Hirohito's Honor

[Chickenboy]

Good stuff, Pax. You're a good writer. Keep it up.

[PaxMondo]

Good stuff, Pax. You're a good writer. Keep it up.

Thanks CB. Appreciate the kind words.

[PaxMondo]

11 Dec 41 General Kijirō Nambu – Nambu Manufacturing, Omori, Shingawa City, South of Tokyo

Ahh, the 71 year old bones had been hurting that morning, what 2 days ago? 3? No, it had only 2. Summoned to the palace had taken all of his focus, and then interminable wait. He had half hoped for the release in the garden area. However, when he was called forward, it was almost congenial. Somewhat surprised, but nonetheless appreciative of the imperial favor, Nambu addressed his emperor as clearly as he could. The emperor expressed his support for the deployment of the Type 99 (7.7mm) rifle and wished to standardize on that ASAP.

The emperor then went on to express his support and interest in the Type 100 SMG. He had reviewed the success reports of the SNLF Para units and wished the regular IJA units to have access to a similar weapon. In fact, he hoped to unify all units using an SMG to the Type 100. Nambu made a mental note of that.

The emperor then went on to ask about automatic rifles, similar to what the allies were fielding. Nambu admitted that they had little in the way as it had always been held that the imperial soldier would never waste a bullet. The emperor agreed with that, but also noted how evolution occurred even without consent. Nambu sensed how close he was to his ancestors, and quickly agreed that this thinking needed to be adjusted and that a solution could not be far away.

Since then, he had been working to get all of the projects moving with only some success. This worried him, the lack of progress. The Type 99 Rifle, the 7.7mm version of the venerable Type 38, was already in production, but simply not nearly at the volume needed. Moreover, he wasn’t sure how to move it forward. His factory alone could not produce the numbers needed, it would require the Army arsenals to be engaged. He couldn’t see any way around it, he needed a meeting with the Chamberlain. The Type 100 Sub Machine Gun was in the same state. He had better send a request today for that meeting.

[PaxMondo]

Reflections in the recent past:

8Dec42 Ginjirō Fujiwara – Tokyo area IJA AA

Ginjiro raged for more tea, hot this time. He was upset and happy to take it out on someone else. How had he ended up with this task? And no way to avoid it!! Damn Damn Damn!!!!

The tea arrived, noisily, breaking his thoughts. “Ayeah! Get out and practice more!”

After have watched a good portion of his fellow Generals slicing their bellies open this morning, how he got a reprieve? Simply no more room at the time, he was sure. But now, he has to create a single, composite AA solution for all IJ Armed Forces and present it. Kishi-sama had simply attempted to present the IJA devices as the best and now was sitting with his entrails in his lap. If he didn’t do better, he knew he would be joining him.

“Taka!” calling for his runner. The youth entered almost before the echos had abated. “Go to Toyoda-san over at the Naval Munitions Ministry and get me all specifications and documentations on their AA guns and bring someone from there back with you who can interpret and explain it all. Today! Oh, and tell Okado-san that he needs to be here with his technical chief when the naval team arrives.”

Now, he needed to calm down and prepare for the meeting. He had to present tomorrow morning to the Emperor himself. And he needed to be in top form for that.



Soemu Toyoda - at Yokohama Naval Base for Imperial consulations
{Promoted to full admiral on 18 September 1941, at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Toyoda was Commander-in-Chief of the Kure Naval District. Toyoda was strongly opposed to the war with the United States, which he viewed from the start as "unwinnable".[3] Utah State Library, Toyoda Trial Transcripts}

8Dec42 1800hrs
The Naval officer’s arrival is announced, Ginjiro invites him in along with Toyoda-san’s representative.

Capt. Hata: “Good evening!” and bows deeply.

Snr Lt Sagimora: “Good evening! And he bows even lower as he feels deeply out of place. “Okado-san begs forgiveness, but his health is not good today and he is not able to travel across town in time for this.”

Ginjiro: “Hai!” “His piles plague him again?”

Sagimora: “ I would not presume to know for sure, but he did stand during my entire audience in preparation for this.”

Ginjiro: “Enough. You have the background for this I take it?”

Sagimora: “Sir, 3rd in my class at Tokyo Engineering school, 1940”

Ginjiro groans, gods, he is even younger than I thought. But Okado sent him and he has already made a Sr Lt. How did that happen? Mmmm, we will have to see. “Capt Hata, you can speak for Toyoda-san?”

