Lessons Learnt?How the Great War shaped Japanese Naval Planning

COL Tim Gellel

Japan’s entry into the Great War

1902 Anglo-Japanese AllianceRN’s dilemma … • RN needed IJN help needed to defeat German East Asia Squadron,

capture Tsingtao … IJN’s opportunity • To remove German threat• To dominate Yellow Sea and maritime approaches to Peking11 Aug: To Britain - will seize Tsingtao, with/without your cooperation.15 Aug: Surrender Tsingtao ultimatum to Germany 23 Aug: Declared war on Germany, Tsingtao siege commenced. 25 Aug: Declared war on Austria-Hungary

Tsingtao and Japan

Port Arthur

Sasebo

Hakko-ho

Tsingtao

Weihaiwei

Yellow Sea

Bohai Gulf

Peking

Lungkou Weihaiwei

Tsingtao

2 Sep

18 Sep

0 50km

IJN at Tsingtao – Land, Air, Sea

Naval Artillery Landing Force • 4 x 5cm, 4 x 12cm guns, 494

menSeaplane Tender Wakamiya Maru• 4 Maurice Farman Floatplanes• First naval air attack on land

targets• First naval air attacks on ships• First night bombing raid2nd Fleet• Blockade, landing, sweeping1st Fleet• Distant covering force, blockade

The German Pacific Possessions

Oct: IJN seized:• Marianas (Saipan), • Carolines (Truk, Yap, Kusaie, Ponape, Palau, Angaur) • Marshalls (Jaluit)IJN occupation suggested by British Admiralty• Australia lacked capacity• Mahan warned of American “outrage” Japan not initially committed to possession• offered Yap to Australia … • … but retracted that offer after Tokyo riots

Indo-Pacific Patrols

ASW in the Mediterranean

1917: Feb: unrestricted sub warfare• GBR, FRA request IJN destroyers,

recognise Japan’s Pacific mandateApr: 2nd Special Service Fleet Arrives

MaltaMay: U-63 sinks SS Transylvania, Jun: Austrian U-27 sinks Sakaki• 92 crew: 59 KIA, 24 WIA• 2nd Special Service Fleet expands By Nov 1918: • escorted 787 ships, 700,000 troops• but sank no U-boats 1919: escort 7 German U-boat prizes

Dreadnought “Phoney War”1914: 17 pre-/semi-dreadnoughts1918: 8 new 14-inch dreadnoughts • “8-8 Fleet” PlanDreadnoughts’ contribution minimal • 1914: Kongō to Tsingtao, Midway • 1916: 3 battlecruisers on China patrol • IJN rejected British requests for battlecruisers Jutland• “served as the basis for years of study by the [Naval General] staff

and staff college”• Confirmed IJN faith in battleship

From Victor to VictimIJN Great War commitment significant …• Tsingtao, Indian and Pacific Oceans, Mediterranean, Siberia… but selective,• Dreadnoughts absent, cruisers did not engage/sink enemy ships driven by (national) self-interest ... • Eliminated rival naval threats • Expanded Japanese territory • War-prize U-boats boost IJN sub development … but small compensation for ensuing humiliations• 1919: Britain opposes Japan’s Racial Equality Proposal at Versailles • 1922: forced return of Tsingtao • 1922: withdrawal from Siberia; Britain annuls Treaty, rejects 10:10:7

ratio in Washington Conference

Lessons LearntIJN continued airpower lead• Dec 1941–Jun 1942 IJN carrier ops Pacific, Indian Oceans• Dec 1941: HMS Prince of Wales, Repulse sunk by airpower• Jan 1942: IJN paratroopers seize MenadoJutland did not invalidate …• IJN precept of decisive naval battle, and the battleship’s starring role… but confirmed • “fleet in being” and “decisive battle” doctrinesIJN overlooked offensive use of own submarines… • 187 IJN subs only sank 171 vessels … while ignoring defensive ASW • Under-investment in destroyers and ASW weapons • By 1942 merchantmen losses outstripped production • By 1945 90% of merchantmen sunk

Summary