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Tōgō Bakuryō Kaigi


Evangeline Anovilis

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Three Korean soldiers on patrol

 

Given Japan's responsibility to protect the Korean peninsula, the National Diet has approved a plan by the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of the Navy to establish special Korean armed forces that recruit themselves from the Korean population to avoid excessive stationing of Japanese personel in Korea. These armed forces will be paid for by Japan and will be under the command of the Japanese military, given the protectorate agreement, however, Prime Minister Akiyama expects Koreans to have less issue with Korean soldiers patrolling their country, given it can be commonly assumed their interests lie with their country. The Chōsengun will consist out of a planned ten divisions of Korean soldiers, tasked with keeping order, preventing enemy assault on Korea and securing the peaceful border with Tianxia. A further two Japanese divisions and Japanese training personal are going to stay in Korea, to augment the defenses and train Korean soldiers to Japanese Army standards. Additionally, the Korean Fleet Construction Plan, as it has been called sees the creation of an added flotilla of twelve light destroyers and four heavy destroyers to increase Korean presence also in maritime defences.

 

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16 ships are to be constructed by Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Maritime Engineering. This is expected to happen with assistence from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and boost the reestablished industries.

 

The Chōsengun is to consist out of eight infantry divisions and two armoured divisions and be equipped with Japanese and captured Korean equipment. The Chōsengun is organised as a Japanese Army (Nihon Rikugun) army command equivalent to a Japanese Area Army (Hōmengun). It answers the same authorities as all other Japanese Area Armies.

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The National Diet has declined using the escalatory option for the 7th Naval Construction Plan, given that despite wartime, there already is the addition of 16 ships that were originally planned for Korea, but will be instead commissioned as Japanese warships. Instead, more money is to be going to the Japanese Army to increase the strength of the ground forces.

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With a loss in manpower due to the loss of the Chōsengun, the National Diet has approved the transfer of ressources to the Ministry of the Navy to increase the size of the Naval Land Forces [Kaigun Rikusentai] and Kaiheitai to about 200,000. This is a massive increase of the Naval Land Forces, which has been justified as increasing the scope of operations which the Navy will be able to do on their own before requesting assistence from the Japanese Army. Together with the over 800,000 soldiers serving in the Army, this means the Japanese Empire once again has a strength of over a million soldiers to defend the nation from enemies.

 

In organisation, the Japanese Army follows a mixed structure of the Veltier model, being structured in triangular and square divisions for the most part. The army posesses infantry divisions [Hohei Shidan], attack/strike divisions [Kōgeki Shidan] and armoured divisions [Sensha Shidan].

 

Regular infantry divisions are structured in a triangular fashion, with three infantry regiments, one divisional artillery regiment and several attached battalions. Unless the regiment is a light regiment trained for warfare in alpine conditions or in regions with harsh terrain and climate, the three infantry regiments are set up in combined arms units of around 2,500 each, assisted by about 20 Type 10 tanks, 48 IFVs and usually 24 Type 1 towed howitzers. Special mountain divisions normally utilise the Type 3 105 mm howitzer, which is easier to transport. These regiments are structured in three companies of infantry, one heavy equipment company and the regimental battery. Added to these three regiments is the divisional artillery regiment of 24 Type 99 Self-propelled howitzers, as well as several battalions, including signals, reconnaissance, engineer, anti-air and logistical support (supply, medical and NBC defence). Divisions usually include about 10,000 soldiers.

 

Attack divisions are structured in a square fashion, with two brigades à two regiments of about 3,000 each, each with around 50 IFVs, 12 Type 1 field howitzers and 24 Type 5 Field guns organised in three regimental batteries. Regiments otherwise are structured like those in regular divisions. Attack divisions have two divisional artillery regiments with 24 Type 99 howitzers and 6 Type 17 self-propelled howitzers each. Again, they have battalions for signals, reconnaissance, engineering, anti-air and logistical support. Attack divisions can be assigned up to two anti-armor battalions, which include about 20 Type 16 assault guns or MCVs and several anti-tank missile units. Attack divisions usually encompass about 15,000 soldiers

 

Armoured divisions are triangular in structure, with three combined arms regiments of 60 Type 10 tanks and about 2,300 mechanised infantry, organised in three companies of infantry, one anti-armour company of 20 Type 16 assault guns and a regimental artillery battery of 12 Type 99 self-propelled howitzers. The artillery regiment of an armoured division includes another 24 Type 99 self-propelled howitzers. Battalions assigned are the standard of signals, anti-air, engineering, reconnaissance and logistical support.

