Why didn't IJN ships have better AAA ?

[Damien Thorn]

ORIGINAL: Ron Saueracker


Because samurai used swords and kung fu crap.[:)]

Well they also used the daikyu,a really impressive longbow. It could even be used from horseback because the pull was 2/3 of the way down and not in the middle loke European longbows. Of course, they were still using this after Eurpoe had moved on to gunpower but that's another matter.

[Pascal_slith]

ORIGINAL: paullus99

I also saw this in Dunnigan's "Victory at Sea." Don't have the page number right here, but there is also some great information on the AAA armaments of US vs. Japanese ships during the war.

Dunnigan's books may have a lot of info, but they are unreliable sources. There are quite a few mistakes. The lack of a bibliography is also not a good indication of serious work.

If you're seriously going to study Japanese AA, you should read some of the reports of the US Naval Technical Mission to Japan 1945-46. Report O-30 deals specifically with Japanese AA Fire Control. Report O-44 deals with Japanese AA effectiveness. Check the reference section of the website www.ijn.dreamhost.com for a complete list of the reports of the mission. Any good university library should be able to locate the microfilms of these reports.

[LTCMTS]

Samuari had ceased to be horse archers by the 1550's, having moved to the yari (lance) as their primary weapon as shock cavalry in response to the proliferation of ashigaru (foot soldiers) using matchlock muskets. The Japanese did not began sliding down the path of military obsolesence until 1680-1700 when the Europeans begin to replace their matchlocks with flintlocks and with their failure to adopt or develop mobile field and siege artillery.