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The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) (大日本帝國海軍 Dai-Nippon Teikoku Kaigun or 日本海軍 Nippon Kaigun) was the navy of Japan before 1945. It was administered by the Ministry of the Navy of Japan and controlled by the Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff at Imperial General Headquarters.
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Medieval origins
Japan has a long history of naval interaction with the Asian continent, involving transportation of troops between Korea and Japan, starting at least with the beginning of the Kofun period in the 3rd century.
The first major references to Japanese naval actions occur in the accounts of the Mongol invasions of Japan by the navy of Kubilai Khan in 1281. Japan had no navy which could compare with Mongol forces, and most of the action took place on Japanese land, but on that occasion, groups of Japanese samurai, transported on small coastal boats, are recorded to have boarded and taken over several ships of the Mongol navy.
During the following centuries, Japanese "Wakō" pirates became very active in plundering the coast of the Chinese Empire. At the peak of Wakō activity, circa 1350, fleets of 300 to 500 ships at a time, transporting several hundred horsemen and several thousand soldiers, would raid the costs of China (Nagazumi). Official trading missions were also sent to China, such as the Tenryūjibune, around 1341.
Warring States period (15th-16th century)
A 16th century Japanese "Atakebune" coastal warship.Japan undertook major naval building efforts in the 16th century, during the Japan's Warring States period, when feudal rulers vying for supremacy built vast coastal navies of several hundred ships. The largest of these ships were called "Atakebune" (安宅船). Around that time, Japan seems to have developed the first ironclad warships in history, when Oda Nobunaga, a Japanese daimyo, had six iron-covered Ōatakebune (大安宅船) made in 1576. These ships were called "Tekkōsen" (鉄甲船, literally "iron armored ships") and were armed with multiple cannons and large caliber rifles to defeat the large, but not iron-covered, vessels the enemy used. He defeated Mori's navy with them at the mouth of the Kizu River, Osaka in 1578 in a successful naval blockade. These ships are regarded as floating fortresses rather than true warships, and were only used in coastal actions.
Invasion of Korea (1592-1598)
In 1592 and again in 1598, Japan invaded Korea with an army of 160,000, in the Seven-Year War. Although Japan had several victories on land, her navy suffered several major setbacks against the Korean navy, led by Yi Sun-sin. Her failure on the sea, and the difficulty in resupplying troops on land, were one of the major reasons for the ultimate failure of the invasion. The defeat in the Battle of Myeongnyang was still vivid in memories, when Admiral Togo would mention Yi Sun-sin as one of his "teachers" three hundred years later.
Invasion of the Ryukyu (1609)
In 1609, the lord Shimazu Tadatsune of Satsuma invaded the southern islands of Ryukyu (modern Okinawa) with a fleet of 13 junks and 2,500 samurai, thereby establishing suzerainty over the islands.
Oceanic trade (16th-17th century)
Japan built her first large ocean-going warships in the beginning of the 17th century, following contacts with the Western nations during the Nanban trade period. In 1614, the Daimyo of Sendai, in agreement with the Tokugawa Bakufu, built Date Maru, a 500 ton galleonype ship that transported a Japanese embassy to the Americas, which then continued to Europe.
From 1604, about 350 Red seal ships, usually armed and incorporating some Western technologies, were also commissionned by the Bakufu, mainly for Southeast Asian trade. Japanese ships and samurai helped in the defense of Malacca on the side of the Portuguese against the Dutch Cornelis Matelief in 1606. The Japanese adventurer Yamada Nagamasa would play a military role in Siam (Thailand) with several armed ships. The English adventurer William Adams participated to Red Seal ship trade and would comment that "the people of this land are very stout seamen".
Plan for the invasion of the Philippines (1637)
The Tokugawa shogunate had planned for some time to invade the Philippines in order to eradicate Spanish expansionism in Asia, and its support of Christian strengths in Japan. In November 1637 it notified Nicolas Couckebacker, the head of the Dutch East India Company in Japan, of its intentions. About 10,000 samurai were prepared for the expion, and the Dutch accepted to provide four warships and two yachts to support the Japanese junks against Spanish galleons. The plans were cancelled with the advent of the Christian Shimabara Rebellion in Japan in December 1637.
Seclusion (1638- circa 1840)
Following these events, and for the following two hundred years however, Japan chose the policy of Sakoku (seclusion), which forbid contacts with the West, eradicated Christianity, and prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships on pain of death.
