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The Broken Shield : The Chinese Navy in the Early Second Great War
The Broken Shield : The Chinese Navy in the Early Second Great War
"...In the wake of the devastating attacks on December 1, the Chinese navy was forced into a defensive mode - relying on her extensive submarine fleet in an attempt to interdict the Japanese submarine fleet. With her entire surface fleet all but sunk the Chinese submarine forces were all that was left of once growing force.
The Chinese submarine forces had three main objectives in the early part of the war. The first was to interdict Japanese merchant shipping and prevent them from building up supplies and troops in Hainan which would allow the Japanese to launch an invasion of Southern China - a two-front war was not to anyone's advantage.
The second objective was to interdict Japanese supplies and reinforcements to the troops that had landed South of the Peking pocket. Although there was still a supply corridor through Inner Mongolia that could not be interdicted, it was less efficient than by sea and they could easily transport heavy equipment or supplies by camel and mule-back.
The third objective was known as the "Pirrana Doctrine" which involved keeping the most modern and fastest elements of the Chinese submarine fleet in reserve. This doctrine stated that in the event of another naval invasion, the submarine fleet would interdict ASAP and try to sink as many as possible, regardless of losses. What remained of the surface fleet would try and join her in what would be dubbed heroicially as a "self-sacrifice mission" to protect the Chinese coast.
To accomplish this objective, the Chinese navy had few resources at their disposal.
The first was the "coastal submarine" or what the Chinese would call "the tin tadpole"
This model was derived from the German Type I U-boat and would be the "workhorse" of the Chinese submarine fleet. At the commencement of hostilies, the Chinese navy had 800 of these (including the trainer/minelayer variant) Its chief advantage was that it could be manufactured very easily and very quickly by an unskilled labour force and with unsophisticated machine tools. This was the main reason why the tadpole was the most numerous naval vessel the Chinese had at their disposal (ignoring the V-ships) - the Chinese made very few changes, mostly some rationalizations to make it easier to produce and manfucature. The engine was also upgraded to a faster one that could go 10 knots. The machine gun at the bow was scrapped and the ship was just armed with 2 torpedo tubes with a total of 4 torpedoes. The tadpole class submarine was not built for endurance, but it could do the job close to the coast. The tadpole class was mostly used for interdictions around the Peking pocket. The tadpole class suffered from many problems, most of which were carry overs from the German Type UB I Imperial German Navy submarine that the tadpole was based on. The first significant one was a structural one which all tadpole class submarines would have - the single propeller shaft/engine combination meant that if either failed, the ship would be stranded. The second one was the tendency for the ship to break trim when the torpedoes were fired, crew had to resort to placing ballast and in some cases running to the stern to prevent the ship from literally tipping over. The third one was in the problem of manufacturing, some tadpole submarines were so poorly made that the ship would literally fall apart after it had fired a torpedo. Despite it's many problems the tadpole class would sink the most Entete shipping out of any other item in the National Revolutionary Military's arsenal during the Second Great War. By war's end over 8000 tadpole class submarines would have been built (including trainers, replacements for sunk submarines, upgrades and other variants - including one that was intended to be dropped and picked up from an Airship...)
The Chinese preferred using the contact mine varient which was placed along likely coastal shipping routes unanchored.
There was another variant of the tadpole class which was essentialy just the tadpole class submarine without any torpedoe tubes. This variant was used as a 'trainer.' Trainee submarine crews generally started with this variant and used them to mine convoy routes, once they had successfully completed enough of these misions - they would graduate to the tadpole class - or if they were exceptionally great to the shark class submarine. Generally speaking, the most used mine of the Chinese Navy was a contact one, unanchored which would be scattered along usual routes. Because the mines were not anchored some foreign civilian ships and even some Chinese ships were lost. But they were generally effective in frustrating Japanese control of the Chinese coast.
The "Shark" class was derived from German schematics and virtually identical to the Type VII U-boat class
If the tadpole was the workhorse of the Chinese Navy then the "Shark" was the showhorse. Only the most rigorous and sophisticated manufacturing techniques were permitted to be used in the making of these submarines. Built with the help of German naval advisors and engineers the Shark was the creme-de-la creme of the submarine fleet. The Chinese navy had 150 of these at the start of the conflict and 50 were always held in strategic reserve to implement the "Pirhana Doctrine." This class of submarine was used from mundane tasks such as trade convoy interdiction to daredevil sneak attacks on Japanese harbours and some were used to transport strategic documents and communications with China's German allies concerning weapons developments.
The sinking of the "Kongo" was a David vs Golliath moment in the early days of the Sino-Japanese conflict and would be a real good propaganda boost for the morale of the Chinese people...
Despite the heavy losses that the Japanese navy inflicted upon the Chinese Navy, the submarine fleet began to deal real damage to that of the Japanese merchant shipping. There were even some notable lucky events that caught the attention of the Japanese and made them take the submarine fleet seriously. One such incident was the sinking of the Kongo by the humble Qikou a tadpole class submarine. The Japanese and Chinese were rapidly finding out that sometimes, a broken shield could be more dangerous than an intact one...
