![]() Yamamoto emphasised that the Kantai Kessen doctrine had never worked out in wargames and exercises, and proposed an alternative strategy of a pre-emptive strike to cripple the US Pacific Fleet, which would give time for the seizure of the Philippines, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies. But his long-term prognosis was grim.Īs a former commander of the carrier Akagi, he had a greater appreciation of the potential of naval aviation than many of his contemporaries and was opposed to the policy of building ‘super battleships’ such as the Yamato-class, which he believed to be a misuse of scarce resources. The horrified naval staff ran a further exercise with the rules altered to assist the submarines, but even this was not enough to achieve the predicted success when the plans were tested.ĭespite this, the Kantai Kessen remained essentially unchanged until Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was appointed as C-in-C of the Combined Fleet (the IJN’s main striking force) in August 1939.Īdmiral Isoroku Yamamoto (1884-1943), the military mastermind who saw a surprise attack to cripple the US Pacific Fleet at the outbreak of war as Japan’s best strategy. Japanese overstretchĮven before the war, this plan proved to be impractical – a 1939 exercise showed that the Japanese submarine force was too small to fulfil its intended role and that its maximum surface speed was insufficient to allow it to make the repeated attacks required to seriously weaken the Americans. Finally, Japanese battleships would move in to defeat the remnants of the Pacific Fleet. ![]() The IJN’s aircraft carriers would then launch airstrikes against their US counterparts, whilst Japanese destroyer flotillas made night attacks using the powerful ‘Long Lance’ torpedoes. The Arizona ablaze, with 1,000 men trapped below decks.
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