 

Anti-air warfare is carried out in short-range engagements by the regiments themselves, armed with mainly IR-guided missiles, in mid-to-long-range by anti-air battalions, which are equipped with heavier systems, such as the Type 87 SPAAG, Type 81 Tan-SAM, Type 3 Chū-SAM, Type 12 ASAM and Type 13 Chō-SAM.

 

Specially assigned battalions for certain divisions are rocket artillery battalions, missile battalions (operating systems like the Type 96 MPMS) and air transport and air cavalry squadrons (utilising helicopters).

 

Naval Land Forces usually are organised as standard divisions or light divisions. As they however emphasize mobility, these units replace the Type 1 howitzer with the type 74 self-propelled 105 mm howitzer, which posesses greater mobility, though less range. It is however still air-transportable and amphibious.

 

Kaiheitai are organised in regiments of three companies à of 600 soldiers with a regimental artillery battery of 12 Type 74 self-propelled howitzers, an armor company of 12 Type 10 tanks (or Type 41 expeditionary light tanks) and the standard set of battalions. These regiments end up at around 2,000 soldiers.

 

The Japanese Army currently includes 12 attack divisions, 16 armoured divisions and 46 infantry divisions, of which 14 are light infantry.

 

The Japanese Navy currently includes 15 divisions of the Naval Land Forces, with 15 regiments of Kaiheitai. Additionally, there are 7 NLF garrison forces.

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Given the need to occupy the Americas and given Japan's increased role in the Pacific, the Japanese army has established ten new infantry divisions. The cost has been deemed acceptable, given it is expected that reparations from the defeated Commonwealth will make up for acquisition costs.

 

American Commonwealth equipment is to be taken over and to be stored safely. Aircraft will be largely disassembled, apart from several aircraft that will be handed to the TRDI for testing and study. Commonwealth Navy Ships and fleet reserve is to be gathered in Anchorage, for transition to Japan. The Ministry of the Fleet expects that these ships will be broken up for scrap metal.

 

The nuclear stockpile of the American Commonwealth is to be stored away too and is scheduled to be destroyed over time, to comply with the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

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Demarche from the Foreign Office:

 

His Imperial Majesty has requested that the Japanese Government turn over the nuclear weapons arsenals of the Americans to the Imperial Military, who has expertise in safely destroying nuclear weapons and is certified to handle such weapons under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.  We also request in disassembling the rest of the military as it contains Imperial Technology.

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Given the Japanese Empire has up to now been a country without nuclear stockpiles and which intents to stay a country without nuclear weaponry, we are willing to hand over Commonwealth stockpiles to Tianxia. We do hope that non-proliferation and nuclear arms reduction be continued though on a global level.

 

As to the disposal of Commonwealth military equipment, we would like a list of what designs would pose a national security concern. Given the considerable quantity of equipment captured, we do have reservations to the idea of handing over such large arsenals of conventional military equipment in its entirety.

 

With regards,

Akiyama Kagami, Prime Minister of Japan

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With the conclusion of hostilities in the Americas, the First Fleet is to return to Yokosuka Naval Base, while the Second Fleet proceeds via the Panama canal to the Caribbean to the American East Coast and the Third Fleet assists in the transportation of troops between Japan and North America, while guarding the Pacific Coast of North America. Given the current state of the Athenian Federation and the low threat profile in the Atlantic and the Americas in general, the recall of the First Fleet in command of all carrier forces and capital surface combattants seems prudent to ensure adequate protection of Japan and capability for interventions in its neighbourhood, the Indian Ocean or Asia-Pacific, regions most likely to cause trouble worth intervening.

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As the Japanese Navy has planned several light and heavy destroyer classes in the past in an effort to match capabilities of the American Commonwealth, with the fall of the American enemy the Ministry of the Navy and Naval Staff deem the Fleet to be adequate, once current construction programmes are finished. Given the dire financial situation, despite captured American assets, new ships cannot be afforded, considering that Japan currently posesses enough ships to meet all challenges it is supposed to encounter. Still however, the ambitious new ship designs are to be completed as planned without significant reduction in capabilities, including new technologies, given their costs have been accounted for.

 

Given there are plans for thirty light destroyers and fourteen heavy destroyers, following the experiences from the recent war, these ships will be no longer planned as mere escort vessels of the Combined Fleet, but as future destroyer squadrons for independent action. It is planned that one to two heavy destroyers act as flagships accompanied by lighter destroyers, as a unit capable of independent action, but also capable of acting in support of the overall naval doctrine.

