The German and Japanese navies.

Thought I'd ask a hypothetical question. Say Germany and Japan had a falling out and went to war. True, Japan had the world's third most powerful navy overall, but its main weakness was in the ASW area, while Germany had the strongest U-boat navy. How would a clash play out? This thread assumes the Germans gained control of the Mediterranean, so its U-boats would have access to the Indian Ocean.
 

sharlin

Banned
Without anything like the Z Plan being completed the Kriegsmarine could not even think about stepping into the ring with the IJN. Whilst some U-boats were sent to the Far East, they only got there due to IJN support and use of captured ports (singapore etc).

The disparity of forces is nearly as pronounced as facing the RN, except the IJN when it came into the war had probably the best carrier pilots in the world. The absolutely VAST distances between the antagonists also make a meeting of ships other than raiders a faint chance. The IJN's ASW was atrocious but getting U-boats into that part of the world is a massive logistical problem.
 
You know how it worked with US Silent Service vs Japanese merchants, I guess? Well pretty much the same, provided Japanese actually used Indian Ocean.

I am not sure I understand under what circumstances would this conflict would play out. Did you have in mind the Germans wanting to take India from the Japanese? The Japanese still in Burma and Germans defending the British India? Or just generally conflicting for the hell of it?

Even if the Germans could get into Indian Ocean from some base in Middle East, Pacific would still be largely out of effective patrol range of most U-boats. So unless the Japanese use Indian Ocean extensively, not much would happen at all. But I have no doubt U-boats would have devastating effect on the Japanese SLOCs.
 
This is about the least probable war I can imagine.:rolleyes: This beats Japan invading Australia all hollow.:eek::eek::rolleyes:

Both sides had navies & ships designed & intended for wars with nearby opponents, not for ones halfway around the world.:rolleyes:

First thing you need to do is get the two navies in the same ocean...

If you can manage that, you can expect U-boats to massacre Japan's merchant marine in a fashion beyond Withers, English, & Lockwood's wildest dreams. I also expect KM heavies would soon be littering the bottom of the Atlantic after gun duels with IJN.

However, the #1 enemy is, to coin a phrase, Admiral Geography...
 
The premise isn't plausible. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan simply didn't have any vital interests in contention. If they ever came to blows it would most likely be in a Soviet Russia that both occupied - in other words a land war.
 
I tend to agree with the extremely unlikely scenario, which makes no sense at all. Germany and Japan simply had no logical ground for any sort of confrontation, no matter how you even want to look at it.

Technically the Germans were almost unable to deploy naval forces in the Pacific area and the oppossit was simmilar for the Japanese Empire, equally unable to deploy forces in the Northsea and North Atlantic. Both completely lacked bases to use as attack launching platforms in the specific regions.
 
This would be the most awkward war ever. After halting trade and diplomatic relations, they'd be sitting around wondering how to bring their forces within range of one another.
 
I'm assuming Germany and Japan had somehow managed to accomplish their original objectives. See here.

What I read there amounts to rumblings and delusions of Hitler and his buddies. Realistically, neither Japan nor Germany would be in position to make meaningful war against each other either way.
 
The premise isn't plausible. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan simply didn't have any vital interests in contention. If they ever came to blows it would most likely be in a Soviet Russia that both occupied - in other words a land war.

And even that is basically impossible. I mean just look at a map to work out the difficulties of a war between the two, let alone Naval attacks.

world-map.jpg


I think this map illustrates the issues perfectly. Note where Germany and Japan are in relation to each other :p
 
Thought I'd ask a hypothetical question. Say Germany and Japan had a falling out and went to war. True, Japan had the world's third most powerful navy overall, but its main weakness was in the ASW area, while Germany had the strongest U-boat navy. How would a clash play out? This thread assumes the Germans gained control of the Mediterranean, so its U-boats would have access to the Indian Ocean.
One thing no one has asked is, what about WW2? Is it still otherwise happening? Because if not, one side or the other (or both) might well have friendly bases made available to it which would help overcome the range issues. A Britain without its Far East being invaded by the Japanese might lend aid against Germany, for instance.

But if the same WW2 is still going on, then Germany and Japan are wildly unlikely to come to blows for reasons already stated.
 
Top