WW2: Japanese ships in British waters?

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...I don't know why, but a lot of TLs are asking questions I have been writing about in the past year.

Chiang was quite pally with the Germans before the Second World War. If Japan had not fallen out with Britain, I think the Japanese would have wanted to be allied in order to get oil fuel, etc. A Sino-German Axis might have been possible. Chinese ports could have provided bases for U-boats and the Chinese could have stormed Indo-China or gone for India. Ve-ery interesting...

Hoenstly, there has been little to convince me that Germany could be of any use to China in the Second World War or vice versa,especially if Japan is part of the Allies. Their country was still fighting a civil war, good chunks of it's industry and miltiary was in shambles or occupied, Chiang's position was often percarious and if it's in league with Germany, then it's going to have the USSR, Japan, Britain and eventually America staring it down it. Germany is in no position to assit China in anyway against it's enemies and only serves to benefit Germany, as China is a distraction for the USSR and the US.
 
So: any thoughts, anyone, how long it might take, if Britain has a pre-existing capability to manufacture 14" shells, to expand facilities to be able to manufacture ones to IJN specifications?

Japan stopped all battleship construction with the Washington Naval Treaty. The only battleships built by them after that were the Yamato class.

Their ten other battleships were pre-Treaty construction, and did not have their guns replaced.

All of them mounted 14" guns. The four Kongo-class mounted British-made or -designed 14" guns (the first Kongo was built in Britain). I don't know whether the 14" guns of the Fuso and Ise class ships were British made or designed.

However, it seems fairly trivial for British factories to produce even slightly different 14" shells.

I don't think you will use to many 14'+ shells, who are you really going to shoot at ? one battle load will probably do much cheaper to ship them from Japanese stocks and with the IJN to help as well as the RN (and USN later) you can easily run any convoys you want.

I would add that re battleships guns, I was thinking that they would all have new 5' AA guns (1930s [FONT=Arial,Helvetica]12.7 cm/40 (5") Type 89[/FONT]) that would use the most shells for compared to surface firing guns (due to lack of opponents willing to fight IJN+RN+USN) you would also use a lot of 25mm (but might swap that for 20/40mm guns from GB/USA as they are better. Would still ship them from Japan as shipping is cheap and GB factories are at full capacity anyway....
 
Japan stopped all battleship construction with the Washington Naval Treaty. The only battleships built by them after that were the Yamato class.

Their ten other battleships were pre-Treaty construction, and did not have their guns replaced.

All of them mounted 14" guns. The four Kongo-class mounted British-made or -designed 14" guns (the first Kongo was built in Britain). I don't know whether the 14" guns of the Fuso and Ise class ships were British made or designed.

However, it seems fairly trivial for British factories to produce even slightly different 14" shells.

wiki says that all the Japanese 14in ships used the same gun (a Vickers design) so thats one problem sorted - it also says that spares of this gun were used by the Brits as railway guns in WW1, no mention of what happened to them after the war

The 14in of the KGV were of a different design
 
Asked a naval games fan about the effect of a assorted Japanese forces with the Brits. He described it as a Brit players wet dream. Ammunition was not discussed, but he pointed out US shipyards did a lot of overhaul work for Britsh, French, Dutch, & Norwegian ships. Some parts were made in the home factories & sent, but the US shipyards and subcontractors were able to handle fabricating much of the repair material. Things like electric cable, water & steam pipe, chains, bolts, valves... can be worked out where there is a long term plan. Also pointed out the Japanese had a the management skills to establish a forward naval base at Rabaul. Considering all that the logistics of supporting a Japanese flotillia in the Mediterranean or Atlantic should not be a show stopper over the long rung run.
 
What is in it for the Americans and Chinese?

The Chinese knew that the former were far more useful than the Germans could ever be and so nailed their colours to the mast as soon as it became an issue.

Meanwhile the American public at least gave something approaching a shit about Japanese expansion in a way it didn't about Europe until the war was on. It would be in American interest to tell the Brits to decline offer as it was in their interest for Brits to end the Anglo-Japanese treaty. And again the Americans were the more useful ally.

I don't see lend lease being a thing ITTL.
 
Japan stopped all battleship construction with the Washington Naval Treaty. The only battleships built by them after that were the Yamato class.

Their ten other battleships were pre-Treaty construction, and did not have their guns replaced.

All of them mounted 14" guns.

Not all - Nagato & Mutsu used 410mm guns.
 
Further Question:

Further question:
Where would a Japanese fleet (operating in the Atlantic/North Sea) be based as allies of the UK during WW2? Would it be at Scapa Flow (if they came that far north), once Scapa Flow was suitably proofed against submarine and air attack*? (Churchill gives the date of March 12th, 1940, as being when Scapa Flow was apparently considered safe for the British Home Fleet to move in.)

* The sinking of Royal Oak at Scapa Flow in October 1939 resulted in the harbour not being used by the Home Fleet for almost half a year, whilst defences were upgraded. I would imagine that if the Royal Navy felt it unsafe to keep their own fleet at Scapa Flow, they would hardly invite allies to stay there...
 
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Further question:
Where would a Japanese fleet (operating in the Atlantic/North Sea) be based as allies of the UK during WW2?

There were a half dozen major ports in the UK. How many would be used depends on the size of the Japanese fleet & its missions. Scapa Flow was a forward base that was a good place to cover the North Sea, the GIUK straits, & Norwegian waters. Other ports are suitable for other regions.
 
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