 

Although the ships being build in Korea are planned as more conventional designs, the six Japanese-build heavy destroyers, currently classed as the 20,000 ton destroyer project within ministry-internal communications will be constructed with a projected weight around 20,000 tons, with greater size than any other Japanese destroyer. These ships are planned to fit 180 missile cells (originally planned with 192), which will be 50% more than the current Suzuya-class. Additionally, the gun armament is planned to be an increase from the 155 mm/62 caliber second year type guns to a 203 mm/62 caliber second year type gun currently in development, with a projected range of 240 km and a rate of fire of five per minute. Four forward-mounted guns per destroyer are envisioned, installed in armoured two-gun turrets, in order to provide the ships with devastating fire capabilities for both, increasing the destroyer squadrons bombardement ability and the effective fire volume of the fleet. For this, there will also be a new range of ammunitions to be developed, not just with extented range PREM and BEM, but also Semi-Armour-Piercing High Explosive (SAPHE) and Armour Piercing projectiles. Given that although the new gun will be equipped with special anti-air ammunition, its poor rate of fire reduces its effectiveness against incoming aerial threats, the new destroyer class will be the first modern Japanese destroyer class to feature a secondary battery as immediary between its main guns and the close-in weapons system. The ship will also be equipped with Type 6 Wave Lance Torpedos, in order to increase effectiveness against other ships. Although the protection of these ships will be first of all responsibility of the active defenses, the new destroyers will also feature light armour protection and a highly compartmentalised construction to avoid catastrophic losses from damage.

 

In a similar venue, six of the new light destroyers are planned to follow a concept of "protected destroyers", experimenting with armour and sturdy design to improve performance despite damage. These new heavy destroyers and "protected destroyers" are hoped to be capable of taking on enemy missile and gun boats, destroyers and cruisers in an anti-surface role with greater success.

Edited by Evangeline Anovilis
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Although the Matsu-class destroyer escorts and the improved Kikyo-subclass have served the Nihon Kaigun well, in an effort to improve its low-end capabilities, the Ministry of the Navy has included a whole 24 new destroyer escorts in the 7th Naval Construction Plan. These are to be constructed in two patches of which the first 12 have been finished now and are today commissioned into the Navy after having undergone fleet trials in the Sea of Japan and the Setto Inland Sea. The twelve ships of the new Asagao-class will have significant improvements over their predecessors of the Matsu-class, by incorporating not only a Type 10 76 mm rapid-firing naval gun instead of the old Type 06 dual-purpose gun, but also, in addition to the similar ASuW armament of eight Type 90 SSMs their missile armament includes a 16-cell Type 10 VLS module. The Asagao-class thus uses for its ASW capabilities its two triple lightweight torpedo launcher, but instead of a seperate octuple launcher, it carries eight vertical-launched ASROC. While it thus is similar to the Matsu and Kikyo classes in ASuW and ASW capabilities, it has major improvements in its anti-air armament, which consists of 32 Type 12 SAM-7 for outer-layer air defense and two ONA M2 25 mm CIWS. The new ships have a helicopter platform at the stern, usable by either a Mitsubishi H-60 helicopter or one to two Fuji Flying Maritime Observation System (FMOS) UAVs. The Asagaos are the first class to utilise the FMOS, which is a naval variant of the Army's FFOS rotorcraft UAV. In order to improve the survivability of the ships, the Asagao-class has not only a combination of modern sensorics, combat systems and reconnaissance assets to improve battlefield awareness, but also incorporates stealth features, to reduce the radar signature and prevent easy identification and lock-on by enemies, in combination with its small size. The ships weigh around 2,500 tons, similar to their predecessors.

 

The first patch includes the ships Asagao, Kashiwa, Kusunoki, Enoki, Kiku, Kigiku, Hatsugiku, Hinagiku, Nogiku, Wakakusa, Natsugusa and Akikusa.

 

Confidential

 

The new ships will be organised as the II. Ōminato District Force and East Pacific Patrol Force, tasked with the protection of the West Coast of North America. Despite all advantages, the new ships are slightly poorer in speed (25 knots max, 15 knots cruise, compared to 27 and 18 knots respectively) and range (4,000 nm compared to 5,600 nm) to the Matsu-class. These shortcomings were however deemed acceptable, given the role of the class.

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In order to protect the works on the Nicaragua canal and prevent civil disorder in the region, two divisions of the American garrison are dispatched to Nicaragua. They are to establish several layers of air defense in form of SAM-1, SAM-4, SAM-5 and SAM-7 to prevent the new canal from meeting the fate of the old one. Two wings of F-3 air superiority fighters are also to be stationed in Nicaragua, to assist in this mission. While it is deemed unlikely for any incident to occur, the Japanese government deems it prudent to take precautions even for this unlikely scenario, given the high cost of the project.

