Brady
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Joined: 10/25/2002
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From The Japanese Merchant Marine in WW2:
"adaquate maritime transport existed for all these roles. At the time of pearl harbor, the merchant fleet amounted to 6.4 million tons. There were in adation, approximatly 1.2 million tons of wodden vessels as well"
The Japanese merchant fleat was a very modern and fast one, espichaly compared to the merchant fleats of other nations, the reasion for this was a very large goverment compansation programe for scraping the old and building the new, during the 30's, bigger dividends and ensentatives were given for faster ships, and larger ones. A US observer in Japan at the time commented:
" The newest Japaese Merchant men are without peer"*
"Ships of 18 Knots received a 20% larger subsidy than 13.5 Knot vessels"
"the 1936 scrap and build programe stipulated that funds only go to ships of at least 6,000 tons and 19 Knots"
"New tankers were mandated to include the reday exceptance of Guns of large caliber, specilised pumping equipment for transfer of fuel at sea, and other specilised equipment"
"By 1939 60% of japans cargo caries were under 20 years old, the average age of US freighters for the same perioud was 21. 40% of Japanese freighters and fully 70% of Japaese tankers were 12Knots or faster, as compared to 25% and 20% for those two groups, respectively, in the US merchant fleat. Japan already had fifty large fast vessels all under 5 years old plying the silk routs to the east coast of North America by 1935. Sereral of them were 9,000 ton vessels capable of crosing the Pacific in just 11 days, about half the time ushualy neaded."
"Japan had by then over 100 ways, a third of them longer than 500ft, with a yearly construction capaciy of 900,000 tons. These facilitys acounted for 10 % of ship construction worldwide in 1937, twice that of the United States."
"Japans merchant marine easly toped 6 million tons by the time of Pearl Harbor. Since merchantmen of excelent quility comprised most of this new 50% gain in shipbuilding, the tonnage figures alone do not adequatly convey the dramatic strides of Japans seaboarn transport in the 1930s. Of the over 700 freighters in the merchant marine in 1940, nearly 300 were capable of at least 12 Knots, and 236 were products of the preceding decade. 37% of the passenger-cargo liners could make 15 knots or more...By 1940, then Japan possessed a merchant fleet ranked third in the would by size, and perhaps second to none in efficiency...The British had to start subsidy programs to compeat with Japanese liners."
It should also be noted that the special wartime emergancy freighter and tanker designes were quiet fast as well:
"The standard designs included five freighter types (A,B,C,D, and e) ranging from 530 to 6,400 tons, three tankers (TS,TM,and TL) of from 1,000 to 10,000 tons, and a 5,400 ton ore carrier (Type K). All nine varities crused at 10 knots or more (the TL clould steam effciently at over 16 Knots) and had maximum spead about 3 knots higher"
Something else to consider:
Civilian Comerace shiping neads are often grosely over exagerated in terms of nead, for starters in WiTP only about half the gross tonage for Japan is modeled and far less than half of the Hulls are modeled for Japans Merchant fleat, their are also a lot of Navy and Army ship classes absent from the OOB, so if anyhting Japan is operating with far fewer ships than they had historicaly available to them. A very small percentage of the total tonnage of the Merchant fleat was neaded to sustain Japanes Civilain ecenomy, most of those ships thusly employed were given over to the shipment of food from places like China and Korea, short hops, Japanese Industry ran almost entirely on Coal(Not Oil), of which their were large Natrual depostis in Japan, the rest was brought in from places like China and Koprea agin a short hop. WiTP places to much nead on Oil for the Ecenomy, but this all very abstracted, and when we talk about we nead to bear that in mind, Oil in Game represents realy a Nead to muve stuff to Japan, that stuff in reality was Coal, but it is not modeled in the game as such, but losely repesented by resorces and Oil....
Coal Came from Japan it's self and China/Manchuko.
while it is true that for prety much all the war, that Half the Shiping was under Civilain controel, and Half was under Military controle, the Civilian half looked somthing like this:
" Coal transportation would occupy 1.8 million tons, while the movement of Aragrcutural products and suplies (450,000)and steal making materials(300,000) would absord the rest."
So as you can see the Civialan controeld shiping acounted for the movement of the suplys that fueled the empires war machine, the Military ships were largerly and soly ocupied with the movement and sustaining of troops in the field.
Tankers almost soly suplied the Militarys neads, and thusly should be almost interly considered as Military:
"Every year of the war the nation would use from 4 to 4.5 million tons and the Military would account for the bulk of this total"
But as you say the Ecenomy of Japan in WiTP and the Neads of the Empire have been artificaly created based losely on Historical fact, to better facilitate good game play. So much of this is then mute. Howeaver this still playes directly into the Allied sides hands, in that WiTP has Cut the Empires playable felat by 50% (the Steal Hulled fleat), while the Number of Allied Subs Is I belave still at 100%, and still at 100% or near to it I suspect are all those things that would also hunt them like Planes, Mines ect. Further compounding this problem is the larger than average number of Big ships present to acheave the ttoal tonage figures, which is also aidding the Allied cause. If you want to creat Historical proportions then you nead to adjust the number of predators, and better represent their prey.
p.33 "Coal imports exceaded 2 million tons per month at the time of Pearl harbor"
"40 million tons of coal were produced anualy" Withen Japan proper.
"Manchuria and China suplied the bulk of the heavy Indistrual coal"
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p.34
"Japanese farmers grew about 80% of what it took to fead the home islands"
"Japan imported about 3 million tons of Husked grains,other food stuff's, fertilizers,and livestock."
"The(Japanese) Cabnet planing board calculated that the civilian ecenomy neaded around 3 million tons of shiping to continue to function. Coal would occupy around 1.8 million tons" and Aragurtural and steal making the rest.
"Prewar estimates put the nations wartime neads at 5.9 million tons, the civilian ecenomy as noted above would require 3 million tons. The army would require 2.3 million tons for the first 6 months but only 1.1 million tons thearafter, the navy woudl nead 1.8 million tons throught the war."
At the begining of the war Japan had about 6.4 million tons fo shipping and around 1.2 million tons of wodden hulled vessels.
"In 1936 the Navy General Staff set 10million tons, or two years supply, as the stockpilling goal, and the goverment provided 5 million yen in assistance. By the time the war with the United States broke out, the Japanese had put aside nearly 8 Million tons of petroleum products. Of this total, the navy had collected 16,800 tons of lubricants, 490,000 tons of avation gasoline, 3,624,000 tons of heavy fuel oil, and 1,435,000 of crude petroleum, for a grand total approaching 5.5 million tons. By late 1941, Japan's reffining capacity was actually seventeen(17) times grater than the production capacity of the home islands, an indacation of the nations commitment to building reserves of crude oil."
"this masive stockpilling effort...represented only two years suply"
"It was not a failure in production but rather a failure in transporation that caused Japans wartime oil nightmare."
"The anual carrying capacity of Japans tankers reached 4 million tons per year by 1940. "
...................
Example of a Woden Hulled Merchant, most forward basses were supleid by these types of ships, and The Empire it's self relied onm the heavely during the war to move all kinds of goods on all kinds of routs, they were also largely imune to influance mines.:
< Message edited by Brady -- 12/10/2007 7:19:04 PM >
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Beta Team Member for: WPO PC CF AE WiTE Obi-wan Kenobi said it best: A lot of the reality we perceive depend on our point of view
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