A tiny Dutch delegation in Dejima, Nagasaki was the only allowed contact with the West, from which the Japanese were kept partly informed of western scientific and technological advances, establishing a body of knowledge known as Rangaku.
Modernization: Bakumatsu period (1840-1868)
The study of Western shipbuilding resumed in the 1840s during the Late Tokugawa shogunate ("Bakumatsu"), and intensified together with the increased activity of Western shipping along the coasts of Japan, due to the China trade and the development of whaling. In 1846, the American Commodore James Biddle was repulsed when he came to Edo Bay to demand the opening of Japan.
Western-style sailships
From 1852, the government of the Shogun, the Bakufu, warned by Holland of the projects of Commodore Perry and fearing further foreign incursions, started the construction of a fleet of Western-style sail warships, such as the Hou-Ou Maru, the Shōhei Maru or the Asahi Maru, and established defensive coastal fortifications, as in Odaiba. These first ships were built using Dutch sailing manuals, and the know-how of a few returnees from the West, such as Nakahama Manjiro.
In 1853 and again in 1854, Commodore Perry of the United States Navy, made a demonstration of force with the newest steam warships of the US Navy, equipped with new French-designed Paixhans guns using explosive shells. He finally obtained the opening of the country to international trade through the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa, soon to be followed by the 1858 "unequal" U.S.-Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce, allowing the establishment of foreign concessions, extra-territoriality for foreigners, and minimal import taxes for foreign goods.
Birth of a modern Navy (1855)
As soon as the country agreed to open up to foreign influence, the Tokugawa shogun government enforced an active policy of assimilation of Western naval techniques. In 1855, with Dutch assistance, the Shogunate acquired its first steam warship, the Kankō Maru, which was used for training, and established the Nagasaki Naval Training Center. In 1857, it acquired its first screw-driven steam warship, the Kanrin Maru. Naval students were sent to study in Western naval schools for several years, such as the future Admiral Enomoto (who studied in the Netherlands in 1862-1867), starting a tradition of foreign-educated future leaders such Admiral Togo, and later on Admiral Yamamoto.
In 1863, Japan completed her first domestically-built steam warship, the Chiyodagata, a 140t gunboat which was incorporated into the Tokugawa Navy. The ship was manufactured by the shipbuilder, and future industrial giant, Ishikawajima, thus initiating Japan's efforts to acquire and fully develop shipbuilding capabilities.
Following the humiliations at the hand of foreign navies in the Bombardment of Kagoshima in 1863, and the Bombardment of Shimonoseki in 1864, the Shogun stepped up efforts to modernize, relying more and more on French and British assistance. In 1865, the French naval engineer Léonce Verny was hired to build Japan's first modern naval arsenals, at Yokosuka and Nagasaki. More ships were imported, such as the Jho Sho Maru, the Ho Sho Maru and the Kagoshima, all built by Thomas Blake Glover in Aberdeen.
By the end of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1867, the Japanese navy of the shogun already possessed eight Western-style steam warships around the flagship Kaiyō Maru which were used against pro-imperial forces during the Boshin war, under the command of Admiral Enomoto. The conflict culminated with the Naval Battle of Hakodate in 1869, Japan's first large-scale modern naval battle.
In 1869, Japan acquired its first ocean-going ironclad warship, the Kotetsu, ordered by the Bakufu but received by the new Imperial government, barely ten years after such ships were first introduced in the West with the launch of the French La Gloire.
Meiji restoration (1868)
From 1868, the restored Meiji Emperor continued with reforms to industrialize and militarize Japan in order to prevent it from being overwhelmed by the United States and European powers. The new government drafted a very ambitious plan to create a Navy with 200 ships, organized into 10 fleets, but the plan was abandonned within a year due to lack of ressources. Internally, domestic rebellions, and especially the Satsuma Rebellion (1877) forced the government to focus on land warfare. Naval policy, expressed by the slogan Shusei Kokubō (Jp:守勢国防, lit. "Static Defense"), focused on coastal defenses, a standing army, and a coastal Navy, leading to a military organization under the Rikushu Kaijū (Jp:陸主海従, Army first, Navy second) principle.