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While the Japanese did not hold any colonies in the Americas, the Nihon Kaigun still did take over several bases from the Commonwealth along the Pacific Coast, mostly to patrol the protectorate coast and to secure the shipping lanes from North America to Asia. These establishments would be the bases at Dutch Harbour and Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Everett and Whitbey Island, Washington and Ventury County, California. Additional bases would be planned to be constructed in Acapulco and at Isla de Juventud.

 

It is planned that each of these will receive an appropriate garrison of the Naval Land Forces for protection. The coast is to be seperated into three new Naval Districts, which will be Northeast Pacific District, Columbian Pacific District and Central East Pacific District.

 

The Northeast Pacific District will be centered around Elmendorf-Richardson Base, which will be hosting three wings of F-3 air superiority fighters and several maritime patrol aircraft. Dutch Harbour Naval Station will act as a support base, operating several ShinMeiwa PS-2 flying boat maritime patrol and ASW aircraft and OTH radar stations for long range observation and early warning. II. Yokosuka District Force will be reassigned as Northeast Pacific District Force and be based in Dutch Harbour.

 

The Columbian Pacific District will be centered around Everett Naval Base, which will be assigned the I. Ōminato District Force (the II. Ōminato District Force will become simply the Ōminato District Force), which will be renamed Columbian Pacific District Force. Naval Air Base Whidbey Island will be a subordinate base responsible for aviation needs, for which it will also get assigned three wings of F-3 air superiority fighters and four P-1 maritime patrol aircraft.

 

The Central East Pacific District will be using solely the installations around Ventura County, which will be assigned the East Pacific Patrol Force as the Central East Pacific district Force. Point Mugu will receive four wings of F-3 air superiority aircraft and half a dozen P-1 maritime patrol aircraft.

 

It is estimated that these installations will provide a minimum of security, at least against piracy and smaller adversaries.

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ShinMaywa US-2 of the Nihongun

 

The TRDI and ShinMaywa have launched a project for the development of a AEW&C variant of the ShinMaywa US-2 flying boat. The concept has been brought forward, due to a request by the Ministry of the Navy on such an aircraft. The ShinMaywa ES-2, as the new aircraft would be designated, would have a speed comparable to the E-2 Hawkeye and a range greater than it, while having the advantage of not requiring a runway. As a downside, the aircraft is much larger. The idea has been brought up due to the lack of AEW&C capability on the Mihō-class auxiliary carriers, limiting the usefulness of the class. The project is part of a larger effort to compensate for this issue, especially after the failure of development of an AEW&C variant of the Neptune III UAV. The idea for the ES-1 would be to deploy amphibious aircraft alongside the auxiliary carriers, either carried by other ships to the theater, or flying in and operating via replenishment ships. The alternatives include development of a new UAV to be used for AEW&C or trying to fit a E-2 Hawkeye on the Mihō-class instead of the UAVs. The Nihon Kaigun hopes that with a solution to this issue, auxiliary carriers might be less depenent on fleet carriers and able to provide limited effective air cover to battleship battle groups and even destroyer squadrons, if assigned to those.

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Accompanied by the usual celebrations, the Japanese Navy has today commissioned four new ships. The new Sendai-class heavy destroyers are successors to the preceeding Suzuya-class heavy destroyers and share many design details as a true evolution of the design. Slightly larger, the new class is armed with a heavier load of torpedo launchers, to increase its capabilities against submarines. This has mostly been bought at the expense of weight gans and diminished carrying capability. The four new ships are the first of three new classes of heavy destroyers.

 

Ships in class include Sendai, Shizunai, Kako and Hino.

 

Highly Confidential

 

The Sendai-class has been equipped for now with a heavy torpedo load at the expense of the hangar space, reducing the drone carrying capabilities to 4 UAVs, instead of the usual 6 to 8 of the Suzuya-class. While some in the Naval Staff have voiced criticism over the armament, the Sendai-class will remain as is with four reloadable quintuple torpedo launchers for 60 533 mm Wave Lance torpedoes.

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In a meeting of the Naval Staff and the Prime Minister, the decision has been made to modify the design of the Project 203-class. After several studies and considerable debate, on the insistence of the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Navy, the Naval Staff ordered that the current design be elongated by 10 metres and that the aviation platform be downsized, in order to fit an additional gun turret onto the ship. This has increased the weight of the ship slightly beyond the 80,000 tons planned, even though modifications to the armour protection were made to counter the immense increase in weight. The weight increase still however will mean that the new ships will be slower than the Shinano and Mutsu classes and only comparable to the Akitsushima, which has a top speed of 30 knots, which it however is sluggish to reach. These changes will not be disclosed publicly.