Hata: “Yes sir. I am a senior engineering gun designer. These are not my projects, but I am familiar with the designs and am able to speak to them.

Ginjiro “OK. The Emperor has demanded that we present to him, in the morning, a unified AA gun program.” He let that sink in and watches as two sphincters contract in unison. That makes him feel a bit better. “I believe that we need to view this as light, med, and hvy AA guns. Any comments?”

Hata clear his throat.

Ginjiro “Yes, speak up, we haven’t time to waste. What is it?”

Hata: “Well, we have light and heavy, it’s the in between that we may not be able to address ….”
Ginjiro “What? Explain! Sagimora, what is he saying?”

Sagimora: “Honorable sir, the designations are based upon barrel diameter.”

Ginjiro “Yes, I know that. I am not a cretin! Explain!”

Sagimora continues “Yes sir, I mean no sir. So then, light is typically 25mm and below. Heavy is 75mm and above. Medium is therefore in between.”

Hata “On the naval side, we have decent designs for both light and heavy, we greatly struggle for medium.”

Ginjiro “Hah! I always knew you naval bastards were total incompetents! Let the Army show you the way, we have several guns in the 30mm and 50mm size!”

Sagimora clears his throat, but as he is bowing so low it is hard to hear.

Ginjiro”What, you have something to say?”

Sagimora “No” he squeaks ….

Ginjiro “ok lets start with the big and work down. We have lots of choices ….”

Hata and Sagimora organize their respective gun specifications. Its not easy as the two services use completely different formats for their tables, different units (Navy uses cm, army uses mm, kg verus gm for munitions). After more than an hour, they finally have some comparisons. Sagimora is completely white in the face.

Ginjiro: “what is wrong?”
Sagimora: “Nothing sir”
“why are you like a ghost”
“The specifications on this gun … they are incredible. I’ve never seen anything like this, even from the Germans.”
“Huh, which gun is that?
“This 10cm Type 98. It’s an L65 with incredible ROF, great ballistics, everything.”
“We have 10cm too, what’s so special?
“The ROF is 50% greater and the max altitude 25% higher, and the muzzle velocity … the shells would achieve target so fast … and there is a little sister version of it at 8cm that has similar characteristics.”
“I don’t understand, 10cm is 10cm. We have 12cm also.”
“Yes but, this 10cm has the same range as the 12cm, but more than twice as fast shooting, actually more than 3x as fast. I have to see this in action, to fire this size of shell so fast … how is it done?”
Hata: “on board ships, we are constrained in space so each gun must pull its full weight. Also, there is no space for ammo storage, so loading is important for both reasons.”
Ginjiro:”So what does this mean?”
Sagimora:”Compared to our current guns and plans, these two guns would provide the same protection to units with less than half the number of guns. Or for the same number, we would more than double the effective AA fire.”
Ginjiro rocks back. “Double?”
Sagimora:” No sir, more than double. These are Japan ingenuity at its best. Who designed these?”
Hata: “Sakae Armory Team spent 3 years on these designs for our next generation of ship AA.”
Sagimora; “Brilliant work. I am in awe. Can we see a demonstration? ”
Hata: “I’m sure it can be arranged, but it would mean traveling to Sakae Armory. They are just now going into production and the only working models are at the test site at the Armory. Plans are to begin installation of the 8cm Type 98 in the next month, with the 10cm at least a month after that.”
Sagimora: “ And these are DP guns, they are capable of direct fire?”
Hata:”Most definitely direct fire”
Ginjiro:” What do you mean direct fire? Who cares?”
Sagimora: “Sir tankers care, sir. Both for main tank guns and for AT guns, both of which are in desperate state at this time. Our largest gun is only 47mm ….”
Ginjiro: “Huh? Well, let’s not get distracted here. The emperor is asking for AA.” He pauses, the effing navy has better guns than we do? How did this happen? And not just a little better based upon the way this monkey is acting. How do we put a good face on this?

