Hirohito's Honor

[PaxMondo]

15Dec41 Tatsumi Eiichi: Intel Director

His new administrators were, well, fantastic. He had taken two of the three offered as his vision was for a much larger organization than had been previously in place. While there was little doubt their ultimate loyalty was to the Chamberlain and hence the Emperor, they had already proved faithful enough to him that he was well content. An amazing amount of progress had been made. Now, he needed to take the first risky step of his new ministry: re-organization. Historically, directorates had been created based upon the IJA/IJN and then special ones for areas. Not only was this inefficient, but it created competition in the place of cooperation. This was going to change …. Today.

4 Areas of focus:
1. Acquisition
2. Intentions
3. Assessments
4. Counter-Intel

[PaxMondo]

15 Dec 41 Prince Oki, Counter Intelligence


Prince Oki walked along the water front following his meeting with Tatsumi. His uncle, Hirohito, had ‘volunteered’ him for this so there was not a lot of choice involved. He did not like Tatsumi Eiichi at all, worse, the fact that he had been so correct and all of the other Ken Ban so wrong … and all had slit their bellies open at the Emperor’s request. He had not, and he had known it was not because he was ‘family’. Now he knew why, there had been a plan. No surprise that.

He had few illusions about himself, in particular his morals (or lack thereof). In his role of the anti-mole, he was well suited both ethically as well as by temperament. So, where to begin?

The good news was that there was little incentive for Japanese to intentionally betray the Emperor, so this side of his responsibility would be rather small compared to what the allies faced with their heterogeneous society. So, he could delegate that largely and focus on what he thought would be the fun stuff: the lies that he would be spreading to the allies. How and what were his primary concerns at the moment ….

Orphan Ann
He loved this concept, pity not his idea. He would continue to exploit this though. He had to ensure that the grip they had on her (Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino) was secure. They needed her to continue her role ....


OZ
His first bit of false fronts had to involve Oz, the allies would likely think it under threat and that fear needed to be fed and nurtured. He had to be careful though, there had to be some truths within the lies or the lies would never be believed. That was always the tough part, deciding what truths to bait the lies with … Hmmmm … how to do this nicely...

[PaxMondo]

15Dec41 - Seizo Arisue, Intel Acquisition Director

Seizo sat with his first (yes still first) cup of sake gently swirling in his fingers. Wow, what a re-direction. Was he at the bottom or top or …? He was tasked with intel acquisition, no matter the modality. Foreign sources, combat detritus, radio decryption, POW interrogations, ... All of it. This, in addition to the unit intelligence officers (US S2’s equivalent sort of) all reported (dotted line) to him and he needed to be sending information back to them.

Foreign Sources
A sub, I-xxx had been seconded to him. This was to be used for clandestine transport of operatives and equipment in and out of allied territory. A huge resource.

Radio Decryption
A disaster, and worse. If even half of what Tatsumi-san had related on allied capabilities was true, then this was truly an abysmal situation. The only good news was that there was plenty of room for improvement.

Recon Reports
An under-appreciated form of intel, and something that he was going to need to develop – fast.

Combat Detritus
His first big opportunity would be Hong Kong or Manila. But before either of these he needed to get his team together and trained up. So, he would use the bases in the PI as they took them. He was late for Davao, but Cagayan would fall soon which held a fairly large air base thus a good place to start. He could still start with Davao ... a minor Naval base. Yes, to Davao.

[PaxMondo]

15Dec41 Hiroshima midday: Captain Onoda, Intel Intentions Director

Onoda was fuming, he did not understand exactly what had happened, but it felt like a huge demotion. What had Tatsumi called it? Intentions? What the heck was that? He had worked so hard on his assessments of the Naval actions thus far, and he had refused to cave into the pressures to call the PH meeting engagement a clear victory as there had been no, and in this case that meant literally zero, corroborating evidence of anything yet. Is that why he got this, punishment for not going along with the ‘club’?