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The Fleet today received its third and final patch of Akizuki-class destroyers, marking it a total of 18 Akizuki-class vessels in service. The ships, named Hanazuki, Kiyotsuki, Ōtsuki, Hazuki, Yamazuki and Urazuki, are going to be assigned to the third Fleet. The Ministry of the Navy has stated that with this, the class is complete and that despite discussions, no further ships of the class will be procurred. Instead, newer classes of light destroyers will be procurred to serve in more specific roles, as the Akizuki-class has been termed a general-purpose light destroyer.

 

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The ASSM-3 Block IV (or ASSM-3D) has been introduced as the latest variant of the ASSM-3 and features a new, better-integrated sensor package. Improvements are mainly in ECCM, more accurate target recognition and discrimination capabilities and a reduction of emissions during cruise and approach, limiting it mainly to short, low-energy communications with satelites or assets present in the field. The improvement is deemed minor and ASSM-3Cs will be upgraded to this new standard. While officially the Tomahawk is still in use, the ASSM-3 replaces the older missiles in its role completely.

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Although the major threat that necessitated the construction of these ships has disintegrated, after two years of construction, the Nihon Kaigun commissioned twelve vessels of two new light destroyer classes. In contrast to the general-purpose nature of the akizuki-class, the new Shirayuki-class and Murasame-class will be more specialised destroyers, although the generally high modularity of the Type 10 VLS will allow for certain flexibility. As the two classes are solely made up of 6 vessels each, a common basic design, the Multi-Purpose Light Destroyer (MPLD) has been used for both classes. The design is to have a tonnage of 6,000-7,000 tons in displacement, about 150 metres in length, with a top speed of around 30 knots and a range of 6,500 nm, which will allow it to be assigned to flexible destroyer squadrons or as accompanying ships of carriers or battleships. The new designs continue to use many systems already in use on other Japanese Navy ships, but will also test new systems, such as an azimuth thruster propulsion.

 

The Murasame-class is planned to be a dedicated AAW light destroyer to accompany destroyer squadrons for added protection against aircraft and missiles. It thus features 48 forward-placed VLS cells of short length, in order to carry a mixture of VL-ASROC, SAM-7 and Kai-SAM missiles for AAW and ASW purposes. It additionally features 16 short-length VLS amidship, usually used for further SAM-7. It carries for ASW purposes several heavyweight and lightweight torpedo launchers capable of firing Type 89 HWTs and Type 12 LWTs. It's anti-ship armament are a standard 8 Type 90 ship-to-ship missile.

 

The Shirayuki-class is a slightly longer design for ASuW purposes. It replaces the mid-ship VLS with an added 8 Type 90 SSM and has an enlarged magazine space. While the Murasame-class utilises a smaller 76 mm naval gun, the Shirayuki-class is equipped with a larger 127 mm naval gun.

 

The ships in the Murasame-class will be named:

  • Murasame
  • Samidare
  • Yūdachi
  • Shigure
  • Harusame
  • Shiratsuyu

The ships in the Shirayuki-class will be named:

  • Shirayuki
  • Fubuki
  • Hatsuyuki
  • Miyuki
  • Koyuki
  • Ōyuki

Confidential

 

The two classes will be split into four destroyer squadrons of 3 ships each for now. This organisation will however be solely temporary, as the Naval Staff is trying to work on establishing more flexible destroyer squadrons, which will be able to function on their own, instead of being confined to act as escort vessels of the battle fleet. The experience of the attack on Alaska has highlighted the usefulness of the combination of heavy and light destroyers, given that while carrier forces assisted from the rear, battleships for the greater part stayed back and destroyer squadrons assisted during landings. Given the high value and limited number of capital surface combattants in the fleet, independent destroyer squadrons, similar to the envisioned model of the old Dai-Tōhoku Kaigun are seen as increasingly useful to conduct minor operations that do not necessitate the presence of capital surface combattants. This development also is seen as in line with an increased focus of defending sealanes, instead of amassing firepower, given the main adversary of the American Commonwealth has been defeated.

 

The Naval Staff has ordered that further research be done on the MPLD design for future destroyer designs. While the Navy is not planning on ordering another class of light destroyers for now, theoretical research is to be done on the design and performane of the existing ships is to be observed to identify areas of improvement in case further light destroyer classes be ordered.