The evening gets later, but the story remains the same; the naval AA solutions are FAR better than what the IJA has in place, or even what they have on the drawing board. Heads will roll, literally. His head? The only “good” news is the consensus that no one is happy with the medium size solution. All of the solutions are simply too slow to be considered as acceptable, and worse, neither Hata nor the monkey have good proposals. The hang up is not the guns themselves, but rather the train rates. Guns of this size require fast training like the 25mm machine cannons do, but that technology …. and the materials to build it … even the Navy has not been able to address it. Thus, we have a big hole in our AA defense from ~2000m to ~3500m. The 25mm cannot reach that high, and the 80mm track/train too slow and have too low a ROF. The two monkeys blather for over an hour about how they might get the 25mm (which uses man-power literally to train and track) to reach 3500m without adding so much weight that the unit would no longer be usable.

How will he preserve face and his head later this morning with Emperor?

The meeting finishes with a request to Toyoda via Hata for an implementation plan that would replace ALL IJ AA with the 25, 80, and 100mm naval designs. That would mean GREATLY expanded production on all 3.



9 Dec 41 0934
Ginjiro’s teeth have finally stopped their chattering; he was able to save neither his face nor his head. The entire IJA AA Armory center has been seconded to Admiral Toyoda’s Team. Toyoda will be responsible for getting the ‘new’ designs into full production, a roll out to all units, and establishing training. All current IJA designs are to stop production, armories will re-tool to the ‘new’ designs immediately. In addition, new and additional munitions need design and production.

Capt Hata will take design lead, Sr. Lt Sagimora has been assigned as his second, to address the 2000 – 3500m issue.

All by Imperial decree.

[PaxMondo]

More reflections ....


8 Dec 41 Hiroshima - Kure

Commander Yoshi Yashiba exited the meeting room. His meeting with Yamamoto and his staff had been interesting to say the least. His scope, well essentially, he had the entire Naval Depot reporting to him now for all intents and purposes. And look at him, not even an Admiral. The direction was clear, cull the boards clean. Look hard at all current designs, assess mission profiles, set building priorities. That included all upgrades and new designs; well whatever new designs there could be with the war underway. Given the time needed for design, development, and then building; nothing more than a row boat could start from scratch.

As an aside, Yamamoto had been clear: Carrier decks were the priority. After that, he was deathly afraid of the USN SS fleet; the Germans had already demonstrated the effectiveness against the US Merchant fleet. He agreed, the IJ merchant fleet was in no better condition, if anything worse, to resist this type of aggressor. The Southern resource area (SRA) stretched for thousands of klicks, and merchant marine was the only way to move the resources.

He arrived at Kure Naval yard only a few minutes after having left; he now had a car and driver assigned to improve his mobility. Admiral Shigetarō Shimada Commandant in Kure, Admiral Nobuzo Tohmatsu Chief of Bureau of Naval Supply, Commander Kazume Kinsei Naval Aviation Bureau, and Commander Sokichi Takagi Navy Staff College Research Department were in the meeting room as he entered, alerted by a call from Yamamoto’s office. Shimada-san offered his congratulations and stated all of his resources were available.

Yoshi was not ignorant, but neither was he politic. He simply inquired whether Kinsei and Takagi were able to communicate decisions and requests. Shimada looked to Tohmatsu who responded that they were so empowered. He had yet to appoint a Naval Supply officer as he was unsure if that was needed. Yoshi declined the offer stating his familiarity should suffice. “I will need someone from Admiral Toyoda, Naval Munitions” he grunted, “Today if possible”.

Commander Aritomo Goto arrived, Yoshi looked up at him with trepidation. Goto did not have the best reputation. Yoshi kept his face passive, nodded, and turned back to the others as Goto sat down. Thus far he had learned that Kinsei was very knowledgeable on Naval Aviation, both tactics and the mechanics of how to affect it. Takagi’s background was entirely on ship design, he was a naval design engineer with degrees in Mechanical and Naval Engineering. Goto offered up that his experience was in SCTF engagements and tactics. Yoshi wasn’t sure what that meant as there hadn’t been any surface actions prior to the last few days for years and Goto was here, not on a ship.
Yoshi outlined his plan: review all ship specs for each class and determine best in class design. Review all ship classes for mission profiles that each class had to support. CV-type would be first by IY decree. They would have office space by tomorrow, so Yoshi wanted each of them to get whatever they needed for the first parts of the review moved and accessible by tomorrow morning.