[PaxMondo]

15Dec41 Colonel Kotani Etsuo, Intel Assessment Director

Well, he still had his head, and he was still the head of a directorate, but … Still digesting everything that Tatsumi had presented earlier today to himself and the other 2 directors. He was no longer the NRA Intel directorate, but rather, he was now in charge of all combat assessments in terms of material performance and tactics for both us and the allies. All combat, ground, air, naval, rock/paper/scissor, all. He would have experts from all 3 disciplines put at his disposal for assistance in analysis, he was comfortable with ground assessments, but the others … The purpose: clear and simple:

• Understand what was working and why.

• Understand what was not working and why.

• Compile and report on a long list of statistics.

Crap, he hated reports.

On the plus side, and his briefing had been (crystal clear on this), he was not to rely solely upon 2nd person reporting … 1st person reporting was expected …meaning all of the operations officers (US S3’s equivalent sort of) reported (dotted line) to him and he needed to provide reports back to them …. Essentially his was the biggest organization within the intel directorate …. And also meant his neck was stretched the most ….

[PaxMondo]

15Dec41 Tatsumi Eiichi: Intel Director - Tokyo as the sun sets ...

So far, his re-organization was taking hold. It had taken some selling, but each of the candidates were moving forward in their area. Imperial decrees also helped. Now for the big picture … that still was his role.

Allied Preparations
Clearly, they had not only known of the imminent hostilities, but there had been time to address it. Based upon China and DEI to date, the allies are far more prepared than the pre-war assessments suggested. So, we need to toss the pre-war timetables. We have to gauge our attacks and re-map the progress with this in mind. We cannot afford a failed assault and we cannot afford to lose material to allied intervention. He must bring this up in his next meeting with the War Council, we must have the correct expectations in place so that we do not overreact.

Damn those Dornier 24K’s. How did they get so lethal? We need AA upgrades ASAP on all shipping. Those updated 25mm cannot get into service soon enough, not to mention the new 8/60 and 10/65 guns, but those are realistically all months off yet if not a year or more for full deployment. In the meantime, it means additional work for the already overworked ‘Eagles’.

He wanted to kick those Junta guys who started this war so poorly prepared. Only three 1st rate fighter production per day, and he was being gratuitous by labeling the Ki-43 1st rate. We have almost tripled that production already (but at what cost?) and we are still too low, barely covering losses if the data was to be believed. Until we have enough though, we need to cycle the older Ki-21 units to be convoy escorts where they can prevent unescorted attacks on our shipping. The A6M groups need to be at the front lines to handle the allied fighters and of course maintain/upgrade the KB capability.

The KB has to come first though, we cannot afford to lose a single CV day more than we already have, let alone have one sink on us. Dec 7th already has shown how fragile these things are. Gammah! His interpretation of the reports, shared with HIE, suggest we could have lost 4 CV's on that day, a very near thing on two of them. And we still do not know the extent of the USN fleet damage beyond that there was some for sure. There is reputedly a lot of activity at their PH and Seattle ports, but we have not gotten anyone inside to know what is up. Both facilities have been ‘locked down’.

SS: If not for faulty USN torpedoes, based upon the number of reported “clangs”, a significant portion of the KB and Nihon Navy would be fish reefs. We need tactics and material to be devoted to that. Based upon our SS success against the allies, SS were as deadly as their axis friends had told him. Our focused attack on the USN SS fleet at Manila on Day1 was one of the few bright spots so far. But he knew it would prove to be a small window, the US would replace those losses quickly; far faster than the IJN could dream of. So, they badly needed improvements in their ASW. He already knew that new designs and/or technologies take a lot of time, (more than the war will allow) so that meant they needed new tactics. Tactics can be implemented in days or weeks. Another cable needs to go to our continental "friends".

