Was the Imperial Japanese Navy actually one of the world's

The IJN was number 2 in the world after the US Navy.

After the USN and RN, probably.

They had an inflated sense of skill because they fought wars against opponents that were already fucked (tsarist Russia and Imperial Germany)

>build a navy suitable only for daytime combat in perfect visibility
>"best"

pick one

>>34270091

IJN had the best nighttime training in the world, even above the USN and RN

>>34270130
and yet they were pretty much limited to optical fire control only.

>>34270091
What >>34270130 said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Savo_Island

>>34270082

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Java_Sea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_the_Java_Sea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Ocean_raid

After this the RN fled to East Africa until 1945, after the majority of the conflict had concluded. The IJN was second only to the USN

>>34269937
You get to be one of the best in the world just by having a real blue water navy with capital ships.

Even if we take the least generous estimate of their capabilities they would still be third best in the world.

You have to remember that the USN was completely unparalleled by mid-war. The IJN was probably the only thing that could even give it a good fight. The RN probably held a solid-but-distant 3rd place, the KM and RM were both too small to fight even the RN alone on equal footing, France was barely equal to Italy until they got Vichy'd, and the VMF was pretty much just memes.

>>34270046
Sure, but the power gap was comical.

>>34270356
In terms of ships they were our equal at the beginning and in terms of training they were better. However, they did not have the industrial capacity to replace losses like the USA. And we quickly closed the training gap in crews and pilots. And raping them at Midway pretty much sealed the deal. Also they focused all their training on fleet battles so USA's subs sunk all their supply ships.

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>>34269937
I would say they were good, especially at the beginning of the war, but failed to adapt and innovate as well as the USN. As >>34270162 said, they were late to develop fire control radar.
Also stuff like codes, damage control, operational recon/intelligence etc. they never got right.

Plus Japan, even with it's empire, could never keep up industrially with the US in a modern war.

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>Japanese pilots willingly flew into boats

I still can't wrap my head around this

Like, how fucked as a people must you be?

>>34270443
IJN was operationally superior and in some areas technically superior to the USN in 1941 to 1942.

Coral Sea is where Japan got checked. Midway is where Japan went on the defensive after losing vital assets. Subsequent operations harmed Japan's ability to carry out offensives and recover losses.

Philippine Sea is where Japan's naval air capability was wiped out. Leyte Gulf is where Japan's navy ceased to exist as an effective fighting force.

>>34270512
It was a very logical tactic.

By 1944 a conventional attack on a large USN task forces was essentially suicidal. Read up on the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Japanese naval air forces were wiped out at minimal loss to the American air power and only a single ship suffered damage. Between the CIC directed fighter screen and incredibly heavy radar directed AAA fire, the Japanese didn't stand a real chance of success and survival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czAwsE7yLBc

>>34270548
Guadalcanal campaign was the key. For the Japanese this is what they look at instead of Midway as the turning point. A meatgrinder on air, land, and sea it cost them heavily in men and material and also contributed to the failure of their campaign in New Guinea.

>>34269937
>damage control plan consists entirely of counterflooding
>over half their ships that sank did so due primarily to counterflooding
>"best"

Losing to America isn't exactly a slight on your capabilities

Third in the world ain't bad.

>>34270192

The UK kind of had bigger things to worry about on the home front that reinforcing her pacific holdings.

It's like beating on the junior varsity team.

>>34271001
To be fair nobody was a match for USN damage control. The advantage it offered wasn't something easy to grasp until repeatedly, dramatically demonstrated.

>>34270091
Never heard of flares?
>>34271067
How many USN ships even got as seriously holed as most Japs did? And it's quite different trying to extinguish flames and put on bandages when somebody is still raping your stern.

>>34271178
Never heard of radar fire control?

>>34269937
They were.
During 1941-1942, no other navy was equal in carrier operations and night fighting as the IJN.
It didn't last long though.

>>34271262
It took some time before the USN really knew how to go about using radar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tassafaronga

>>34271262
If it doesn't black out the flares then what is your point?

>>34269937
Does Russia count as a "real enemy"?

>>34271354
Not giving away your position just to know where the enemy is.

>>34271361
They were arab tier bad at fighting a war.
>>34271369
>implying people shoot flares on themselves

They were a pretty good navy early on. Well made ships, decent planes for the early war, and a well trained group of sailors. Then they started to lose a lot of ships, planes, islands, and sailors, while not having the industry to properly fill up their losses.

