Japanese ship refits?

[Owl]

With the US ships it's pretty clear that sending them off to Pearl has advantages in that they get AA improvements, and such. What (if anything) do the Japanese gain? Is there an advantage to sending ships back to Japan? I checked out Spooky's page but did not see anything that would anwer this question.

[spence]

IF THEY'RE BROKEN SEND THEM BACK AND GET THEM FIXED UP GOOD AS NEW BUT THAT'S AS GOOD AS THEY WILL GET. FOR THE MOST PART THERE ARE NO UPGRADES IN FLAK ARMAMENT OR RADAR FOR THE JAPANESE.

[Blitzer]

Spence is correct about the lack of upgrades for Imperial ships.

Another consideration is the fact that Japanese ship deployment drops off dramatically as the game progresses. This means that sending ships to Tokyo after about November 1942 will affect your force balance in a way you may not desire. For example, shipping back several damaged cruisers - or worse yet carriers - will most probably result in transports being sent to you, and the IJN does not really need them after the initial wave of conquest. I always keep damaged ships at Truk hoping for adequate repair.