[PaxMondo]

16Dec41 Commander Yoshi Yashiba

The first pass of the production plan arrived from Shigeji, almost 12M tons to be built between now and 1946. A starting point.

Yoshi and his team were still deep in reviewing mission profiles and matching those up to ship classes, in other words still validating and updating the analysis that Yoshi had provided Shigeji to use for the preliminary production plan.

One thing that Yoshi learned was that Shigeji, whatever his other failings might be (and the rumors there were both rampant AND long …), knew his shipbuilding. Yoshi was familiar with naval ship building, but had no experience with merchant ship building. His first lesson: slipways versus dry docks. The thick, HEAVY, armored hulls that naval ships required meant that slipways were not always able to launch a hull. While dry docks were always going to be more efficient in terms of time to launch any ship, they were $$$$ and took time to build. That Japan needed more dry docks was a moot point, she needed more everything. But slipways were something that could be created along almost any large river basin which Japan enjoyed a large number of, particularly in the southern isles …. Now, the reason why Shigeji had offered so many CVE’s, and why Yamamoto had accepted them became clear: They did not require dry dock space …

The essence of their Naval Ship Plan was simple:
1. Surface action forces were designed to fight down one level.
a. IJN BB/BC’s to take on Allied CA’s, CL’s and all other heavy gun ships (like the newly encountered AMC’s)
b. IJN CA’s to be down gunned into heavy, fast firing CL’s
c. IJN CL’s to take on Allied DD’s
d. IJN DD’s had 4 roles:
i. Screen Capital ships
1. Be able to damage any allied Capital ship (Long Lance equipped)
2. ASW
ii. Provide additional AA for Task Force
iii. Take on all allied small craft
iv. Provide raider capability against allied merchant shipping
1. This meant range coupled with AO/AD/AV support.
e. IJN E to provide convoy ASW escort
f. IJN SC to provide local ASW prosecution
g. IJN MTB to provide local allied Bombardment TF screen
h. IJN PB to provide area patrol/screen
i. These are actually merchant ships re-purposed to a Naval mission.
ii. Emphasis on long range deployment and long range detection
iii. Low survivability. Trip wire. The infamous “tuna boats”.
2. IJN CVTF’s
a. Defeat allied CV forces
b. Defeat allied heavy surface forces (BB)
3. IJN SCTF’s
a. Armor to withstand anticipated opponents' attack
b. Gun range to exceed anticipated opponents' guns
c. Gun penetration to exceed anticipated opponents' armor

These elements combined should achieve the signal path to Naval Victory, or at least Parity, that Yoshi could see. Force preservation was crucial; IJ could in no way match the combined allied ship outputs. In fact, she could not even match the output of the lessor of her aggressors let alone the US.

The next element that the strategy required was intel, in this case immediate local intel from Search/Recon. In order to create the engagement matchups desired, the local commanders had to know the opposing force structures with time to create the required mission force. We will never fight on equal terms unless the HI itself is in peril.

Following this, we need to be able to repair battle damage and rescue/recover all possible ships. This means not only RSY capacity in the HI, but also in the forward areas. In addition, we need mobile repair capability at the front.

The last aspect was that we needed to conserve fuel; we needed to improve fuel efficiency across the board. Better boilers, better steam plants, better drive lines. Coal, which was abundant throughout most of the empire needed to be re-examined for some specific ship models. It required more onboard space, but conserved fuel.

[PaxMondo]

16Dec 41 Commander Yoshi Yashiba

Ship AA armaments:
The 12.7/40 T89 was the current standard naval AA gun which had been adopted in 1932:
Max Alt: 30800 ft
Max Range: 16000yds
RoF: 14 rpm max, effective was closer to 6 [5]

The 80/60 Type 98 was just going into service:
Max Alt: 29850 ft
Max Range: 15000yds
RoF: 25 rpm max [9]


Two other guns of note:
The 100/65 Type98
Max Alt: 41340 ft
Max Range: 21000yds
RoF: 15-20 rpm [7]

The 12.7/50 3YTT adopted in 1928
Max Alt: not a true DP
Max Range: 19000yds
RoF: 10rpm max [5]

So, the 80/60 Type98 was replacing the 12.7/40 Type89 for 3 reasons:
1. It had roughly the same service ceiling and range.
2. It fired almost 2x as fast
3. You could get 2 in the same ship space. That meant a 4x firing rate.
Oh, and HIE said so.

