Somes notes about the Imperial Japanese Navy

[Steeltrap]

Originally Posted by Immacolata

Great read. My biggest concern is that of the japanese destroyer's quality in submarine warfare. I'd be pretty bored if most of my engagements in SHIV is taking free pot shots at unarmed and unprotected merchants. Were the japanese ASW team as good as the atlantic? And if they were not, isn't this going to make SHIV feel like "easy mode" compared to SH3? Lots of free apples for the picking isn't my idea of a good game. There has to be a challenge.

This is a point I have made in a number of threads. When it comes to the threat level posed by the various ASW forces, the Pacific is a cakewalk compared with the Atlantic. Why?
- the distances are HUGE, so there are plenty of places where there simply is nothing to threaten you (mind you, there's also nothing there, so we're talking a lot of time spent simply getting to/from ops).
- Japanese were ad-hoc about their convoy formation. Important ships - especially troop transports - woiuld be escorted, but there were plenty of single ships or small (5 or fewer) groups with little/no escort.
- many escort vessels were not actually directly part of the IJN (the organisation of this arm of forces is somewhat confusing!).
- Japanese were well behind in significant technologies (especially radar - surprise attacks from the air were very rare - and sonar). This gave American subs substantial advantages compared with the situation in the Atlantic where the escorts had the better technology.

That doesn't mean the sim can't/won't be fun, but don't expect the sort of situation you've faced in the Atlantic. 52 boats is plenty for those on board, but really quite small in comparison with the U-Boats (even in straight % terms). Read some of the excellent books on the subject by those who were there - especially Dick O'Kane on Wahoo and Tang - and compare them with the experiences of U-Boat aces and you'll soon get the idea as to the differences. One item of interest, for example, is that the Pacific often contained thermal layers and subs regularly dived below them and secured from GQ and motored off even while an escort remained on the surface looking for them!! Compare that with the descriptions of Allied ASW efforts by Peter Cremer in U-333....a different world.