I'm guessing that Kamikaze attacks on US ships continued similar to OTL after this battle?
Correct
While it's always nice to see a museum ship carrier that isn't American-built, I'm surprised she is allowed to keep existing, being the largest surviving part of the IJN. What led to her being preserved, and is she kept in American or Japanese waters?
Japan had a few other CVLs still around after the decisive battle, so the
Taiyo is hardly a standout target, nor is it really valuable enough to make a particular effort to destroy at least as long as it remains in port. Makes it through the war by being in a port that doesn't get bombed too much, and then some Navy fellow decides that it is a good prize to take for the victory. Japan doesn't have a navy anymore, so they won't miss it.
After it is inspected by the Navy for any potential technologies that could be used by the USN (which obviously they don't find any), someone decides that they can make a quick buck from showing people the carrier that survived the IJN's destruction (and that's one more buck than they would get from dropping a nuke on it). At that point, the
Taiyo's rather exciting story is enough to keep people coming in.
It is kept on the US West Coast, but occasionally people debate returning it to Japan.
congrats on the successful timeline.
Congrats on finishing the TL.
I liked the reference to Falling Cherry Blossom.
Many thanks!
One request: Could you post a list of the battles of this timeline along with the ship losses per battle on either side? Thanks!
These should be the major sea battles (some ships were lost during landing attempts as well, which can be found in those operations' threadmarks). Hopefully I didn't miss anything:
| Battle | Date | Outcome | IJN Losses | USN Losses |
|---|
| Coral Sea (Threadmark I) | May 4-5, 1942 | Japanese Victory | Small ships only | 2 CV (Lexington, Yorktown) |
| Kandavu Passage (Threadmark VIII) | July 30, 1942 | Japanese Victory | 1 DD | 2 RNZN CL, 2 DD |
| Samoa (Threadmark XIII) | August 24, 1942 | Allied Victory | 1 CV (Zuikaku), 5 DD | No warships |
| New Caledonia (Threadmark XXI) | October 23, 1942 | Inconclusive | 1 CV (Soryu), 3 CA, several DD | 2 CV heavily damaged, 1 CL, several DD |
| South Pacific (Threadmark XXIV-XXVI) | November 15, 1942 | Japanese Victory | 1 CVL (Zuiho), 1 BB, several DD | 2 CV (Enterprise, Wasp), 2 BB, 2 CA, several DD |
| Truk/"Decisive Battle" (Threadmark LVII-LXIII) | March 17-20, 1944 | Allied Victory | 6 CV, 4 CVL, 10 BB, 7 CA, 2 CL, ~40 DD | 2 CV, 4 CVL, 1 CVE, 2 BB, 1 CA, several CL, ~15 DD |
- BNC
