Are those slips big enough to build a supercarrier? In the otl there is only one shipyard in the US that builds America's CVN's. Perhaps in this timeline Kure would be the shipyard that would build Japan's CVN's.
What would a modern IJA and IJN consist of?
- Thread starter YusaEmi
- Start date
Are those slips big enough to build a supercarrier? In the otl there is only one shipyard in the US that builds America's CVN's. Perhaps in this timeline Kure would be the shipyard that would build Japan's CVN's.
Rubicon
Banned
Not without further extensions, they were at 300, 250 and 275m length respectively. Supercarriers are at about ~350m length.
Edit: A Kittyhawk-sized carrier would fit in the largest one... barely.
Yes, if they wanted large numbers of fighters that could legitimately be called modern, I think that would eventually have to be the route taken. Maybe even something really small with one engine like the Gripen.
Well, China isn't liberalizing IOTL so I don't see why Japan would ITTL.
I don't think they'll have an economic boom like in OTL: the American markets wouldn't be so open to them - on the contrary, protectionist measures from the USA against Japanese goods ought to be expected. Also, ATL Marshall Plan will make Europe imports to consist mostly in American goods, and they also have the animosity of the USSR.
Which means they are rather isolated, both politically and economically. They can still export through Asia and to Latin America and post colonial Africa, but those are poorer populations.
And regarding entertainment and culture, their problems exporting to most of the world will include cultural goods, so Japanese culture probably won't be as popular outside Japan as in OTL.
A thought I have: would the USSR, post-Stalin, support communist factions within Japan? Could they be successful?
I suppose it would depend on its defence commitments? If Jalan still has Manchuria as a puppet and an occupied Korea it may well need to have an anti-terrorist focus. Certainly nuclear weapons as a deterrent from NATO and Soviet aggression (perhaps Japan would set up its own Non-Aligned Movement analogue in the Cold War?).
A large navy too, to maintain the empire and counter the Americans; they can't really match the US in numbers, but would they even need to? Will the US even bother projecting as much strength in the Pacific TTL as OTL? It can probably rely on Japan to counter the USSR, and butterflies would remove Korea, Vietnam, and other OTL East Asian conflicts.
Maybe, but it certainly wouldn't be, as you posited,
for similar reasons it isn't like that IOTL. China has the big advantage of very cheap labour, Japan doesn't in either OTL or TTL.
Japan would have an unrecognisable culture, certainly no anime or manga as we'd know it; those require the sort of American influence which only comes from occupation. The mindset of the Empire is likely to keep them very insular. As long as it doesn't face too heavy sanctions, the Japanese economy can probably continue growing, and exploiting its colonial empire.
A large navy too, to maintain the empire and counter the Americans; they can't really match the US in numbers, but would they even need to? Will the US even bother projecting as much strength in the Pacific TTL as OTL? It can probably rely on Japan to counter the USSR, and butterflies would remove Korea, Vietnam, and other OTL East Asian conflicts.
Maybe, but it certainly wouldn't be, as you posited,
for similar reasons it isn't like that IOTL. China has the big advantage of very cheap labour, Japan doesn't in either OTL or TTL.
Japan would have an unrecognisable culture, certainly no anime or manga as we'd know it; those require the sort of American influence which only comes from occupation. The mindset of the Empire is likely to keep them very insular. As long as it doesn't face too heavy sanctions, the Japanese economy can probably continue growing, and exploiting its colonial empire.
I doubt the Japanese economy would grow much. Its military sector would be too big, Manchukuo would be a drain on its economy until the Chinese took it back, the war with China would get ever more expensive, it was neck deep in debt already and it would have gotten worse.
Without WWII,wouldn't most of IJA and IJN's defects not be as apparent and the Japanese's ability to hunt submarines still be extremely limited?
Are these CVN's for the IJA or IJN, because I doubt they'd be building the carriers for both in the same place.
I wonder what Japanese jet aviation would look like .In OTL they got most of their designs of jets from the Nazis .Would they still get technical help from Germany if they were not allies ?
Also the jets Japan made without foreign assistance were a result of experience from the pacific dogfights against the Americans .Experience they would not have without a war .
So would Japan by say 2010 be reliant upon foreign firms to design their fighter aircraft ?Or would they just buy foreign firms planes outright ?
Also the jets Japan made without foreign assistance were a result of experience from the pacific dogfights against the Americans .Experience they would not have without a war .
So would Japan by say 2010 be reliant upon foreign firms to design their fighter aircraft ?Or would they just buy foreign firms planes outright ?
Grand Admiral Thrawn
Donor
I could see the IJA using the smaller carriers the US Marines do. And wonder if apartheid South Africa would be a major arms trade and research partner. Didn't they design some good gear due to trade sanctions?
Tovarich
Banned
Heh, usually turns out that I've missed something really obvious when I post in a WWII thread (or any other kind of military thread, come to that), but here goes anyway:
What I'm wondering is, in a TL where the Pacific WWII theatre has never happened, would the USN actually grow to anywhere near the size of it IRL?
If the US is still majorly involved in the war against Germany, wouldn't all the manpower and resources be put into the Army & USAAF instead, since the RN will be able to cover much more of the Atlantic duties and the Kriegsmarine is pretty tiny anyway.
This gives Japan a much easier target to keep up with.
Well, no. Because the part of the military buildup, authorized after June 1940, contained a hefty naval component. The US reckoned with a possibility of victorious Nazi Germany controlling the continental Europe and building a huge navy to challenge the US in the Atlantic. The development was completely independent of and happened prior to the Pearl Harbor.
I think they would experiance many of the issues that Britian did with a serious Draw down of Military forces sometime in the 60s (by which time I would expect them to have withdrawn from a now Independent Korea and other locations ie mainland China etc)
With no war with the Allies then I would expect them to be far more conservative country today than they are (which is saying saying something as they are quite conservative as it is)
I think that their military today would be 2 - 4 large carriers (Forrestal/Queen Elizabeth size) and a fleet designed to dominate that part of the world
So a mix of 10-15 Nuclear and D/E subs (plus possibly 3 -5 Boomers) - 2 - 4 Carriers, the quivilent of an Amphibious marine Brigade (say 3 - 4 dedicated LPH and LPDs etc)
Basically I would expect their fleet to be at least as bigs as the Royal navy and possibly upto twice as large.
They might possibly build Nuclear Powered or COGAG battle Crusiers like the USSR did?
But I cannot see them keeping up with the US Super Carriers.