>>34271832
It was also nearly impossible to start producing new plane models in masses thanks to that industry.
Same with AA weaponry, radars and even radios. Electric stuff needed for those were likely the most difficult for them.

>>34270342
Nigga the italian navy was on of the best
It was big and advanced
Prewar obv
I alway wonder what the fuck was wrong with the Italian naval command
>have some of the best radar
>lel XD we don't need radar
>battle of cape matadan happen
>decide to install radar
>no money to make them
>shitty quality control on high caliber round and now the 15 inch gun can't hit shit
>b-but on test they are really accurate!
>had problem with arresting gear on their carrier(german had the same on the graf zeppelin)
>most of the time can't sortie because lolno fuel
>can't train because lolno fuel
>prewar habit of using minload for test(tho this was stopped pretty early in the:littorio,zara and war build class didn't have this problem)
>waste all their fuel securing naval superiority in 1942 but hitler stopped the invasion of Malta
I don't think any marine was fucked more than the RM by lack of fuel

They had relatively good ships but some absolutely buttfucking retarded captains. One genius managed to turn his carrier into a giant fuel air bomb due to inept damage control and surprise, surprise it exploded. They also pretty much ignored radar systems until it was far to late.

>>34270046
You forgot Royal Navy.

>>34271997
>>34272104
No suprise if people like Schettino managed to get the captain rank and jeopardizing lots of civilians lives due to its imconpetence.

>>34271381
>implying they wont see you launch them

>>34274363
>implying that matters when I'm a plane

Prior to WW2, they had the most advanced navy with an emphasis on carriers instead of big gun ships. The problem is Japan did not have the industrial capacity to quickly replace lost ships or the overwhelming force necessary to keep any other down, despite their numbers.

What killed the Japanese Navy was Americas ability to replace lost ships. For every ship lost, the Japanese Navy just got weaker but for every ship the Americans lost, it just slowed the onslaught down. Yes, their were other factors but Japan picked a fight with a country that could replace it's losses when they simply could not replace theirs.

Just like the Germans in Europe. It didn't matter that the Germans could kill 3x as many Russian as the Russians could kill Germans. For every German loss, there was effectively one less soldier. For every Russian loss, there were two more conscripts.

In the end, both Japan and Germany fell to Zerg rush tactics. Italy on the other had fell to their own incompetence.

>>34274545
>What killed the Japanese Navy was Americas ability to replace lost ships. For every ship lost, the Japanese Navy just got weaker but for every ship the Americans lost, it just slowed the onslaught down. Yes, their were other factors but Japan picked a fight with a country that could replace it's losses when they simply could not replace theirs.

They didn't exactly play out a perfect match of chess and made quite a few mistakes that did cost them.
But yeah, in the end, the other side did mistakes too and it came down to other factors unrelated to the actual navy and its performance.
It came down to industrial capacity and that was simply stacked extremely in favor of the older nations of the world.

>>34270443
Letting all their well trained pilots kamikaze was pretty retarded.

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>>34275291
Most Kamikaze pilots weren't well trained. They were mostly students. Yukio Seki, on the other hand was a well trained pilot and was ordered to command the first unit and wrote a scathing remark about it.

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>>34275333
Against carrier decks it was quite usefull, if getting back home already impossible, but ramming at any other ship type was just a waste.

>>34275443
Not against RN armoured decks, just a case of sweeping the mangled ijn plane off the side.

>>34270451
>>34274545
>it's
its

>>34270162
>So was the USN up intil late 1942. Are you an idiot? Do you think America had space age technology through the entirety of WWII or something?

>>34270512
Until guided missiles came into service it was basically the best way to make sure your ordinance was gonna reach the target.

>>34272290
RN had a critical shortage of modern carrier based aircraft through most of the war. The Kido butai would have eaten their fleet for breakfast.

>>34275333
there was one guy who crashed his plane into a torpedo he saw heading for his ship. that was pretty gutsy.

>>34272104
You realize the same thing happened to the USS Lexington right?

>one of the world's best
yes
>never fought a real enemy until America
also yes

The fact that they went from geopolitical dirt farmers to a naval power in half a century is also something noteworthy.
Just be aware that a lot of their tech was stuff they bought, stole or copies from the Royal Navy.

>>34274545
Don't compare the literal hurr durr run le peasants into MG fire zerg of the USSR to what the US did on the pacific front.