9 Dec 41 Hiroshima - Kure
Shigeji’s meeting with Yamamoto’s staff notes arrived late in the day. This was the meeting that had actually precipitated Yoshi’s current position. Outcomes:

Unryu
A derivative of the Hiryu. 18,000 tons, +70 AC. At least 4.

Ryujo
Oh Ko! 11,000 tons, 48AC. At least 8.

Shinyo
+10,000 tons, 30 AC. CVE. At least 8.

That was the summary of the CV’s. The details were where the devil’s lived. Both the Unryu and Ryujo had just enough belt armor to survive nearby bomb misses, just not too close. Hits, or even near misses which would count as hits with ensuing major damage. Both of these were very marginal to rate as “Naval Ships”, but they were. The Shinyo design was a converted merchie; she could not survive a hostile environment except with luck. All three designs were done though, and the Unryu’s already into design/production from the prior regime. The Ryujo and Shinyo’s though needed to be added to the production queues.

But, Shigeji had shown a lot of shrewdness here, and possibly saved Yoshi. There was NO way to get any real CV’s built (Taiho, Shokaku) within even 3 years. 4? Yes, but a full 4 years with nothing. Shigeji’s plans gave them something in less than 24 months. Better? Hard to say for sure, but probably yes. They had parity right now with USN in CV’s … but lose one or two? And the Junyo’s that were on the yards now … so large and such small AC contingents (24,000 tons / 53 AC). They were examples of what we could NOT afford to do.

So, Shigeji had gone and gotten meeting with I Yamamoto without him. That could not be allowed going forward. A polite word with Chief of Staff should do. But, really, no damage. He and his team had been stymied on this, now it was moot. They had direction and it was rational. Shigeji clearly needed to be watched and handled carefully.

The other major outcome was on DD’s. This wasn’t quite to his liking.
The Akitsuki class, yes. A clear mission and role. Almost, but not quite a CLAA, but cheaper. Clearly something that could be in big need.
The Shimakaze he was less sanguine about. The Yugumo could have worked perfectly well in the same role and would not have needed a new class. OK, but the decision has been made. An extra 500 tons to get almost double the Long Lances … at least not insane. He knew that the IJN was going to be at a huge, ongoing capital ship deficit against the allies in everything except maybe CV’s. That meant the few BB/CA that they had needed to be well screened and with ships that could inflict damage on the opposing forces; that meant Long Lances. They were the only equalizer that IJN had in surface engagements. At least this was a version with standard boilers, something they could actually make.
Now the team had to come up with a first pass on the rest of the navy and merchant marine … not much of a task.

They had a lot of work to do ....

[RangerJoe]

On the 8th of December the Germans had already taken on the US Merchant fleet? Or do you mean the "British, Commonwealth, and Allied merchant fleets?

Also, did they use the term "klicks" back then for what I presume is kilometers?

Otherwise, very good reading.

Although I do have one question, how come no one mentioned possibly getting a German 37mm? or a Swedish Bofors 40mm?

[Chickenboy]

Hai to Akitsuki class! Hai to Shimakaze class! Tenno Heika Banzai to Long Lance!

[PaxMondo]

11Dec41 Captain Onoda, Naval Vice Director

Word had been received from Wake that Shokaku’s estimated arrival to Hiroshima – Kure harbor is 19Dec41, eight more long days. Not enough information on her damage was available to estimate the repair time.

Still no word on the damage to the rest of the KB, but from monitoring signals they are apparently continuing to enforce the embargo around Pearl Harbor.

The two xAK’s hit by air strikes yesterday had made it to Naga port (Tatumiya Maru and Sanko Maru) heavily damaged. No idea when or where they will be able to get into a RSY for repair.

No other naval losses to report today.

[PaxMondo]

11Dec41 Colonel Kotani Etsuo, Northern Army Vice Director

Ongoing efforts to clear the LOS between Nanking and Suchow continue to be successful.

Code: Select all

Japanese adjusted assault: 296 
 
Allied adjusted defense: 1 
 
Japanese assault odds: 296 to 1 
 
Combat modifiers
Defender: op mode(-), morale(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(+)
 
Allied ground losses:
      1055 casualties reported
         Squads: 37 destroyed, 0 disabled
         Non Combat: 29 destroyed, 3 disabled
         Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
      Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)
      Units retreated 1
 
Defeated Allied Units Retreating!
 
