is also a scholar and university professor who served on the General Staff of the Navy. But he had experience with ships, having worked on Fujimoto's Takohsiung-class heavy cruiser project and was responsible for the A-140 project, which eventually developed into the battleship Yamato.
Revelations of history.
Surprisingly, a group of talented and good designers is gradually being replaced by those who have a solid theoretical foundation but lack practical experience. The newly appointed leader seems to be better at compromise than at building ships. Fukuda and Ezaki clearly lacked creativity and were not genius designers, but they were able to reconcile the interests of all parties well.
Lessons from history.
Beginning in 1943, the Japanese Navy began to replace shipbuilding geniuses with efficient managers. History has proven the consequences of this approach.
In 1940, the 2,600th anniversary of the E.S. special ship viewing ceremony was held, which recorded the pinnacle of the Japanese Navy.