Not only did they have better numbers, they were better trained and had better equipment. The Russians literally just had more tanks and peasants

>>34269937
>"Never fought a real enemy until America"


I dunno Tsushima was a pretty remarkable success. It's a wonder western powers kept underestimating them after that.

>>34277075
This. The island hopping campaign was brutal, but compare us vs jap casualty rates and imagine if it was Germans defending against Soviets.

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>>34270512

It's important to understand that by the time the Kamikazee program was initiated, Japan was no longer even trying to win the war. They were simply trying to avert an invasion of mainland Japan. All the experienced fighter pilots that Japan had at the beginning of the war were now dead. The destruction of Japanese aviation culminated in the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" during which the remaining portion of Japanese air power was extinguished. On the surface, things are equally grim. All that remains of the once-proud Imperial Navy: the battleship Yamato, the light cruiser Yahagi, and 8 destroyers. The big fear now is that the Americans will soon reach Japan. There is no time to train new fighter pilots. It is out of this atmosphere of fear and desperation that the Kamikazee emerges as a last-ditch effort to stop an invasion of the mainland.

>>34277079
The imperial Russian fleet was an absolute joke. Somebody post the greentext of the trip there.

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>>34277103

>The imperial Russian fleet was an absolute joke.

Nobody knew that until after the fact.

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>>34270512
BANZAI

>>34277103
>The imperial Russian fleet was an absolute joke.
Not really, with the right commanders and with a supply line not stretching more than halfway around the world they could equal (Yellow Sea) or better (cruiser actions) the IJN, and before you post doggers bank memes remember that during the Spanish-American war the USN attacked steam trains thinking they were torpedo boats.

>>34277136

>the Russians didn't know that till after the fact

Fixt

>>34277177

There was also an incident where American ships fired on a Spanish fort that was unaware that war had been declared. Gunfire against the fort was so inaccurate that the Spanish soldiers misinterpreted it as some kind of friendly demonstration and cheered as if watching a fireworks display.

>>34275476
You are an idiot. It caused irreparable structural warping when hit, and it limited the amount of planes you can put on CAP to intercept kamikazes.

Considering the damage as well as the vastly lower intensity of kamikaze the RN dealt with, the efficacy of RN armored flight decks is dubious at best.

>>34276969
>Until guided missiles came into service
>Pilot is guidance
>Plane is missile
Guided missiles were already in service?

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>>34277331

Well, Fritz-X could be considered a primitive guided-missile of sorts.

>>34277177
>Not really, with the right commanders and with a supply line not stretching more than halfway around the world
What if, What if, What if

>>34277363
>What if the Battle of the Yellow Sea actually happened.

>>34271997
At the beginning of the war The Regia Marina (The Italian Royal Navy) was ranked 4th, on paper at least.

>>34277495
>the French Navy? What's that?

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Better question yet. Was he a good commander?

>>34270548

SPRUANCE
P
R
U
A
N
C
E

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>>34272104
Look up this fellow right here. This motherfucker survived from the beginning of the war as a destroyer captain by not being a fucking idiot like the rest of them.

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>>34278311

Only IJN commander to have a chance at defeating the US IMO

>>34278768
This dude's badass. He really was legendary as captain of the Shigure.

>>34269937
Japanese navy deserves respect. This navy completely vindicated carrier doctrine and the USN even going back to the continental navy had never faced such a serious foe up until that point.

>>34269937
USN for one never achieved the technical level of the Japanese when it comes to torpedoes and submersible techs during the war. They were abysmal strategically, but the Japanese were the leader when it comes to torpedo squadron tactic, bar none.

It was the Japanese navy that introduced us to Torpedo boat destroyers, and it was the Japanese navy that defined what ocean going destroyers ought to be when they launched the Fubuki class destroyers. Don't get me wrong, USN revolutionized AAA and fire control, but the USN certainly wasn't the only innovator around.

>>34277079
>>34269937
The Nips did fight some real enemies. Maybe not the Ruskies, but they fought a modernized Beiyang fleet that was using Kraut gears that outnumbered and outgun the nips in caliber, yet the Nips line battle tactic and gunnery won the day.

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>>34274545

>Prior to WW2, they had the most advanced navy with an emphasis on carriers instead of big gun ships.

Yeah, they sure had their priorities straight. They certainly didn't waste any of their painfully limited resources on big gun ships.

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>>34279358
Keep in mind the USN came extremely close to doing the exact same mistake.