Assaulting units:
    13th Ind.Mixed Brigade
 
Defending units:
    89th Chinese Corps 

The air war takes a turn for the good as no allied fighters accompany their bombers today so our Ki-27’s do ok.

Code: Select all

Afternoon Air attack on Hankow , at 85,50 
 
Weather in hex: Clear sky
 
Raid spotted at 13 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes
 
Japanese aircraft
      Ki-27b Nate x 30
 
Allied aircraft
      A-29A Hudson x 3
 
No Japanese losses
 
Allied aircraft losses
      A-29A Hudson: 1 destroyed
 
CAP engaged:
54th Sentai with Ki-27b Nate (5 airborne, 10 on standby, 15 scrambling)
      5 plane(s) intercepting now.
      Group patrol altitude is 10000 
      Time for all group planes to reach interception is 34 minutes
 
 
 
---------------------------------------------

Afternoon Air attack on Hankow , at 85,50 
 
Weather in hex: Clear sky
 
Raid spotted at 23 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes
 
Japanese aircraft
      Ki-27b Nate x 26
 
Allied aircraft
      DB-3M x 4
 
No Japanese losses
 
Allied aircraft losses
      DB-3M: 1 destroyed
 
CAP engaged:
54th Sentai with Ki-27b Nate (4 airborne, 2 on standby, 15 scrambling)
      4 plane(s) intercepting now.
      5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
      Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 15000.
      Time for all group planes to reach interception is 28 minutes

[PaxMondo]

11Dec41 - Seizo Arisue, Southern Army Vice Director

Malay
Our forces continue to move to breakout of the beachheads at both Singora and Kota Bharu. No action reported other than an air attack on Chiang Mai that caused minimal damage.

PI
Luzon
Our air forces staging from Formosa continue to keep both port and AF at Manila closed. Ground forces have reached Lucena and are disembarking their trains in preparation for an assault on Batangas.
Allied air attacks on Naga continue, but for some reason there are no escorts so our Ki-27’s in conjunction with one group of A6M’s are able to defend successfully against multiple attacks.

Code: Select all

Morning Air attack on TF, near Naga at 81,81
 
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
 
Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes
 
Japanese aircraft
      A6M2 Zero x 22
      Ki-27b Nate x 15
 
Allied aircraft
      B-18A Bolo x 6
 
No Japanese losses
 
Allied aircraft losses
      B-18A Bolo: 3 destroyed
 
CAP engaged:
Tainan Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (14 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
      (14 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
      14 plane(s) intercepting now.
      Group patrol altitude is 18000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 18000.
      Time for all group planes to reach interception is 19 minutes
50th Sentai with Ki-27b Nate (3 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
      (7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
      3 plane(s) intercepting now.
      0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
      Group patrol altitude is 10000 
      Time for all group planes to reach interception is 14 minutes
 
 
 
---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on TF, near Naga at 81,81
 
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
 
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 22,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes
 
Japanese aircraft
      A6M2 Zero x 22
      Ki-27b Nate x 15
 
Allied aircraft
      A-24 Banshee x 11
 
No Japanese losses
 
No Allied losses
 
CAP engaged:
Tainan Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (4 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
      4 plane(s) intercepting now.
      7 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
      Group patrol altitude is 18000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 18000.
      Time for all group planes to reach interception is 64 minutes
50th Sentai with Ki-27b Nate (7 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
      7 plane(s) intercepting now.
      Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 17000.
      Time for all group planes to reach interception is 22 minutes
 
 
 
---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on TF, near Naga at 81,81
 
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
 
Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes
 
Japanese aircraft
      A6M2 Zero x 22
      Ki-27b Nate x 15
 
Allied aircraft
      A-24 Banshee x 2
 
No Japanese losses
 
Allied aircraft losses
      A-24 Banshee: 1 destroyed
 
CAP engaged:
Tainan Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (7 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
      (10 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
      7 plane(s) intercepting now.
      0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 7 out of immediate contact.
      Group patrol altitude is 18000 , scrambling fighters to 10000.
      Time for all group planes to reach interception is 22 minutes
50th Sentai with Ki-27b Nate (5 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
      (7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
      5 plane(s) intercepting now.
      2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
      Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 3000 and 10000.
      Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes
 
 
 
