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Had Japan been thrashed at Tsushima the IJN wouldn't have thought they could take on all comers. Czar Nicolas II and Admiral Rozhestvensky did the Japanese no favours in emboldening a false confidence in both Japan's abilities and fortune as they entered the 1930s and 40s.Agreed, the stubborn refusal to convoy was baffling. Had they tended to logistics and infrastructure properly the entire Pacific campaign would have been slowed for the allies. The generation leading Japan and its military for WW2 seems to have absorbed only the sizzle and not the steak of the Russo-Japanese war.
You weren't kidding.Here's a pretty concise (actually long winded) and reasonably researched account:
Armoured Aircraft Carriers
You know the RAF would probably have a thing or two to say about that...Why was the IJN poor at ASW?
A few reasons. Or guesses.
ASW was a backwater where the no hopers went. The glamour was the big gun battleships or carriers or aircraft. The top dogs went there. ASW was for the guys who didn't make the grade.
The big Mahan final battle didn't have ASW so no need.
ASW is defensive attrition warfare and Japan don't do that. Since the USN will snap like a twig then why bother.
American torpedoes were so poor that you didn't need ASW.
Let's say we go all in and the IJN sink every ship. Then the Tirpitz can sail down the Thames and shell Buckingham Palace. Is that what you want coz that's what will happen.
No one was good at ASW, except the Brits. Britain was good at ASW because they'd faced it in WW1. Everyone else, IJN, USN, etc. had to learn anew.Why was the IJN poor at ASW?
A few reasons. Or guesses.
ASW was a backwater where the no hopers went. The glamour was the big gun battleships or carriers or aircraft. The top dogs went there. ASW was for the guys who didn't make the grade.
The big Mahan final battle didn't have ASW so no need.
ASW is defensive attrition warfare and Japan don't do that. Since the USN will snap like a twig then why bother.
American torpedoes were so poor that you didn't need ASW.
Let's say we go all in and the IJN sink every ship. Then the Tirpitz can sail down the Thames and shell Buckingham Palace. Is that what you want coz that's what will happen.
No one was good at ASW, except the Brits. Britain was good at ASW because they'd faced it in WW1. Everyone else, IJN, USN, etc. had to learn anew.
Try telling that to the Australians and New Zealanders. The Canadians will be a little bit upset too.A search for SS Automedon will be helpful.
In this episode, it was revealed the weakness of RN in the far East.
The gist was if the Japanese launched a major campaign against imperial possessions then the RN can do nothing and that it would suck to be you.
We often go on about Bismarck and Graf Spee but it was actually the Regia Marina which offered the greatest strategic surface threat.
Singapore and Hong Kong was not as vital as the Mediterranean or Gibraltar or Suez.
Today? Ok.Try telling that to the Australians and New Zealanders. The Canadians will be a little bit upset too.
Not me. I don't think my Royal Navy today could protect me anymore.Today? Ok.
Anyone here from the Dominions? The Royal Navy will not protect you in the event of a full scale Japanese invasion.
Try telling that to the Australians and New Zealanders. The Canadians will be a little bit upset too.
That would only come about if there was a net benefit for the UK.I've wondered for quite some time how WW2 and world history (or at least Australasian history) would have proceeded differently had the policy in London had been to promote industry in the British Empire.
That goes without saying. The British Raj destroyed India's cotton industry to benefit British producers and monopolized salt production so it could be taxed.That would only come about if there was a net benefit for the UK.
Today? Ok.
Anyone here from the Dominions? The Royal Navy will not protect you in the event of a full scale Japanese invasion.
The British acted in its own interest.
Non shock.
Ishapore and Lithgow plus the debacle over the Ross showed the Dominions did have production abilities although building tanks is a different mstter.
This is a completely incorrect statement. The UK could have done a deal with Hitler in June 1940, and they didn't and decided to fight on. How was that acting in its own interest?
I think it's worth remembering that the economic strength and infrastructure of area's like Australia and New Zealand wasn't sufficient to support the industry required to produce considerable quantities of large, sophisticated and expensive war material of every type.
Everything from power. water, transport, iron foundries, literally everything would have been needed and the population of approx 7, 000,000 (Australia) was a lot less than London at the time. Plus of course the population was spread over a huge country.