>>34277026
While true that is mostly due to the RN focusing on other areas such as ASW while the Japanese invested extremely heavily into carrier aircraft. The RN was successful at the majority of the tasks it undertook, including extremely difficult ones such as winning the Battle of the Atlantic. The IJN on the otherhand failed at virtually all of their tasks, only having (limited) successes at the start of the conflict.

The RN was better equipped and better trained for the task it had - defend the oceans from the combined strength of Germany and Italy- then the IJN was for its own task.

>>34271178
Yorktown

>>34279396

Meh, the "painfully limited resources" part doesn't really apply to the USN. They could have built the Montana if they really thought they needed it.

>>34279397
>defend the oceans from the combined strength of Germany and Italy
hahahahahahahahah some task indeed

>>34279396

USN battleships actually did stuff during WW2. IJN battleships spent the entire fucking war doing nothing. The Kongo's are the only exception to this that I am aware of. The Yamato-class, Nagato-class, and Fuso-class ships were all kept in reserve basically the entire war.

>>34279142

His book was much more depressing than I was expecting it to be. Really hammers in just how stressful it is to be on the losing side of a war.

>>34279548
Cause they didn't have the fuel.

Yamato sank an escort carrier though so there's that.

>>34279589

>Yamato sank an escort carrier though so there's that.

Even that's a matter of dispute.

>>34279659
She definitely hit one. Though the shells were so big they just went right through her like she was made of paper. It's unknown if that caused her sinking or some other ship did.

>>34279397
losing against america is a bigger achievement than winning against italy

>>34279739

My understand is that the Yamato only had two kinds of ammunition: heavy-armor piercing shells for fighting other battleships and "beehive" rounds which were like monstrously large shotgun shells for defending against aircraft. It seems reasonable to assume that the AP shells for the Yamato's 18.1-inch guns would easily over-penetrate the hull of an escort carrier.

>>34279396
But while the Yamato had 20,000 lbs/minute of hand laid, timed fuse AA guns, a Montana Class would have had 65,000 lbs/minute of radar aimed, proximity fused AA guns.

If the Axis had ever even equaled the South Dakota class ships in secondary and defensive suit, the carrier admirals would have had a much less complete victory.

>>34269937
>Tfw the Kitikami never actually saw combat with its torpedo spam of death armament.
Why even live?

>>34280071

No, even if the Japanese battleships had superb AA-guns, they still would have been marginalized by the fact that they didn't fucking do anything. Most of the Japanese battleships spent almost the entire war being held reserve, because the admirals were simply terrified of losing any of them. There is a reason why people call the Yamato a hotel rather than a warship.

>>34280101
The type-93 torpedo helped sink as many IJN ships as it did USN ones.
After 1942, they became more of a liability, especially with air power and submarines taking over as the new dominate forms of naval warfare.

>>34278311
The US vilified him out of necessity during the war for propaganda purposes, but the truth is he was one of the more moderate higher ups in the entire japanese military. He knew his own country's limitations and that they could never win a war of attrition against the US. Wonder what that said about japan when they put a pacifist in charge of their entire navy instead of some other warmongering guy.

>>34279548
Japanese battleships did sortie out of Truk a few times as a result of intell to search for American ships, but it's telling that the only real period of deployment to the front led to the loss of two Kongos.

>>34278311
He was a great commander
>excellent tactical mind
>realizes Japan is fucked if it enters into conflict with the US
>pleades with officials to pursue peace
>goes to Emperor to pleade for peace
>gets assigned to attack US anyway
>does an amazing job with Pearl Harbor
>US is spared due from 3rd wave because Yamamoto is worried about US carriers counter-attacking Kido Butai

>SleepingDragonFilledWithTerribleResolve.mov

I have serious respect for the guy and wish lesser men would have listened to his wisdom in Toyko. Its just as well he died over New Guinea in 43, I doubt he would have been able to handle seeing his nation immolated due to a fight he himself started.

>>34271832
>Then they started to lose a lot of ships, planes, islands, and sailors, while not having the industry to properly fill up their losses

Guadalcanal campaign losses were especially severe to the Japanese. By the end of the campaign new USN ships were just beginning to arrive in some numbers and the IJN could never keep up after that.

>>34278311
No. Read the final chapter of Paul S. Dull's A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy (1941-1945)

>>34280283
Yamamoto was a little bitch.
The Japanese NGS wanted to invade the south but NOT attack America; USA prob would not have declared war. Yamamoto threw a hissy fit to get his way.
Also had seen USA industry but did not say "hey, maybe we shouldn't piss these guys off".
Also had way too complicated batle plans.