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Despite considerable delays during the construction, the Japanese Navy finally commissions after over two years of construction the Amatsukaze-class light destroyers, a successor in design to the earlier Shiokaze-class. The Amatsukaze in its design is like the Shiokaze supposed to be a fast light destroyer intented for intercepting vessels and submarines close to the homeland. For this purpose, the Amatsukaze-class is among the fastest Japanese Navy ships, able to reach speeds in excess of 35 knots, though at the expense of endurance. The special high-power propulsion system, which is an improved version of the Shiokaze's, has been the main reason for the delay, as it repeatedly broke down during testing and had to be reworked to fix reliability issues. Otherwise, the Amatsukaze is an elongated version of the Shiokaze, displacing now a bit over 7,000 tons. The added space is taken up by the improved propulsion sysem, but also by a new anti-ship missile armament, something the Shiokaze lacks, and a second gun turret. In terms of naval artillery, the Amatsukaze is not armed with a standard 127 mm single gun turret, as is the case in most light surface combatant classes, but it carries two turrets of the dual-gun version of the 127 mm/62-caliber dual purpose gun, used on capital surface combattants for their secondary battery. While the turret has reduced armour for the Amatsukaze (in order to save weight), the ship still carries an impressive load of 4 guns.

 

The Amatsukaze also features an improved anti-missile decoy and chaff system, which is to be installed also on older destroyers. While the original run for the amatsukaze has been 6 ships, the Naval Staff has decided to order two additional ships, following the cancellation of plans for an added class of 12 light destroyers. The two added Amatsukaze-class ships and the 12 Korean-manufactured light destroyers to be commissioned later this year are thus for now the last light destroyers of the Japanese Navy to be commissioned, given the Diet's decision to cut spending on ships in light of the decreased threat posture towards the Japanese Empire. After much debate, the National Diet has cut the Naval Spending for the coming years and has limited the naval construction efforts substantially, citing the current international situation and the country's need for financial recovery. Thus, in contrast to earlier Naval Construction Plans, the Eight Naval Construction Plan merely includes 2 light destroyers and 20 conventional submarines, with the rest of the budget being solely for research and development in order to keep older ships useful and retain the Japanese Navy's strength.

 

Ships in class are Amatsukaze, Minekaze, Harukaze, Asakaze, Yūkaze and Kamikaze.

 

Confidential

 

After reviewing the inventory, the Naval Staff has struck the follow-on-class of general purpose destroyers and has concluded that there is a grave need to instead utilise the budget for qualitative improvements of the existing fleet. Additionally, the Navy has decided to focus less on developments concerning high-end products, such as the ASSM-3 or Type 6 HWT, but rather to invest into systems of greater defensive value. To this end, the Naval Staff has decided to invest much of its R&D budget into four projects: The Advanced Anti-Submarine Defense (AASD), the Improved Surface Combattant Reconnaissance (ISCR), the Affordable Surface Combat Program (ASCP) and, in cooperation with the Army, the Advanced Surface-to-Surface Strike (AS3).

 

The Japanese Naval staff has concluded that these projects serve best the needs of the Japanese nation, by focusing more on defensive systems to protect the Japanese maritime territories against surface and subsurface threats and improve the capabilities of routine patrols to thwart any small-scale threats from piracy and less-capable naval forces.

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As Spring had started, Yokousuka Naval Base seemed to have come to new life, as it was busier than ever. While the base already was the largest installation of the fleet, serving as home port for most capital ships of the fleet and thus being crowded with sailors, preparations for the Spring Fleet Review and the so-called Watanuki Exercises thereafter kept thousands of sailors and supporting staff busy to ensure that no incidents would bring shame and dishonour to the fleet during these great spectacles that were to showcase the fleet, ensure the public that they were well-protected and afterwards train to make sure that in case of armed conflict, the fleet was actually prepared. For this reason, the Watanuki exercises had been ordered, which, unlike the preceeding set of exercises that centered around the colder climate of Northern Japan, was to focus on the warmer climate of Kyushu and Shikoku.

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With the dissolution of the Columbian Pacific District, the stationed forces are reassigned back to the Ōminato Naval District. The duties of the dissolved district are split up on the Northeast Pacific District and the Central East Pacific District. To this end, the naval base in Ventura County will be expanded, while a seperate submarine base is to be established in Anchorage. These bases will be established under the assumption of serving as permanent bases for the Japanese Navy and will draw heavily on the former Japanese naval base of Vitoria. Lessons learned from these constructions may be applied to future naval infrastructure projects.

