General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
RE: Why no tonnage war by Jap subs?
Posted by:
kurt
()
Date: August 09, 2001 03:50PM
<HTML>One of the most persistent canards of WWII sub warfare that I have come across is that the IJN refrained from sinkings merchantmen because this was against their \'warrior code\' or it was \'unwarlike\'.
This is, to put it simply, not true.
I\'ll take it for granted that we all know that the IJN and IJA had no regard for the lives, civilian or otherwise, of anyone they occupied or fought against.
But it is not true that the IJN sub skippers were all so hungering for a \'manly\' kill of a war vessel and that they disdained sinking \'merely civilian\' merchantmen.
The above replies catch the basic reason. Japan expected, planned, prepared and strategized around a short, decisive war. Make some quick victories, destroy the US fleet in a major naval engagement, and then dictate a negotiated peace to the soft willed and disheartened Americans. To support this, the subs were assigned to atack the only forces that mattered to winning a short war - enemy capital ships. Attacking merchantmen is only helpful if the war is a long one - several years. To try such a multi-year strategy is to admit you have lost, because everyone admitted that Japan would lose a long war with America. Japan therefore always was going for the quick \'knock-out\' blow, and avoided long term strategies.
IJN subs did a good job of wearing down the US capital fleet in 1942, but after that heavy losses and diversions to supply running devestated their numbers and morale. While the U-boats maintianed fighting spirit in the face of anhiliation (sp?), the IJN, facing similar losses, did not.
Sub commanders often suggested commerce raiding against US supply lines, but they were turned down: these strategies would not help Japan win a decisive victory in the near term, and so were considered to be distractful from the \'decisive\' conflicts at hand. In the few times the IJN subs did go commerce raiding, they did quite well.
If I was the IJN subchief I would have had subs prowling all along the West Coast and Hawaii and Australia supply routes, but I have a lot of hindsight they did not have at the time.</HTML>
This is, to put it simply, not true.
I\'ll take it for granted that we all know that the IJN and IJA had no regard for the lives, civilian or otherwise, of anyone they occupied or fought against.
But it is not true that the IJN sub skippers were all so hungering for a \'manly\' kill of a war vessel and that they disdained sinking \'merely civilian\' merchantmen.
The above replies catch the basic reason. Japan expected, planned, prepared and strategized around a short, decisive war. Make some quick victories, destroy the US fleet in a major naval engagement, and then dictate a negotiated peace to the soft willed and disheartened Americans. To support this, the subs were assigned to atack the only forces that mattered to winning a short war - enemy capital ships. Attacking merchantmen is only helpful if the war is a long one - several years. To try such a multi-year strategy is to admit you have lost, because everyone admitted that Japan would lose a long war with America. Japan therefore always was going for the quick \'knock-out\' blow, and avoided long term strategies.
IJN subs did a good job of wearing down the US capital fleet in 1942, but after that heavy losses and diversions to supply running devestated their numbers and morale. While the U-boats maintianed fighting spirit in the face of anhiliation (sp?), the IJN, facing similar losses, did not.
Sub commanders often suggested commerce raiding against US supply lines, but they were turned down: these strategies would not help Japan win a decisive victory in the near term, and so were considered to be distractful from the \'decisive\' conflicts at hand. In the few times the IJN subs did go commerce raiding, they did quite well.
If I was the IJN subchief I would have had subs prowling all along the West Coast and Hawaii and Australia supply routes, but I have a lot of hindsight they did not have at the time.</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
Why no tonnage war by Jap subs?
|
Jack | 08/08/2001 09:45PM |
|
RE: Why no tonnage war by Jap subs?
|
Brian Corijn | 08/08/2001 10:36PM |
|
RE: Why no tonnage war by Jap subs?
|
Michael Lowrey | 08/08/2001 11:15PM |
|
RE: Why no tonnage war by Jap subs?
|
kurt | 08/09/2001 03:50PM |