WI: Bertin and Jeune École Thought Stay in Japan

Delta Force

Banned
Louis-Émile Bertin was one of France's leading naval architects. From 1886 to 1890 he served as a special adviser to Japan, assisting the nation in developing its naval infrastructure, arsenals, and training methods, as well as designing and procuring ships for Japanese use. Bertin was a major proponent of the Jeune École doctrine, which advocated the use of heavily armed cruisers and torpedo boats to raid commerce and attack more expensive and heavily armored enemy battleships. The Matsushima class protected cruiser was Bertin's concept of the ideal warship under Jeune École, featuring a massive 12.6 inch Canet gun. Unfortunately, the gun had a major impact on stability and stressed the hull, and its official rate of fire of one shell every five minutes proved to be wildly optimistic, with the firing cycle taking closer to an hour. When the Imperial Japanese Navy ordered the protected cruiser Akitsushima (intended as a fourth Matsushima) to a modified design featuring quick-firing 6 inch guns instead of the Canet gun, Bertin was outraged and soon returned to France. He went on have a successful career back in France, eventually becoming the country's chief naval architect.

What if the Japanese had more closely followed Bertin's advice and had him stay in the country longer? Would Bertin and have helped the development of the Imperial Japanese Navy, or would he have set it back with his advocacy for Jeune École? What would a longer tradition of Jeune École thought mean for Japanese naval doctrine, which historically came to be heavily dominated by the writings of Alfred Thayer Mahan?
 
He might give them more of an institutional sense of how DANGEROUS commerce raiding is, which in turn might encourage them to actually adopt convoys in their era's WWII analogue (if one occurs), giving them some protection against submarines.

But they're one of the most susceptible nations to commerce raiding in their neighborhood, and they're an island nation. A British style navy that projects power rather than attacking commerce would seem more useful.
 

Delta Force

Banned
He might give them more of an institutional sense of how DANGEROUS commerce raiding is, which in turn might encourage them to actually adopt convoys in their era's WWII analogue (if one occurs), giving them some protection against submarines.

But they're one of the most susceptible nations to commerce raiding in their neighborhood, and they're an island nation. A British style navy that projects power rather than attacking commerce would seem more useful.

Something of a hybrid doctrine could be interesting. Perhaps it would manifest itself as enthusiasm for Fisherite battlecruisers and other "eggshell with a hammer" type designs. Japan leaned towards that historically, building lightly built cruisers that tended to be heavily armed to the point of instability, although that's partially due to the strict tonnage limits of the Washington Naval Treaty.
 

Delta Force

Banned
I wonder if semi-dreadnought designs would become prominent in a more Bertin and Jeune École influenced Imperial Japanese Navy, perhaps leading to a unique Japanese approach to capital ship design?

Perhaps they would have semi-dreadnought cruiser designs similar to the Ibuki, Blücher, and Pisa class ships, and semi-dreadnought battleship designs similar to the Regina Elena class? During the dreadnought era, perhaps the capital ships would be similar to the Gangut class, being fast battleships with heavy armament and fairly light armor
 
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