---------------------------------------------

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Naga at 81,81
 
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
 
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes
 
Japanese aircraft
      A6M2 Zero x 22
      Ki-27b Nate x 15
 
Allied aircraft
      B-18A Bolo x 3
 
No Japanese losses
 
No Allied losses
 
CAP engaged:
Tainan Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (14 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
      (22 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
      14 plane(s) intercepting now.
      0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 8 out of immediate contact.
      Group patrol altitude is 18000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 18000.
      Time for all group planes to reach interception is 23 minutes
50th Sentai with Ki-27b Nate (5 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
      (7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
      5 plane(s) intercepting now.
      0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
      Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 13000 and 16000.
      Time for all group planes to reach interception is 22 minutes
 
 
 
---------------------------------------------

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Naga at 81,81
 
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
 
Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes
 
Japanese aircraft
      A6M2 Zero x 22
      Ki-27b Nate x 15
 
Allied aircraft
      A-24 Banshee x 10
 
No Japanese losses
 
No Allied losses
 
CAP engaged:
Tainan Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (14 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
      (22 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
      14 plane(s) intercepting now.
      0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 8 out of immediate contact.
      Group patrol altitude is 18000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 18000.
      Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes
50th Sentai with Ki-27b Nate (7 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
      (7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
      7 plane(s) intercepting now.
      Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 13000 and 16000.
      Time for all group planes to reach interception is 22 minutes

Mindanao
Our forces are moving in a series of pincer attacks focused on driving all allied forces to Cagayan for elimination. Zamboanga will taken separately, likely by amphib assault.

[PaxMondo]

11Dec41 - Saburo Ushiroku - Economics Ministry

Saburo’s role keeps expanding daily. Today he is running as he has been requested to join the Daily Review with his acting Minister. If he is at the Daily review, how is he going to get his analyses done? Oh ko!!!

[PaxMondo]

On the 8th of December the Germans had already taken on the US Merchant fleet? Or do you mean the "British, Commonwealth, and Allied merchant fleets?

Isoroku is not afraid of the British or other allied fleets, only the USN. So he might be a "bit" over-focused. However, you are absolutely correct, he would have meant the allied merchant fleets.

Also, did they use the term "klicks" back then for what I presume is kilometers?

Good question. I've been using it for 60 years, and it was not a new term then. However, I cannot vouch for 80 years ago. Sadly, it is so ingrained in me that you will have to tolerate it as I would never be able to scrub my writing enough to catch it.

Although I do have one question, how come no one mentioned possibly getting a German 37mm? or a Swedish Bofors 40mm?

My thoughts:
Bofors: the USN did a TON of work to get the Bofors 40mm working like it did for them. The original Swedish was ok, but literally the USN version is unrecognizable to the original. That much better and different. The IJ might have been able to do that, but it would have taken a national focus to do so, and you can only have one of those. They decided on a different path (to be disclosed later). Note: the USN did this without a national focus. The US national focus was something called "Manhattan Project".
BTW: the IJ did purchase a few Bofors 40mm in the 30's. They were looking to upgrade their Type 91 40mm (Vickers design from the 20's), but could never resolve the issues that the USN did. For that reason, they ended up relying on the 25mm Type 96. Much more detail on this to come.

German 37mm: this was a late war (1944 introduced) weapon. In 1941 this would have still been RnD, and while Germany did share current tech (and here I have expanded upon that a bit), I'm not convinced that they would share RnD. Also, if Germany did not deploy it until '44, I cannot see that IJ would have had it before '45 .... if even then.

Otherwise, very good reading.

Thank you kind sir!!



PS: my favorite quote about the Bofors 40mm:

Swedish blueprints had many notes on them such as "file to fit at assembly" and "drill to fit at assembly," all of which took much production time in order to implement. Thirdly, the Swedish mountings were manually worked, while the USN required power-worked mountings in order to attain the fast elevation and training speeds necessary to engage modern aircraft. Fourthly, the Swedish guns were air-cooled, limiting their ability to fire long bursts, a necessity for most naval AA engagements. Finally, the USN rejected the Swedish ammunition design, as it was not boresafe, the fuze was found to be too sensitive for normal shipboard use and its overall design was determined to be unsuitable for mass production.*

* Rowland, Buford; Boyd, William (1954). US Navy Bureau of Ordnance in World War II. Washington, DC: US Navy Bureau of Ordnance, Department of the Navy. pp. 219–230. Archived from the original on 10 October 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2016.

