Nihon Kaigun 1946

[acelanceloet]

is it just me or does this vessel look severely underarmed for it's size? (6 127mm guns, unshielded, if I see it correct...)

[BB1987]

is it just me or does this vessel look severely underarmed for it's size? (6 127mm guns, unshielded, if I see it correct...)

Quite so, since the original fit was 7x140mm single mounts. Yet, the Japanese really did that with the Isuzu

[acelanceloet]

ah yeah, CLAA. I missed that bit because she tried to engage an battleship.............. seriously?

[emperor_andreas]

It's September 1945 and she's the largest vessel escorting that convoy. There's no escape, so...banzai charge, anyone?

[Rhade]

ah yeah, CLAA. I missed that bit because she tried to engage an battleship.............. seriously?

What about charge of Samuel B. Roberts in Battle off Samar... yeah, seriously.

[Blackbuck]

We were discussing that on IRC earlier. Not impossible just highly improbable.

[emperor_andreas]

Modified the CLAA Ayase drawing.

[klagldsf]

For whatever reason the Japanese really failed when they tried to make anti-aircraft conversions of ships. Unlike the USN (which had the Atlantas, Oaklands, Jeaunaus, and ultimately the Worchesters which didn't see service in the war) the closest thing they built to a dedicated, ground-up AA ship were the Akiszukis, and their CLAA "conversions" were haphazard and appear in many cases to be nothing more but slapping on whatever guns happened to be lying around. Plus the guns that were lying around weren't very good AA guns to begin with.

[Blackbuck]

*Worcester.

I'm imagining they seemed quite haphazard because they were actually haphazard conversions compared to the purpose built classes you mention or for that matter the Didos.

[emperor_andreas]

In late 1945, the United States Navy began introducing the Midway-class large aircraft carriers. By contrast, the Japanese carrier fleet had been decimated during the war, but was slowly being rebuilt. By early 1947, there were eleven fleet carriers flying the Japanese flag: one Shokaku-class, two improved-Taiho-class (aka the Hayataka-class), and eight Unryu-class ships. But of these, only the two Hayatakas were able to operate all of the latest Japanese aircraft, so a new design was desperately needed.

The new ship was of course based off the Taihos and their successors, but incorporated various improvements, including a top-of-the-line ventilation system (the IJN had learned the hard way with Taiho at the Battle of the Philippine Sea), which was augmented by the first deck-edge elevator system in IJN history. The number of 3.9-inch antiaircraft guns was increased to twenty in ten twin mounts, and the island was enlarged, with the bridge now able to accommodate both the ship's command staff as well as an admiral and his retinue quite nicely. In addition, the aft portion of the island no longer had the hikocho and his men standing in an open position; they now had their own air operations center.

The resulting ship ended up being eight feet longer than the USN's Midway-class vessels (974 feet to their 968 feet) and was essentially the Japanese answer to the American ship. The lead ship also marked a temporary departure in Japanese carrier naming convention; as the USN named their lead ship after their greatest battle (Midway), so too did the Japanese, which was how the class came to be known as the Tsushima-class carriers. Six ships were planned, with lead ship Tsushima laid down in early March 1947. She was launched in late July 1948, and commissioned in early January 1949. Five sister ships followed, all carrying names of former World War II combatants: Kaga, Akagi, Mutsu, Yamato, and Musashi. The entire class was in service by mid-July 1952.

When commissioned, Tsushima could easily operate all four types of carrier-based aircraft from her decks: the Nakajima C6N3 reconnaissance plane, the Mitsubishi A7M3-J fighter, the Yokosuka D4Y5 dive-bomber, and the Aichi B7A3 attack aircraft. However, the carriers were forced to change with the times, and eventually all would return to their builder's yards for modifications into the IJN's first angle-decked carriers, a role in which they would operate for many years to come.