Posted by Luskan
1. Can someone explain to me the reasons behind IJN sub doctrine in WW2. Plenty of stuff to tell me what it is, but not why. Is it just a case of saving torpedoes for meaner targets, or did they want the US to ship lots of supplies forward without trouble so they could then capture them (latter idea doesn't hold water, because I'm sure IJN and IJA bombers were quite happy to blow up US transports.
Best thing to do is go RTFB (Library - book - read) or (Internet - pop up advertising - virus - ahhhh!!!!!!). AFAIK, doctrine related to Jap Big Bang Battle (1930's) theory which goes something like this (start Japanese intro music).
USN many, many - IJN few.
Japan wants to free poor Asians from colonial bondage. America does not.
How to beat big bad guy?????
Something like this.
1) Create smaller but highly trained navy. All ships designed to be superior (if possible) to USN counterparts.
2) Declare war (before or after hostilities).
3) Draw USN across Pacific (ie do something naughty there like invade Phillipines).
4) Use subs to track and weaken USN fleet on way (sub losses irrelevent so long as the're weakening USN battleline and support).
5) Night before Big Bang Battle (head to head between IJN and USN battlelines), launch surprise night attack with Kongo's and night trained cruisers and DD's (many, many big torpedoes). USN weakened further.
6) Day of Big Bang Battle - IJN battleline crushes weakened USN battleline - good guys win - game over.
This plan (obviously I've dumbed it down - what am I, a bloody historian?), or something like it, dominated Jap naval planning pre war. Notice several things - BB's were dominant and CV's weren't mentioned (they were really treated intially as ships to aid scouting and maybe hurt the enemy a bit) - Jap night/torpedo doctrine stemmed from this plan - same for sub doctrine.
As you know, there was no big bang battle but the doctrines were kept (don't want to waste all that training!!!).
Now watch the real historians rip what I described to pieces.
2. Ship type designations. DD, BB, CV, CA, CL, etc. There has to be a historical reason/meaning to these things (which are abbreviations maybe?). E.g. Does CV stand for Carrier Vessel. CL= Cruiser light, etc. If so, what does DD stand for? Dastardly Destroyer? Or are they just arbitrary designations thought up sometime after the ironclad was invented?
CV = Cruiser aViation (beats me)
CA = Cruiser Armoured
CL = Cruiser Light
and the rest are the result of someone who stutters.
P.S. Most of the above is half guess and half bad memory but I was in between PBEM turns and just thought "what the hell".