The 100/65 Type 98 was going to replace the 127/50 3YTT for similar reasons:
1. The 127/50 was supposed to be a DP gun, but you had to ring it down to under 8 degrees to load it. This effectively made it a one shot AA gun. (In this mod it is for this reason a naval gun, not a DP gun at all)
2. The 100/65 as a straight 1 for 1 replacement for the 127/50.
3. The 100/65 had better effective ceiling and range. While not as hard hitting, the fact it fired over 1.5x faster meant more hits and at a greater range.

* Scen implemented RoF in [x] brackets.

[RangerJoe]

"Adapted" as in modified or "adopted" as in first taken into service?

[PaxMondo]

"Adapted" as in modified or "adopted" as in first taken into service?

Ach, typo. Thanks for the catch!

[RangerJoe]

"Adapted" as in modified or "adopted" as in first taken into service?

Ach, typo. Thanks for the catch!

You are welcome. Similar words but different meanings!

[PaxMondo]

You are welcome. Similar words but different meanings!

Middle of the night spell checker got me ...

[PaxMondo]

16Dec 41 Commander Yoshi Yashiba

Ship specific Design Notes

Yoshi looked at the thick sheaf of paper in his hands … his staff’s first pass at the Aviation ship designs based upon his guidance … let’s see how well they had paid attention.

CV: UNRYU CLASS
Yes, a derivative of the Soryu class, but really a derivative of the Hiryu which was also a derivative of the Soryu. Same length and roughly same beam and draft:
Soryu: 227.5m x 21.3m with a draft of 7.6m; displacement:16,200 tons; 63 AC
Hiryu: 227.4m x 22.3m with a draft of 7.8m; displacement: 17,600 tons; 71 AC
Unryu: 227.35 x 22.3m with a draft of 8.73m; displacement: 20,450 tons; 71 AC

The Unryu would get the 71 AC far differently than the Hiryu did. The primary driver would be new design Kampon boilers operating at over 400C, the exact specs were still being confirmed, but the design was based around 400C. That allowed the engineering spaces to shrink, which in turn allowed many of the storage lockers for AC parts to be relocated from the hangar deck, which then allowed for more AC.

CVL: Ryujo Class
No ones favorite ship. Ghastly to serve on due to limited crew spaces, but in war needs must. It had not floundered to date and had seen enough bad seas to know that while hardly the most sea worthy design built, she could suffice. For 10,000 tons to get 48 AC, they had no other design even close. Thus, more Ryujo class would be built.

CVE: Shinyo Class
Like most (all?) other IJN CVE designs, based upon an AP hull. The first design out would hold 36 AC and attain 22 knots with standard 300C Kampon boilers. They couldn’t plan on higher temp boilers for this build yet. Obviously, with better boilers, higher speeds and more AC would be quite feasible.

CS Chitose and Mizuho Classes
The final Mizuho class will be completed and then no more will be built. While there had been thoughts to do conversions of these ships to CVL’s, the idea had been scrapped. Equipped with E13A planes, these ships could provide mobile, long range Naval Search. The current opinion is that this would be highly valuable and would free up that requirement from the CV AC loadouts. Further, they could act independently from the CV force which would keep its location better hidden.

AV: Husimi Class
This starts as a conversion to existing xAK Husimi ships, but will also continue with purpose built AV’s. The main focus of these ships will be convoy escorts to provide a dedicated aerial ASW component to convoy protection. Thus far in the war, our subs have proven to be VERY effective against allied shipping. We are even more susceptible and that will increase as our empire grows.