[PaxMondo]

Hai to Akitsuki class! Hai to Shimakaze class! Tenno Heika Banzai to Long Lance!

BANZAI!!!!

[RangerJoe]

The Japanese could have asked Krupp for the Bofors blueprints . . .

Or purchased some Bofors guns made in Poland . . .

And then . . .

Japan captured a number of Bofors guns in Singapore and put them into production as the Type 5.

https://military-history.fandom.com/wik ... _40_mm_gun

The Germans had a 37mm in 1935 and updated it with production started before invading Poland.

https://military-history.fandom.com/wik ... k_18/36/37

The Italians had air cooled and water cooled versions of the 37mm that weren't the best.

https://military-history.fandom.com/wik ... 54_(Breda)

The Japanese could have acquired copies of the 2 lber, legally or illegally, and worked on it from there. I think that part of the British problem with the gun early on was from older ammo.

https://military-history.fandom.com/wik ... _naval_gun

The Soviet 37mm was introduced in 1939 but the naval version was too hot, it needed to be water cooled. But the land version was effective in shooting down Axis aircraft.

One drawback was that the 70K required a barrel change after every 100 rounds fired. . . . .

https://military-history.fandom.com/wik ... 939_(61-K)

So maybe someone could add their fertilizer to the Imperial gardens because they did not "acquire" samples of the weapons and munitions of these weapons and then test them. At least, a relatively minor underling could mention them to someone . . . .

[PaxMondo]

RJ;

All good options on paper, but the fundamental issue remained. The USN bofors 40mm had motorized training. The german 37mm (the late one in 1944) was the only one that was human powered, and it was a 3 man crew. It's effectiveness was highly correlated to the crew and its' training. I wasn't prepared to bet the farm on a concept that was faulty from the get-go (what happens when one man of the crew is out? your teamwork fails grossly).

25mm is the largest caliber that, at that time, could be man powered by a single gunner. It did require at least one loader, well in reality several loaders for any kind of continuous fire operation. But the key is that it could be gimbaled so that a single man could operate it sans loading.

IJ was never going to be able, and historically never succeeded in, designing and operating a motor powered medium caliber AA gun. I'm using motor powered here to cover both electric and hydraulic drives. Diving deep into this, I was never able to convince myself that they could have gotten there; just too many obstacles. Theoretically, sure they could. Obviously they could. They had powered turrets for all their guns of 80mm and up on naval ships. But going from a few hundred to many thousands of powered guns is a big step, most importantly, the applications would not be on relatively big ships with decent machine shops, but on little ships with no machine shops and then onto ground applications where things would be worse. Then, I "learned" that while the max altitude for a normal 25mm would be about 2000m, a magnum type casing could reach 3000m, maybe even 3500m if the breach and barrel were designed for those pressures. Yes, that would add some weight, but still far less than a 37mm or 40mm gun. A single man operated 25mm seemed to be the best solution for them; assuming it could close the gap in the AA. 3500m is a bit low for a 80L65mm to track, but an 80L40 should be able to work it. The train rate would be a bit of a pain, but doable based upon the data I could dig up (there were plenty of 70 - 80mm guns used for that altitude). While 80L65 might have worked, that's an awfully big, heavy barrel to be training that fast. Again, it might have worked, but an 80L40 would have so that's the direction I went.

[RangerJoe]

RJ;

All good options on paper, but the fundamental issue remained. The USN bofors 40mm had motorized training. The german 37mm (the late one in 1944) was the only one that was human powered, and it was a 3 man crew. It's effectiveness was highly correlated to the crew and its' training. I wasn't prepared to bet the farm on a concept that was faulty from the get-go (what happens when one man of the crew is out? your teamwork fails grossly).

25mm is the largest caliber that, at that time, could be man powered by a single gunner. It did require at least one loader, well in reality several loaders for any kind of continuous fire operation. But the key is that it could be gimbaled so that a single man could operate it sans loading.