Next Update: The Split Arrow: The Chinese Air Force During the Early Second Great War
"...In the wake of the devastating attacks on December 1, the Chinese navy was forced into a defensive mode - relying on her extensive submarine fleet in an attempt to interdict the Japanese submarine fleet. With her entire surface fleet all but sunk the Chinese submarine forces were all that was left of once growing force.
The Chinese submarine forces had three main objectives in the early part of the war. The first was to interdict Japanese merchant shipping and prevent them from building up supplies and troops in Hainan which would allow the Japanese to launch an invasion of Southern China - a two-front war was not to anyone's advantage.
The second objective was to interdict Japanese supplies and reinforcements to the troops that had landed South of the Peking pocket. Although there was still a supply corridor through Inner Mongolia that could not be interdicted, it was less efficient than by sea and they could easily transport heavy equipment or supplies by camel and mule-back.
The third objective was known as the "Pirrana Doctrine" which involved keeping the most modern and fastest elements of the Chinese submarine fleet in reserve. This doctrine stated that in the event of another naval invasion, the submarine fleet would interdict ASAP and try to sink as many as possible, regardless of losses. What remained of the surface fleet would try and join her in what would be dubbed heroicially as a "self-sacrifice mission" to protect the Chinese coast.
To accomplish this objective, the Chinese navy had few resources at their disposal.
The first was the "coastal submarine" or what the Chinese would call "the tin tadpole"
This model was derived from the German Type I U-boat and would be the "workhorse" of the Chinese submarine fleet. At the commencement of hostilies, the Chinese navy had 800 of these (including the trainer/minelayer variant) Its chief advantage was that it could be manufactured very easily and very quickly by an unskilled labour force and with unsophisticated machine tools. This was the main reason why the tadpole was the most numerous naval vessel the Chinese had at their disposal (ignoring the V-ships) - the Chinese made very few changes, mostly some rationalizations to make it easier to produce and manfucature. The engine was also upgraded to a faster one that could go 10 knots. The machine gun at the bow was scrapped and the ship was just armed with 2 torpedo tubes with a total of 4 torpedoes. The tadpole class submarine was not built for endurance, but it could do the job close to the coast. The tadpole class was mostly used for interdictions around the Peking pocket. The tadpole class suffered from many problems, most of which were carry overs from the German Type UB I Imperial German Navy submarine that the tadpole was based on. The first significant one was a structural one which all tadpole class submarines would have - the single propeller shaft/engine combination meant that if either failed, the ship would be stranded. The second one was the tendency for the ship to break trim when the torpedoes were fired, crew had to resort to placing ballast and in some cases running to the stern to prevent the ship from literally tipping over. The third one was in the problem of manufacturing, some tadpole submarines were so poorly made that the ship would literally fall apart after it had fired a torpedo. Despite it's many problems the tadpole class would sink the most Entete shipping out of any other item in the National Revolutionary Military's arsenal during the Second Great War. By war's end over 8000 tadpole class submarines would have been built (including trainers, replacements for sunk submarines, upgrades and other variants - including one that was intended to be dropped and picked up from an Airship...)
The Chinese preferred using the contact mine varient which was placed along likely coastal shipping routes unanchored.
There was another variant of the tadpole class which was essentialy just the tadpole class submarine without any torpedoe tubes. This variant was used as a 'trainer.' Trainee submarine crews generally started with this variant and used them to mine convoy routes, once they had successfully completed enough of these misions - they would graduate to the tadpole class - or if they were exceptionally great to the shark class submarine. Generally speaking, the most used mine of the Chinese Navy was a contact one, unanchored which would be scattered along usual routes. Because the mines were not anchored some foreign civilian ships and even some Chinese ships were lost. But they were generally effective in frustrating Japanese control of the Chinese coast.
The "Shark" class was derived from German schematics and virtually identical to the Type VII U-boat class
If the tadpole was the workhorse of the Chinese Navy then the "Shark" was the showhorse. Only the most rigorous and sophisticated manufacturing techniques were permitted to be used in the making of these submarines. Built with the help of German naval advisors and engineers the Shark was the creme-de-la creme of the submarine fleet. The Chinese navy had 150 of these at the start of the conflict and 50 were always held in strategic reserve to implement the "Pirhana Doctrine." This class of submarine was used from mundane tasks such as trade convoy interdiction to daredevil sneak attacks on Japanese harbours and some were used to transport strategic documents and communications with China's German allies concerning weapons developments.
The sinking of the "Kongo" was a David vs Golliath moment in the early days of the Sino-Japanese conflict and would be a real good propaganda boost for the morale of the Chinese people...
Despite the heavy losses that the Japanese navy inflicted upon the Chinese Navy, the submarine fleet began to deal real damage to that of the Japanese merchant shipping. There were even some notable lucky events that caught the attention of the Japanese and made them take the submarine fleet seriously. One such incident was the sinking of the Kongo by the humble Qikou a tadpole class submarine. The Japanese and Chinese were rapidly finding out that sometimes, a broken shield could be more dangerous than an intact one...
Next Update: The Split Arrow: The Chinese Air Force During the Early Second Great War
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