>>34272290
like he said, IJN was number 2 in the world after US navy.

>>34280283
Not really. He often made complicated strategies, just see the AL/MI Operation.

>>34270082
>Imperial Germany

What? Is some hidden period of history I've never heard of?

>>34270548
>operationally superior
>Made stupid mistakes like breaking up their fleets and letting america pick them off one by one.

Uuuuhh?

Hi, legit Nip here. This is a great thread, I'm learning a lot here based on so many different viewpoints. These sort of threads are so rare since your typical /k/ thread is so full of trolls and retards that are so biased over certain things. This thread is pretty comfy if not balanced, thank you based Burgers.

To add on, I want to know something. A friend of mine I had convo not so long ago told me if we Nips took full control of Pearl Habor and Hawaii, America would be fairly fucked because their own docks and ports back home weren't as sofisticated and state of the art compared to the docks and ports on those islands. Thoughts?

>>34270192
Every single one of these had a distinct numerical advantage towards the japanese

only >>34270168
can say that any level of superiority was proven by the IJN in their cited engagement

the RN had an extremely minor presence in the pacific as their concerns were and always had been on the atlantic

>>34281620
Japan never had a chance in hell of getting troops on Hawaii itself. They barely conquered Wake Island with an all out assault, and Wake island was defended by just three planes and 30 men. Taking Pearl Harbor would require a massive amount of people. The air attacks didn't really kill that many american soliders. They were all still there and ready to defend the harbor.

If Japan could have held Hawaii, of course that kind of monsterous Japan could force a backdown. But that's a fictional Japan that didn't exist.

>>34281620
Taking Hawaii is even impossible. They could barely sustain the Pearl Harbor operation and were told to ditch their escorts if they ran out of fuel as long as they get their carriers back home. An invasion would use massive resources on an already overstretched logistics the Japanese have at that time.
http://www.combinedfleet.com/pearlops.htm

>>34277259
and then spain went onto lose a humiliating defeat against the US. You got us.

>>34270082
Even knowing all this, I always keep asking myself: how did the entire Japanese admiralty take the single victory at Tsushima and, over the course of 35 years, convince themselves they were one of the greatest navies in the world, let alone on par with the USN? AFAIK there weren't any major engagements between them and the Central Powers in WWI.

>>34270443
>they did not have the industrial capacity to replace losses like the USA

Yeah, didn't the US build something like 27 carriers during the war? That's a pretty tall order to keep up with.

>>34277259
>There was also an incident where American ships fired on a Spanish fort that was unaware that war had been declared. Gunfire against the fort was so inaccurate that the Spanish soldiers misinterpreted it as some kind of friendly demonstration and cheered as if watching a fireworks display.
That was when we captured Guam. It's honestly more embarrassing for the Spanish, because they had to row out to our cruiser (USS Charleston) and apologize for not responding to our "salute" because their fort's guns had never been installed and were sitting on the beach rusting.

>>34281739
Cockiness with a mix of racism. They thought that by defeating Russia and making a name for herself in a time where mostly Western countries only matter, they were now on par with other Western countries. Of course there's also their belief, strongly encouraged by their military rulers, that they were the superior race, and the Americans and other Western countries are too soft from indulging in their extravagant lives.

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>>34281739
And also there's pic related.

>>34281610
WW1

>>34281610
In WWI, Japan stole a bunch of islands and a small part of China from Imperial Germany. They got to keep said islands, too.

>>34281832
Germany used to own China?

>>34281892
Parts of it.

Germany had colonies in China, Indochina, the South Pacific, central America, and Africa. Recovering their colonies that were taken by the Allies after WWI was one of the reasons Germany kicked off WWII.

>>34281953
Did Britain take Hong Kong from them?

>>34281969
Britain took Hong Kong from China, not Germany

>>34281630

After losing the Repulse and Prince of Wales, I would agree they had a minor presence in the Pacific...

>>34281752

The Essex class was designed and built during the war. That achievement alone made them a stronger naval power than the rest of the world.

>>34281993
>Britain took Hong Kong from China

Hong Kong was always british clay. China was the one who stole it.

>>34278311

My perception of him completely changed after reading Hara's book.

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>>34276969
Don't be dumb. Guided air to surface weapons were already in use in WWII. Look at the Fritz-X, AZON, or the Bat.