IJ was never going to be able, and historically never succeeded in, designing and operating a motor powered medium caliber AA gun. I'm using motor powered here to cover both electric and hydraulic drives. Diving deep into this, I was never able to convince myself that they could have gotten there; just too many obstacles. Theoretically, sure they could. Obviously they could. They had powered turrets for all their guns of 80mm and up on naval ships. But going from a few hundred to many thousands of powered guns is a big step, most importantly, the applications would not be on relatively big ships with decent machine shops, but on little ships with no machine shops and then onto ground applications where things would be worse. Then, I "learned" that while the max altitude for a normal 25mm would be about 2000m, a magnum type casing could reach 3000m, maybe even 3500m if the breach and barrel were designed for those pressures. Yes, that would add some weight, but still far less than a 37mm or 40mm gun. A single man operated 25mm seemed to be the best solution for them; assuming it could close the gap in the AA. 3500m is a bit low for a 80L65mm to track, but an 80L40 should be able to work it. The train rate would be a bit of a pain, but doable based upon the data I could dig up (there were plenty of 70 - 80mm guns used for that altitude). While 80L65 might have worked, that's an awfully big, heavy barrel to be training that fast. Again, it might have worked, but an 80L40 would have so that's the direction I went.

Well then, that could be part of the story as to why these items were looked at but not adopted. Especially with the material cost in raw materials for all of the electric motors and generators.

[PaxMondo]

Well then, that could be part of the story as to why these items were looked at but not adopted. Especially with the material cost in raw materials for all of the electric motors and generators.

It's a thought, a good thought. Maybe. But most of this happened in the late 30's. My current plan is only to allude to this, but hadn't planned on developing a deep story on the powered platforms being rejected. But maybe i will re-think it. not sure.

AA gets real sticky in the game. A BIG item is fuzing. The US developed a proximity fuse, no one else did, and it was a good one. Catch, it worked only on +70mm. Still, it was a BIG deal in terms of AA performance. My understanding is that there is an internal bonus in the USN AA in early '44 to represent the deployment of the proximity fuse. No one else gets the bonus.

Everyone else's fuzing was, well, not so good. Altitude based, but based upon a whole host of atmospheric things it would be off by 500' or more easily. So, the flak went up, and then with spotters, they adjusted the fuzing to be on target. My understanding (first person "interview" with wwii bomber vet) is the USAAF bombers would change altitude as they approached the target to throw the luftwaffe AA off when they were dropping. Of course, the AA learned that tactic pretty quick, so then they would try to guess where the allied bombers would move to. etc. etc. etc. Point is, proximity fuze eliminated all of the that. A BIG DEAL. USN AA was really brutal compared to everyone else's.

[BBfanboy]

The British figured out how to improve their AA performance by working out preset fusings for their box barrage system. Basically you divide the sky up into imaginary boxes based on distance and altitude and assign those boxes co-ordinates. Then each gun position has data worked out to show the fuse setting for each box. Radars and observers determine which box the enemy aircraft are in and other calculations show their speed and direction so the fusing can be adjusted to the shell arriving in the box when the plane does. A command position would assign the guns. With this system the Brits shot down something like 70% of the small, fast V1 flying bombs at the coast.
Too bad you don't have access to the code to boost Japanese AA accuracy in 1944 to simulate intel on the British system. (good radar would be a shortfall though).

[RangerJoe]

American proximity fuzes which were also adapted for British weapons:

"This test firing of proximity fuzed 5"/38 projectiles against drones was carried out in August 1942 aboard the cruiser [USS] Cleveland [CL-55]. Results of this test were entirely satisfactory and accordingly, full-scale production of proximity fuzes was initiated at the Crosley Corporation in September 1942. Early production was plagued with numerous difficulties but satisfactory material was finally produced. This fuze, which was designated the Mk 32, was delivered to the Fleet during November and December 1942, and the first Japanese plane was shot down with proximity fuzed projectiles by the cruiser [USS] Helena [CL-50] in January 1943."

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/l ... fuzes.html

For some reason, I like the idea of calling down VT Willey Pete rounds on some enemy units in the open . . .

[PaxMondo]

If you read up on the development of the proximity fusing, it is really a long story. lotta setbacks. But in the end, they came up with a game changer. the brits were able to use it, but I don't recall when they started to use it. A big piece of that was the production ramp up at Crosley .... this was a super secret program and the US worked very hard to keep it from enemy hands. I mean think about it. Starting from 0 in Sept42 with first deliveries in Dec 42 and first kill in Jan43. Amazing. think about how many fuzes they would need just to equip one ship ... and keep a lid on security. Wow.