For those whom wish to play IJN.

[Harry Buttle]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

Yeah....but you always wonder. If they hadn't blown it at Midway. If they had used their submarines more often for commerce-raiding. Had they rotated veteran pilots from front-line duty to train recruits. If somebody had fired Nagumo early on might things be different? Probably not much different...but it is fun to speculate.

The Japs would have been hammered anyway - their industrial base was not in the same class as that of the allies (compare production in any category - artillery to aircraft carriers), they lacked capability in 2 crucial technical areas - radar and sonar (which meant the US sub fleet was going to destroy them anyway), they treated convoy protection with contempt, they ignored long term production, they ignored logistic reality in planning, the hatred between the army and navy meant they were unable to co-operate on operations or coordinate production of basic items.