[RangerJoe]

You are welcome. Similar words but different meanings!

Middle of the night spell checker got me ...

I am so grapefruit for autocorrect . . .

[RangerJoe]

16Dec 41 Commander Yoshi Yashiba

Ship specific Design Notes

Yoshi looked at the thick sheaf of paper in his hands … his staff’s first pass at the Aviation ship designs based upon his guidance … let’s see how well they had paid attention.

CV: UNRYU CLASS
Yes, a derivative of the Soryu class, but really a derivative of the Hiryu which was also a derivative of the Soryu. Same length and roughly same beam and draft:
Soryu: 227.5m x 21.3m with a draft of 7.6m; displacement:16,200 tons; 63 AC
Hiryu: 227.4m x 22.3m with a draft of 7.8m; displacement: 17,600 tons; 71 AC
Unryu: 227.35 x 22.3m with a draft of 8.73m; displacement: 20,450 tons; 71 AC

The Unryu would get the 71 AC far differently than the Hiryu did. The primary driver would be new design Kampon boilers operating at over 400C, the exact specs were still being confirmed, but the design was based around 400C. That allowed the engineering spaces to shrink, which in turn allowed many of the storage lockers for AC parts to be relocated from the hangar deck, which then allowed for more AC.

CVL: Ryujo Class
No ones favorite ship. Ghastly to serve on due to limited crew spaces, but in war needs must. It had not floundered to date and had seen enough bad seas to know that while hardly the most sea worthy design built, she could suffice. For 10,000 tons to get 48 AC, they had no other design even close. Thus, more Ryujo class would be built.

CVE: Shinyo Class
Like most (all?) other IJN CVE designs, based upon an AP hull. The first design out would hold 36 AC and attain 22 knots with standard 300C Kampon boilers. They couldn’t plan on higher temp boilers for this build yet. Obviously, with better boilers, higher speeds and more AC would be quite feasible.

CS Chitose and Mizuho Classes
The final Mizuho class will be completed and then no more will be built. While there had been thoughts to do conversions of these ships to CVL’s, the idea had been scrapped. Equipped with E13A planes, these ships could provide mobile, long range Naval Search. The current opinion is that this would be highly valuable and would free up that requirement from the CV AC loadouts. Further, they could act independently from the CV force which would keep its location better hidden.

AV: Husimi Class
This starts as a conversion to existing xAK Husimi ships, but will also continue with purpose built AV’s. The main focus of these ships will be convoy escorts to provide a dedicated aerial ASW component to convoy protection. Thus far in the war, our subs have proven to be VERY effective against allied shipping. We are even more susceptible and that will increase as our empire grows.

The CVL Rtujo class I do like since the deficiencies aren't apparent in the game other than the low sortie rate for the bombers but as a defensive CAP carrier, it does work very well.

If you really want to change things, the first three CVEs were actually conversions of existing ships and not new builds. So a modified scenario could somehow have them enter that way. The other CVEs I also believe were conversion, doing those as conversions would also save some merchant shipyard points for the tankers and larger cargo vessels that need to be build.

If you really want to free up naval build points in your modified scenario, the Yamato was actually in service in the middle of December in 1941 while the Mushashi was in service in August of 1942. Think of how many naval build points that would give, along with the reduction of the cost of submarines.

I do like to use the CS class vessels as cargo ship killers with Jakes at 1k feet. Even with aircrew that are not that well trained, they do good work on those slow ships. The only problem is the low number of sorties.

I do like to make a lot of ADs as well as AKEs. The ADs provide some repair assistance and will rearm the smaller guns on the larger vessels as well as torpedoes even if they don't refill the main gun ammo.

I mentioned to someone about Lowpe's accidental declaration of war against the USSR. I was thinking of making a minor mod scenario to help facilitate a declaration of war against the USSR in March of 1942, before the end of the amphibious bonus.