Also, go check how often kamikaze pilots were blasted out of the sky before they could actually hit a boat. It wasn't super reliable at all.

>>34281752
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_production_during_World_War_II#Naval_forces
Basically, the axis never had a fucking chance and it's embarrassing that they ever thought they did.

>>34282221
On the other hand the overwhelming naval production that the US engaged in was ridiculously overkill, they were about to head in to a major manpower shortage for ships by the end of it.

>>34282279
That's when you start "selling" them to the slavs.

>>34280999
Why are children like this allowed to respond to adult posts? I mean seriously, if you have a legitimate point to make, but are unable to articulate it in a reasonable, educated manner, then A) brush up on your grammar and compositional skills, or B) Have someone that does posses these skills do it for you. Christ!

>>34282279

Having too many ships is a much better problem to have during a war than having too few ships.

>>34277556
Depending on the source, its somewhat of a wash between the two, I've seen both Navies labeled as the 4th largest at the start of the war. But I have read that the French Navy, even if it was larger was considered inferior due to problems constructing their newest battleships (Richelieu and Jean Bart), where the Italians had completed theirs (Littorio and Vittorio Veneto, with Roma a few years off) and they were already in active service. Both Navies were rivals for control of the Med, and both sought to end the RN's influence in the Med as well.

>>34282519
Except when your ship production is so out of control that you are taking away from other more critical war production and manpower usages.

Japan has never fought a equal, they're a deadly joke character that either curbstomps or gets curbstomped.

>>34281752
24 Fleet Carriers (Essex Class) 9 Light Carriers (Independence Class) and 124 Escort Carriers (of varying class and size). I honestly believe that our opponents in WWII never fully grasped how resource rich our country is, and how absolutely huge our industrial capacity was.

>>34277031
Now that's honorable

F ;-;7

>>34270443
>In the terms of training they were better
>o fug there's an avgas spill
>Lets turn on the ventilation system
>whole ship is filled with kindling because lmao
>Air is now avgas
>kaboom
"Better training"

>>34270046
#3

>>34277033
The difference is USS Lexington suffered multiple explosions due to fumes from damaged AvGas fuel tanks being set off and it's damage control crews fought for quite some time before the ship was evacuated. Fuel-air explosions are honestly always a big concern with aircraft carrier.
Taihō however ended up with an aircraft elevator well filled with fuel and water and the reaction of the crew wasn't to spray it down with fire suppression foam to stop it from vaporising but to cover the open elevator well with scrap lumber and turn the ventilation system on high and open every single door and hatch to disperse the vapors throughout the entire ship. Taihō suffered such a massive explosion the flight deck blew up and away and the sides of the hangars blew open. She went down with 1650 crew onboard where Lexington lost 216 men.

>>34270512
Pilots didn't do it willingly. They were pressured, threatened, and were often told their wives and families would be imprisoned or worse of they didn't carry it out. There was no "honor", just scared young men.

Japs are true aryans. Americucks bow to chinks and jews. Jews invented atom energy, dumb mexican mestizos that dare to claim European heritage did jack shit. Other than die for Israel LMAO.

>>34281620
It's the other way around. Pearl was a forward base still being built up in 41. Taking it would have pushed the Pacific Fleet back to basing out of the long-established bases in California, mainly San Diego IIRC.

>>34283866
>Willingly crippling yourself because atomic bombs/energy = jews
No wonder the G*rms lost.

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>>34282652

>>34284325
God damn pagoda masts looked stupid. If I were a American, I'd just try to make it turn as hard as possible so it flips over and kills the whole IJN through embarrassment.

>>34280165
Well, yeah, which is why it was effectively used as a shitty but fast transport ship. But the concept is so cool. "We don't need guns, just torpedoes". That thing would almost certainly have killed any battleship that strayed into range.

>>34284362
It didn't weigh much. If you look at it it's basically some lightweight platforms stacked around the tripod mast. I don't think it'd have been enough to capsize a battleship

File: Japanese_Battleship_Nagato_1944.jpg (1MB, 3024x1878px) Image search: [Google]

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>>34284362
I agree that Fuso's mast looks stupid but the ones on the Kongo's and Nagato's were perfectly reasonable by comparison, and they basically had given up the concept by the time they built the Yamato's anyway.

>>34274545
>Zerg rush tactics
lmao no

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Their navy sucked dick didn't even had over 15 carriers ~