Japanese Battleships, 1897-1945: A Photographic Archive

By R. A. Burt

Rare images of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s fleet before it was almost completely destroyed in World War II.
 
This photographic archive contains some 125 stunning images of the battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, many unfamiliar, some very rare. They constitute an archive that is pretty much without equal in publications in the West. The period covered is from the launch of Japan's first real contemporary battleship, Yashima, built by Armstrong’s on the Tyne, up to the final destruction of her fleet in the Pacific in 1945.
 
During that time Japan built up the third largest navy in the world and, before the First World War, it was Britain that armed her at sea. All her dreadnoughts saw action in the Second World War, and of all these numerous ships only Nagato survived the conflict. She was to become a target in the Bikini A-bomb tests in 1946.
 
Just as the ships were lost, so were the majority of photographic records, and relatively few images have come down to us. This selection from R.A. Burt's archive represents therefore a remarkable portrayal of these ships. Extended captions and ship specifications enhance its reference value, making it an essential volume for enthusiasts, modelers, and anyone with an interest in the Second World War.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jun 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781473845459

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Although a relative newcomer to the ‘modern’ naval scene, the origins of the Japanese Battle Fleet can be traced back as far as 600 BC. Like the British, the Japanese are an island race who quickly recognised the fact that to protect themselves properly a strong maritime force was needed. This prompted urgent demands for information about naval matters from foreign sea powers that continued down the centuries until as late as 1910.

Until about 1870, most Japanese warships were built primarily for coastal defence, but in 1875 the Japanese finally decided to stretch their abilities and order first-class seagoing vessels. They naturally turned to Great Britain for the most advanced shipbuilding technology of that time and placed an order in London with Samuda Bros of Poplar for a steel-hulled, armoured frigate. Designed by the ex-Director of Naval Construction, Sir Edward Reed, the resultant Fuso can be regarded as the genesis of the modern Japanese Navy. She proved very successful as completed and set the pattern for future investment.

Many ships were laid down in Great Britain, France and at home to build the fleet up numerically, and by 1894 Japan was able to adequately protect her own interests. The first real test came in that same year when war broke out with China, and the sea battles of Asan, Yalu and Wei-Hai-Wei proved the soundness of investing in good naval forces. This can also be said of the following war with Russia, when the Japanese fleet practically annihilated the Russian battleships at the Yellow Sea and Tsushima, in 1904 and 1905 respectively, with what was, in all essentials, a British-built squadron.

The Japanese were quick to learn and they began major construction in their home yards. Their progress in just thirty years was quite remarkable, and they entered the intermediate dreadnought era with Satsuma and Aki laid down in Japan in 1903 (although fifty per cent of the material was ordered from abroad). In 1913, the battlecruiser Kongo was ordered from Vickers in England in order to learn the very latest in technical developments, but she was the last major warship built abroad. The thread was broken and Japan was at last able to embark on her own shipbuilding programmes.

From 1914–20 ten units were added to an ever-growing fleet – all first-class warships and equal to the best contemporary foreign construction. This was hardly surprising because nearly all Japanese naval constructors had studied and trained at Greenwich Naval College in England, where they were given access to the newest technology and many official files showing intelligence reports on the fleets of the world.

After the First World War, in which the Japanese took little part, Japan decided, in the light of the Royal Navy’s achievements, that the whole infrastructure of her own fleet needed revising if the country of the imperial rising sun was to be considered impregnable. A massive programme was proposed, so big that other major powers were practically forced to follow suit. The ultimate aim of the Japanese government was to have three squadrons, each consisting of eight battleships and eight battlecruisers making a total of twenty-four battleships and twenty-four battlecruisers – formidable array indeed.

Irrespective of financial considerations, however, there were factors that did not bode too well for the attainment of such a force. Since the war Japan had been seriously hampered by the difficulty of obtaining suitable steel. She was dependent primarily on Great Britain and America, but supplies had dropped off to Japan; from America because of transportation problems and from Great Britain because she found the exchange rate prohibitive and thus wished to sell her steel only in Europe.

So far as technical qualities were concerned, the Japanese stood out as excellent shipbuilders. In rapidity of construction they were first-class; the battleship Ise, built by the Kawasaki Co in just thirty-one months, showed what they could do, provided that the necessary material was forthcoming. When the warship boom was at its peak in Japan, new yards sprang up with a mushroom-like pace of growth – just prior to 1921 there were no less than seventy yards in the Osaka area alone. A constant demand for high wages from the dockyard staff did, however, tend to restrict maximum output and this, together with the problems with raw materials, took the edge off the great advances that the Japanese had made.

Their designs, nevertheless, showed imaginative style and were very often innovatory. They were the first to have a 16in-gunned warship at sea (Nagato-class, 1918), and they then laid down improved versions (Kaga-class, 10 x 16in) in 1919.

In 1920, just after the design of Amagi was finished, the following four ships of the so-called ‘8-plus-8 Fleet’ were designed. Although the first step was to build a main fleet consisting of eight battleships and eight battlecruisers, there was an international tendency at that time towards higher speed with better protection – high-speed battleships in fact. This tendency was clearly shown in the British HMS Hood that was actually a battlecruiser, but seen by the Japanese to be a high-speed battleship. By 1921, super-battleships were being proposed and seriously undertaken. Vessels with displacements of up to 47,500 tons and 18in armaments were being mooted by all the leading sea powers of the day. These plans and actual construction terminated, however, when a treaty was signed (Washington Treaty of 1921) restricting further building beyond normal fleet expansion. This brought to an end the ridiculous escalation which might well have resulted in confrontation, years before the Second World War.

Throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s Japan contented herself with a huge reconstruction programme, so as to keep what they had in modern condition, and looked forward to the time when fresh building could resume. During those years the Japanese constantly asked for equal terms regarding naval tonnage, but this was always refused by Great Britain and America. So, in 1934 Japan dropped out of further naval agreements. She also ignored the London Treaty of 1936 (which called for limitations on displacement at 35,000 tons and nothing larger than 16in guns).

In 1937 all the major sea powers resumed battleship construction along the lines set down by the 1936 treaty, but Japan had been working on designs for new battleships since 1930 and fully intended to make them the most powerful warships ever seen. This resulted in the giant Yamato-class, the largest and possibly most powerful battleships ever built. They were designed for the classic gun duel, in which the Japanese still had faith.

Changing policies and technology, however, saw the coming of aircraft in overwhelming numbers and it was the Japanese themselves who delivered the second successful