I also like to make more AVs, it helps with the extend the land air support units and can be very useful. Even the LSDs can operate some aircraft.

[PaxMondo]

Agree with most of your thoughts ... all yet to follow ...

[PaxMondo]

16Dec 41 Commander Yoshi Yashiba

Ship specific Design Notes Continued:
There were still a number of Aviation Ships in the docks, most of these would continue … sadly in many cases.

CV’s
Junyo Class CV: These would continue as they were almost finished. These were examples of what we could not waste time on. Huge ships with low AC capacity, almost no armor, and merchant engines. These were CV’s in name only, they were as being built actually more like large CVE’s; unable to withstand any real engagement.

Taiho Class CV: a real CV. What we wish we had 10 of now and 10 more in the docks, alas, we have 1. Even if we started more, we wouldn’t see the next one before early Oct 44. We just cannot wait that long, we need more Aviation Ships far sooner because we know that the allies when their economies kick into gear will be knocking them out like a sow makes piglets. Thus, we choose the Unryu class …


CVL’s
Zuiho Class: one more to finish.

Ryuho Class: one to finish.

Ibuki Class: Halted. Will not waste any further resource on this.


CVE’s
Taiyo Class: 2 to complete

Kaiyo Class: 1 to complete

Yamashiro Class: 2 halted. Will not waste any further resource on this.

Shimane Class: 1 halted. Will not waste any further resource on this.

Otakisan Class: 1 halted. Will not waste any further resource on this.


AV’s
Akitsushima Class: 1 to complete. Not a great design, but it is almost completed. We will take a look later and see what we can do to improve it via upgrade.

He rolls the papers back up. Not great. As good as we can do now, but will it be enough? That, he cannot answer yet. Besides there are still so many ship classes to yet review. And this is just the first pass to get the shipyards moving forward. The second pass will be for the first round of upgrades ... yes first round. He is sure that there will be several upgrades for most classes, but what those look like he yet has no idea.

With the exception of the Taiho class above, all the rest will be well done to clear out the shipyards because what will replace them will be FAR better.

[PaxMondo]

16Dec 41 Commander Yoshi Yashiba

So in summary, what l this mean to Isoroku? Not particularly good news.

Starting on Dec 7, the IJN had:
CV’s: 6 totaling 431 max AC
CVL’s: 2 totaling 78 AC
CVE’s: 2 totaling 47 AC
CS's: 3 totaling 68 AC
AV’s: 8 totaling 72 AC

Then in the current pipeline:
1942
CV’s: 2 totaling 106 AC (Junyo’s)
CVL’s: 2 totaling 61 AC (Zuiho, Ryuho)
CVE’s: 2 totaling 54 AC (Taiyo’s)
CS's: 1 totaling 20 AC (Mizuho)

The KB totaled 431 AC, the Ryujo could join her for a total of 479. None of the 1942 pipeliine will be able to keep station in the KB … so even with maximum effort on the Unryu’s, nothing for the KB until 1943, best case.

The one thing that they could do was change the priority of the Unryu vs Ryujo builds. Ryujo's could potentially start arriving within 12 months if prioritized whereas the first Unryu’s (already laid down) are ~16 months best case. Currently the Unryu’s are being prioritized, but if there are KB losses confirmed …

This is a disaster, but one that Yamamoto already knows, he will just be confirming it to him.

AV’s
These are not much better. No help until the 2nd half of 42 when xAK conversions could start to appear. However, the current Husimi AV design only carries 4 AC (it can support a total of 12 AC); further with a speed of 14/12 it can only escort the slower convoys (Aden / Lima classes).

[PaxMondo]

16Dec 41 Commander Yoshi Yashiba

The next roll of work he had to review: Capital Ships: Surface Action. This, he already knew, was going to be short. The short version is this: what we have is what we will have; the lead time on building these is such that if we haven't already got them going, there is little chance to see any more. But, let's be thorough here ...


