IJN U-Boote
 

Those disappointed by the lack of AI and playable IJN subs in SH4, despair not!
THe IJN received the following U-Boote from Germany during WW2:
1) U-181, type IXD2 taken over by Japan after Germany's surrender in May 1945. Renumbered I-501 on July 15th 1945, surrendered at Singapore August 1945, scuttled Feb. 12th 1946.
2) U-195, type IXD1 taken over by Japan in May 1945 and renumbered I-506 on JUly 15th 1945, surrendered at Soerabaja August 1945 and scrapped in 1947.
3) U-219, type XB minelayer converted for transport duties with cargo storage spaces in her pressure hull. Taken over by Japan in May 1945, renumbered I-505 July 15th 1945, surrendered at Batavia August 1945 and scrapped 1947.
4) U-511, type IXC transferred to Japan in 1943, handed over at Kure August 1943, commisioned as RO.500 September 16 1943, mainly used for experimental purposes. Surrendered at Maizuru in August 1945 and scuttled in Gulf of Maizuru on April 30th 1946.
5) U-862, type IXD2 taken over with U-181 and renumbered I-502, surrendered at Singapore August 1945 and scuttled off Singapore February 12th 1946.
6) U-1224, type IXC40 commissioned by IJN as RO-501 at Kiel in 1943, sunk by USS Francis M. Robinson (DE) 400 miles SSW of Azores on May 31st 1944 while on passage to the Far East.

Also taken over by Japan in May 1945 were two ex-Italian submarines, UIT-24 and UIT-25. These became I-503 and I-504 respectively.

So, there are now two playable IJN subs available- the IXD2s U-181 and U-862, plus TM's AI type IX!
"All" that is now required are a Japanese speechpack and Japanese crewmembers!

I dont suppose it would be too difficult to model and import an actual IJN boat, just getting the blue prints/ scematics for an acurate build is hard

Depends on your modelling skills.......... mine are absolutely nil!:cry: But at least we have a playable option now, though I will be the first to admit it is far from perfect.

It would be great to see it done, but don't forget, that only gives you 3 months to actually use those subs as the Japanese. Great for single scenario's though.

Yeah. Aside from a few midget subs and kaiten parked at museums there are no surviving I-Boats to use as visual reference like the devs did with German and American subs. Modelling the interior in particular would be difficult. :cry:

To be quite honest, I don't know whether the IJN even used any of them operationally. Given the IJN's state at that time (May 1945), I doubt it. First of all, they would have to compile crews for them. And then, they would have to work up before departing on ops- and by the time they might have been ready, the Emperor had signed on the dotted line.
As a footnote to history, I wonder what happened to the German crews after Germany's surrender- were they interned by the Japanese, repatriated through neutrals..........?????????

The combined fleet site gives this summary of U-181 /I-501 final weeks. I imagine the other interned German crews pretty much went through the same routine.


http://www.combinedfleet.com/I-501.htm

This small mod adds the IXD2 to the Japanese roster: http://files.filefront.com/IJN+type+.../fileinfo.html

Have fun!

Torplexed: thanks for the info, pretty much what I expected- but it won't stop us making a single mission, will it?

You could make a mission out of just that, say, while being trained up, you detect enemy vessels? You could even accomodate for some lack of japanese voices by leaving a few german ones in there. After all, the germans are on board training you aren't they ;)

Historical what if, but has enough truth to be worth a mission.

Oh by all means mod it if possible. Has to be more realistic than those people who mod SH3 so they've gotta a sleek Type XXI in 1939. ;) I was just trying to clear up the fate of the interned crews. I'm sure they got repatriated to Germany eventually.

Bring the I Boats!!!!!
 

There is enough information to model pretty much any Sub in the IJN. Sure the interior detail might be sketchy but the external look would be no issue. What is sweet is the Japanese Submarine version of the BEST torpedo in the war the Long Lance. It would also be very cool to pilot a midget into Pearl or to launch Kaitans. A book called I Boat Captain is very informative about Japanese Submarine operations and just how effective our ASW (Particularly Radar aided gunfire) against there Submarine operations. Frankly the Japanese wasted a creditable and capable component away due to arrogance and incompetance (on the part of short visioned skimmer/aviation admirals). Shows you the huge difference from Nimitz (a bubblehead) and Yamamoto.

The fault lay mainly with pre-war IJN doctrine, in which all arms were dedicated to the concept of the "One Big Fleet Battle" One result was an almost complete neglect of minesweeping and antisubmarine warfare; this cost both the IJN and the Japanese Merchant Navy dearly. The other result was that the IJN submarine arm concentrated on hunting and sinking enemy warships rather than systematically attacking Allied merchant shipping. The only REAL attempt to systematically destroy Allied merchant shipping was in March 1942, when Java fell and IJN submarines were active in the Indian Ocean. But even in this instance, one gets the feeling that the subs were mainly there to destroy the remaining Allied warships and Allied merchantmen were attacked because "There are no warships around around so we might as well sink that tanker/cargo ship that's creeping up on the horizon".
A systematic assault on merchant traffic off the US Pacific coast starting on Dec. 7th would have paid dividends- witness the slaughter operation "Paukenschlag" caused off the US Atlantic coast. But the idea didn't occur to ANY senior IJN admiral- they were, to a man, wedded to the "One Big Battle" concept and fortunately for the Allies remained so until the very end.

Yeah, the large Japanese submarine fleet was badly misused. In their defense a sustained assault on the US West Coast would have been difficult considering the distance from Kwajalein (the nearest I-Boat base) to the West Coast. However, they did something no other nation in WW2 did. They bombed the continental United States . On September 9 1942, Warrant officer Nobuo Fujita flew his float plane from the I-25, and conducted the only wartime aircraft-dropped bombing on the United States. Using incendiary bombs, his mission was to start massive forest fires in the Pacific Northwest outside the town of Brookings, Oregon, with the ultimate objective of tying up U.S. military resources to the defense of the mainland, away from the Pacific Theater. It was also meant to be payback for Doolittle's Raid. The bombs did no serious damage tho. The forest was too wet.

When passing through the town last summer I took pictures of his 400-year samurai sword now on display at the Brookings library. It was presented to the town in a gesture of peace in the 1960s.

http://neptoon.homestead.com/Fujita1.jpg

Here's the road up the mountain to the bomb site.

http://neptoon.homestead.com/Fujita2.jpg

Well if someone is interested on it, I have a good article about the IJN firing control system and computer (TDC), it is a report of the mission sent after the war by the US to study the technological advances of its former enemy.

Cheers

Hitman, I would be VERY interested indeed. Please PM Me.