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Just as the Spring Fleet Review is upon us, the Nihon Kaigun unveils its new heavy destroyers and the last patch of destroyer escorts. While the twelve added Asagao-class destroyer escorts are nothing out of the ordinary and mostly just a strengthening of the Navy's surface strength and ASW capabilities, it is the new heavy destroyers the public looked forward to most.

 

The Kitakami-class of heavy destroyers is a ship of almost 20,000 tons displacement and the heaviest destroyer in Japanese service. The class was designed as a counter to the American Commonwealth Navy's destroyers, which however has already ceased to exist. Nevertheless, the new ships are seen as fine and welcome additions to the Japanese fleet, adding much to the surface strength of what many consider the most important line of national defense, once diplomacy failed. The new class of six vessels is reasonably fast and has enough range to be used in combination with other Japanese destroyers. Similar to earlier heavy destroyers, the role of the Kitakamis is most likely going to be one as centre of destroyer squadrons, adding valuable heavy firepower and long range naval gunfire support, as well as escorting and support of more powerful surface assets in the battle fleet. For these tasks, the new class is equipped with the newly-designed 203 mm/62 caliber 2nd year type naval rifle, the heaviest gun armament on any Japanese destroyer. These guns, which it carries in two dual-gun turrets, are similar to earlier 155 mm guns installed on other heavy destroyers and fire a similar range of ammunition of guided and unguided shells, for use both in conventional ship to ship gunfire salvos or for attacking land-based assets from stand-off range. For this task, the Propelled Range-Enhanced Munition (PREM) has a range of over 200 km and the guns can be elevated for up to +70° to accomplish this feat. In addition, the new heavy destroyers are equipped with a variety of missiles and anti-submarine torpedos, as well as with a fair number of ASW helicopters or reconnaissance UAVs to assist the fleet in guarding against subsurface and airborne threats and allow greater situational awareness.

 

The six ships of the Kitakami-class are named Kitakami, Ōi, Kuma, Tama, Kikuchi and Ishikari.

 

The twelve ships of the Asagao-class are named Tochi, Hishi, Sakaki, Susuki, Odake, Nire, Nashi, Shii, Shiragiku, Chigusa, Hagi and Aoi.

 

Confidential

 

While the new destroyer escorts are formed into an added district force for the Sasebo Naval District, the six new heavy destroyers are to be combined with several light destroyers to form a revamped rooster of destroyer squadrons to be tested during the Watanuki exercises. The Kitakami-class is the last scheduled class of "heavy destroyers", with the following Korean-built class being reclassified as destroyers, due to greater similarities with lighter vessels.

 

While the Ministry of the Navy has no budget for additional naval construction beyond existing plans, design work has been scheduled to improve on existing designs and develop ships for possible future construction programs, once funding for new ships is approved.

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In line with the new approach of the Akiyama cabinet regarding North America, the Japanese Army was to ferry over 200,000 additional soldiers across the Pacific to enhance the security in the protectorate and establish a proper security force that could act as more than just a better police. Together with this, additional aircraft would be transferred to establish a greater presence in the protectorate with several hundred F-2s and F-3s. The Japanese Navy meanwhile kept back, given it already had a decent presence and its assets were required still for the Spring Fleet Review. Once that was concluded, a presence of several destroyer squadrons in North America could be discussed.

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Second destroyer of the Shirayuki-class Fubuki has been taken by the Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI) for testing of a new naval gun system. Instead of the older Type 4 127 mm/62 caliber gun, the ship has been equipped with a two-gun turret of the experimental Type 18 100 mm/62 caliber naval gun. The gun has been proposed as a future option for light destroyers, as an intermediate design between heavier 127 mm guns and lighter 76 mm guns, bringing together the usefulness of a heavier caliber in the anti-surface role with the versatility of the lighter rapid-firing guns in air defense. The gun is designed to fire 90 rpm and include ammunition technology of the Type 10 76 mm/62 caliber gun, which could potentially give it quite decent anti-air capabilities, while still posessing a more devastating firepower against ships.

 

Fubuki is to be used as test vessel, given that it was deemed easier to accommodate the new gun system in a light destroyer designed for the heavier 127 mm gun. The ship is to be thoroughly tested in ani-air warfare exercises, to evaluate the value of this new system for future designs or midlife updates of existing designs.