BB (6)/BC (4)
Fuso (2)
Ise (2)
Nagato (2)
Kongo (4)

10 BB/BC is what there is. The Yamato class, right now only the Yamato will be finished. Both of her sisters are moving (have moved? Need to check status) out of dry dock to await future(?) completion. Nothing more to be said. Each one is the same as at least 4 Unryu, maybe more like 8 ... and Yamamoto has already declared that he needs aviation ships as a priority.

CA’s (18)
Myoko (4)
Mogami (4)
Furutaka (2)
Aoba (2)
Takao (3)
Maya (1)
Tone (2)

The big discussion going on internally was all about the 20/50 3YT-II gun vs the 15.5/60 3YT. It basically boils down to this: the 20/50 hits harder but with only about 15% higher penetration, however the 15.5/60 fires almost 50% faster, has almost the same range and they could fit 2 for 1 on each ship; meaning they could get literally twice as many shots off … at least. With a penetration value of over 250, it will penetrate the deck armor of any ship, but most importantly, given that it’s main role is to be used against allied DD’s, it still out ranges them by roughly 10,000 yds. Still being discussed in the War Council, but to Yoshi’s mind this was not a difficult decision: the 15.5/60 was a much better fit for the role the ships were designed for. QED.

As for pipeline, nothing except some discussion about laying down some more Mogami’s, but they would not arrive until late ’44 at best …. Assuming resources were committed to build them.

[PaxMondo]

16Dec 41 Commander Yoshi Yashiba

The next sheet in Yoshi’s roll was also the last sheet for the Capital ships and dismal was not even the beginning of it.

CL’s
Lot’s of classes, lot’s of very old and very marginal ships, all told 20 ships total. In summary, the classes and their commissioning dates:

Tenryu:2 ships, 3948 tons 1919
Kuma: 3 ships, 7000 tons 1920-1921
Kitakami: 2 ships, 7000 tons 1920-1921
Nagara: 6 ships, 7000 tons 1922-1925
Yubari: 1 ship, 6500 tons 1923
Sendai: 3 ships, 7000 tons 1924-1925
Katori: 3 ships, 6180 tons 1940-1941

What they all had in common, other than being old designs, is that they used the 14/50 3YT naval gun. Originally designed in 1914, it wasn’t a bad gun for its age, but it was already 25 years old. Worse, it came in only 3 mounts: casement, pedestal, and in a 2 cases (Yubari and Katori) there was an open twin turret. Both casement and pedestal mounts were hand trained and loaded. The twin turrent was powered, but still manually loaded. This was a bag and projectile type gun. The ROF in all cases was 6 – 10 rpm and as noted in NavWeaps.com:

All ammunition transfers from the hoists to the guns were manual, so the ROF of the individual guns was affected by how far the ammunition passers had to travel. It is noted in "Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War" that the 6-gun, 3,500 ton Yubari had a faster ROF than did the 7-gun, 5,500 ton cruisers as her gun mountings were spaced closer together and thus the ammunition passers had a shorter distance to travel. Japan 14 cm/50 (5.5") 3rd Year Type - NavWeaps

The second biggest issue is that they were not protected against the 5/38 guns of the USN. With a penetration of 62, that gun would defeat the deck and tower armor on all of these CL’s.

The Tenryu and Yubari, due to their size at just slightly bigger than most DD’s, will need to be re-gunned to CLAA’s. The Katori may also need to go that direction as well due to its low armor and low speed; it might make a good amphib AA escort. The other classes, all about 7000 tons, they either need a longer range gun or more armor; they are not big enough to add both, that would require 10000 tons …. Clearly more work is needed here.

IJN CL.jpg (178.88 KiB) Viewed 38 times

Note: discrepancies with the displacements has to do with original commissioning versus 1941 outfitting.