Plausability Check: Japanese Bombing of America

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Dudicus, do you have any idea what the shipping lanes that close to the AMerican mainland are like, not to mention how close the Japanese are going to have to get, add to that, the American war department is ANTICIPATING the very attack your talking about so blithely.
Launch in the evening from 1,000 miles out (ie, no return flight) and you'd miss most of it wouldn't you? If you do it at night you'll only get spotted by radar.

The American Navy and AAC are ASSUMING the Japanese are going to try this.
Yes, but the US has a big coastline, so it wouldn't be impossible (though you'd have to be really lucky) to get close enough.

Now just in case you might have forgotten, the Japanese are operating not at the very limit of the logistical range, but now for a west coast raid they are far beyond the end of the logistical fuel and supply chain.

And they were deck loading fuel drums just to get to Hawaii.
We're talking a single carrier here, not the whole KB, so the fuel you're carrying is going to go further. of course, having most of your oilers to hand with very few destroyers and nothing heavier to protect them is going to make a really nice target. You could extend the range just a fraction more by writing off some of the destroyers as well and just carrying the crews home in the (now empty since there's few aircraft left) hanger.

Basically, IMO it could be done, but if everything went right it would make the Doolittle Raid look well executed, and if anything at all went wrong it would make Leyte Gulf look well executed.
 
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Geon

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Bombing by Submarine

At this link

http://www.combinedfleet.com/ships/i-400

You can find the Japanese navy's best hope to bomb the West Coast. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), due to various delays, the I-400 wasn't ready for action until the last year of the war. It was intended both for use in bombing the Panama Canal and for terror raids up and down the West Coast. There were (supposedly) plans for it to be used in a terror raid on San Francisco using bio-warfare bombs. Whether this is true, and whether or not this would have been successful I leave to further discussion on this thread.

Geon
 
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On September 9th 1942, Warrant flying Office Nobuo Fujita flew an E14Y1 Glen of an I-25 submarine. He dropped two 76kg bombs in the Oregeon forrest. He returned to rendezvous with the submarine undetected. The following day he repeated the bombing raid and again returned to the I-25. This time he was spotted but the USAAF failed to intercept. Due to bad weather a third attack was cancelled. The I-25 went on to sink two american oiliers of the west coast and a USN submarine.
The I-25 was to carry out 3 airbourne attacks. The bombs carried were specially designed to burn an area in a radius of 300yrds with heat of over 1500 degrees. Imagine, from an IJN point of view these attacks being successful on say Portland. Casualties would be high.
The result would most likely got the USA even more angry than they were and most likely exact a more terrible revenge.
 
The I-400, I-401, I-13 & I-14 were to attack the Gatun Locks on the Panama canal with 10 Sieran aircraft. the attack was scheduled for August but the task force was diverted and the attack never carried out.
 
Launch in the evening from 1,000 miles out (ie, no return flight) and you'd miss most of it wouldn't you? If you do it at night you'll only get spotted by radar.

Yes, but the US has a big coastline, so it wouldn't be impossible (though you'd have to be really lucky) to get close enough.

We're talking a single carrier here, not the whole KB, so the fuel you're carrying is going to go further. of course, having most of your oilers to hand with very few destroyers and nothing heavier to protect them is going to make a really nice target. You could extend the range just a fraction more by writing off some of the destroyers as well and just carrying the crews home in the (now empty since there's few aircraft left) hanger.

Basically, IMO it could be done, but if everything went right it would make the Doolittle Raid look well executed, and if anything at all went wrong it would make Leyte Gulf look well executed.


It would require a shit-ton of fuel and effort and resources to acchieve a very risky goal with a very low probablity of success and even then it would gai nthem next to nothing.

It would also bleed off resources that are finite as it is and hamper the Imperial war effort elsewhere even further.

Big expenditure, very small gain.

Only a fool would attempt this suicide mission that would gai nthem nothing.

Even then the most likely outcome is another lost carrier and crew that they cannot afford to spend o na goal with almost no ground gained i nthe war.
 
That was about my conclusion as well, you'd need lady-luck behind you the whole way to do anything at all, and even then that anything isn't going to be a lot, although there might be a public call for more AA over cities and more sea patrols, which would pull resources from elsewhere, although probably not to the degree that the probably losses make it worth it.
 
Having to launch extra patrols would slow the Americans down by 5 secounds at best, Losing an aircraft carrier all it's crew ( Including ireplacable mechanics and pilots ) plus any other ships in the group ) Would set the IJN back by a year at least, two or three if it's a whole task force.
 
Well I think it can be safely assurred that a carrier mission is just not on. Even for fanatically suicidal Japanese.
The I-400 Class Sub was their best option to rate any amount of success in their mission. Dare I venture to say a small fleet of say two I-400 carrying six Aichi M6A Seiran attack floatplanes. And perhaps a third converted to troop carrying capability for an amphibious raid (let's say for arguments sake 50 marines). Only three were built and ready for operations by wars end anyway.
Would the Japanese have done it? Absolutely. You have to put yourself into their mindset and they would have been willing to try anything to punch one back on mainland US even just for the phychological boost.
It was just unfortunate for the Japanese that all planned eighteen I-400's weren't operational by 1942. I think we would definately see a far reaching scope of Japanese airborne and maritime raids.
 

CalBear

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