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As announced before, the Japanese Navy, Army and Airforce conducted large-scale exercises around Kyushu and Shikoku. The scenario simulated was an assault by a red force on the coasts of Kyushu. The defending blue force was to ward off the landing force, with only a handful smaller ships at its posession, to simulate either a loss in operational capability or a successful enemy sea denial strategy by whatever means, in both cases shutting out major Japanese naval surface forces. Air forces were similarly limited, for the same reasons. The exercises were designed to simultanously test Japanese capabilities on assaulting difficult coastlines and defending them, both deemed essential to defending the Japanese Inner Territories.

 

Confidential

 

The report of the exercises indicated that as long as the military could rely on an invasion force roughly equal to at most twice the size, the defending force could hold itself. The greatest difficulty was the proper application of firepower without getting in turn annihilated by red force naval and air power. Establishment of proper communication lines and upholding coordination between units was the main challenge on an operational level, while the best approach for defense seemed to be a stiff defense in early stages. The final report concluded that an adversary with capabilities similar to Japan in technical quality, operational doctrine and quantity could be beaten back somewhat reliably, an adversary with great advantage both in capabilities and in doctrine would most likely at most be beaten to a standstill, in which case the recommended approach would be to inflict greatest amount of attrition to enemy forces while taking Kyushu and to seek diplomatic settlement of the conflict thereafter.

 

The Navy has started planning for summer exercises in the Southern Seas Territory. After exercises revolving around Chishima and the Northern Territories and the Watanuki exercises around Kyushu, it is deemed that exercises on a scenario of defending the Southern Seas Territory, which would especially require the holding and recapturing of smaller islands and atolls, would be helpful to provide some experience for the Japanese military, in this ever-volatile world.

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Given the Russian activities clearly directed against Japan, the Japanese military has been put into heightened alert and has been made ready for immediate war. The Northern Area Army (Hokubu Hōmengun) has been given orders to prepare for action according to plans worked out by the Army Staff in case that Russia overstepped its boundaries into Japan proper.

 

Along the coast of the northern territories, especially the Chishima chain and Karafuto, several batteries of Type 88 surface-to-ship missile batteries have been stationed to shield against attempts to violate Japanese territorial waters and counter attempts of naval attacks against the islands. Similarly, such counter-measures were enacted at Tsushima and Kyushu, to defend the southern entrance to the Sea of Japan. Chidori-class fast attack craft are prepared for possible mining operations or interdicting Russian naval advances against Japan.

 

Strengthening of countermeasures against submarines are also being made, with the deployment of the district forces of destroyer escorts and patrols by Japanese Ro-type conventional attack submarines in the waters surrounding the Japanese islands. Plans for the establishment of a sophisticated network of underwater surveillance system along the Chishima chain and possibly at Tsushima have been planned for some time and are to be sped up.

 

While Japan posesses no ballistic missile force, the Japanese Air Force is to prepare its conventional long-range cruise missiles for strikes against Russian military forces and facilities in case of Russian attacks on Japan, while the Japanese Navy dispatches patrols of one Kitakami-class heavy destroyer, three Yūbari-class guided missile destroyers and several Ro-class attack submarines, in the Sea of Ochotsk and the Sea of Japan for ballistic missile defense.

 

The Japanese Air Force has also been ordered to conduct a greater number of patrols in Japanese airspace with it's F-3 air superiority aircraft, as well as to prepare its bombers for action in case they are needed. Existing air defenses of the Northern and Western Air Commands in form of long-range anti-air and anti-ballistic missile radar and missile sites are reinforced by deployment of mobile batteries of Type 81 Tan-SAM, Type 3 Chū-SAM, Type 12 SAM and Type 13 Chō-SAM, in concert with aerial patrols of fighters, AEW&C and UAVs, as well as reconnaissance systems of the army.

 

The Japanese Army has been ordered to redeploy it's units as 150,000 in the Hokubu Hōmengun, 100,000 in the Tōhoku Hōmengun, 100,000 in the Tōbu Hōmengun, 100,000 in the Chūbun Hōmengun and 150,000 in the Seibu Hōmengun. Additionally 100,000 in the Dai-ichi Sōgun and 100,000 in the Dai-ni Sōgun in the Americas. The Naval Land Forces are being prepared for action as well and transferred north, apart from around 15,000 that are to guard the Nan'yo territory. The Japanese Army has started to prepare for implementation of conscription to raise additional divisions that would be put under the Dai-san Sōgun in the Home Islands.

 

Given that the Russian military could receive Tianxia-build ships, the Ministry of the Navy has started planning of a draft of the 9th Naval Construction Plan to counter a rise in Russian naval strength, given that naval strength is key to protecting Japan. Outfitting of 12 light destroyers, 6 guided missile destroyers, one battleship and several submarines has been accelerated to be ready as soon as possible, given the situation.

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