British support
During the 1870s and 1880s, the Japanese Navy remained an essentially coastal defense force, although the Meiji government continued to modernize it. In 1870 an Imperial decree determined that the British Navy should be the model for development. Ships such as the Fusō, Kongō and the Hiei were built in British shipyards specifically for the Japanese Navy. A British naval mission visited Japan in 1873, headed by Comdr. Archibald Douglas. Later, Comdr. L.P. Willan was hired in 1879 to train Naval cadets. Private construction companies such as Ishikawajima and Kawasaki also emerged around this time.
Two large warships, designed by the naval architect Sasō Sachū on the line of the Elswick class of protected cruisers but with superior specifications, were ordered to British shipwards. The Naniwa and the Takachiho were 3,650 tons ships, capable of speed up to 18 knots, with 2 to 3-inch deck armor and two 10.2 Krupp guns. An arm race was taking place with China however, who equipped herself with two huge German battleships of 7,335 tons (the Ting Yüan and the Chen-Yüan). Japan resorted to French assistance to build a modern fleet which could prevail in the upcoming conflict.
Influence of the French "Jeune Ecole" (1880s)
The French-built Matsushima, flagship of the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Yalu River (1894).During the 1880s, France took the lead in influence, due to its "Jeune Ecole" doctrine favoring small, fast warships, especially cruisers and torpedo boats, against bigger units. The Meiji government issued its First Naval Expansion bill in 1882, requiring the construction of 48 warships, of which 22 were to be torpedo boats. The Sino-French War of 1883-85 seemed to validate the potential of torpedo boats, an approach which was also attractive to the limited ressources of Japan. In 1885, the new Navy slogan became Kaikoku Nippon (Jp:海国日本, lit. "Maritime Japan").
In 1886, the leading French Navy engineer Emile Bertin was hired for four years to reinforce the Japanese Navy, and to direct the construction of the arsenals of Kure and Sasebo. He developed the Sanseikan class of cruisers, 3 units featuring a single but powerful main gun, the 12.6 inch Canet gun. Altogether, Bertin supervised the building of more than twenty units. They helped establish the first true modern naval force of Japan, and allowed Japan to achieve mastery in the building of large units, since some of the ships were imported, and some others were built domestically at the arsenal of Yokosuka:
- 3 cruisers: the 4,700 tons Matsushima and Itsukushima, made in France, and the Hashidate, built by Japan in Yokosuka.
- 3 costal warships of 4,278 tons.
- 2 small cruisers: the Chiyoda, a small cruiser of 2,439 built in Great Britain, and the Yaeyama, 1800 tons, built in Yoyosuka, Japan.
- 1 frigate, the 1600 tons Takao, built in Yokosuka.
- 1 destroyer: the 726 tons Chishima, built in France.
- 16 torpedo boats of 54 tons each, built in France by the Companie du Creusot in 1888, and assembled in Japan.
This period also allowed Japan "to embrace the revolutionary new technologies embodied in torpedoes, torpedo-boats and mines, of which the French at the time were probably the world's best exponents" (Howe). Japan acquired its first torpedoes in 1884, and established a "Torpedo Training Center" at Yokosuka in 1886.
These ships were the last major orders placed with France, and Japan turned again to Great Britain, with the order under her own specifications of a revolutionnary torpedo boat, the 1887 Kotaka, considered as the first ever effective design of a destroyer, and with the purchase of the Yoshino, built in Elswick, the fastest cruiser in the world at the time of her launch in 1892.
Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895)
Japan continued the modernization of its navy, especially as China was also building a powerful modern fleet with foreign, especially German, assistance, and the pressure was building between the two countries to take control of Korea. The Sino-Japanese war was officially declared on August 1, 1894, though some naval fighting had already taken place.
The Japanese navy devastated Qing's northern fleet off the mouth of the Yalu River at the Battle of Yalu River on September 17, 1894, in which the Chinese fleet lost 8 out of 12 warships. Although Japan turned out victorious, the two large German-made battleships of the Chinese Navy remained almost impervious to Japanese guns, highlighting the need for bigger capital ships in the Japanese Navy (the Ting Yüan was finally sunk by torpedoes, and the Chen-Yüan was captured with little damage). The next step of the Imperial Japanese Navy's expansion would thus involve a combination of heavily armed large warships, with smaller and innovative offensive units permitting agressive tactics.
As a result of the conflict, under the Treaty of Shimonoseki (April 17th, 1895), Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands were transfered to Japan. The Imperial Japanese Navy took possession of the island and quelled opposition movements between March to October 1895, and the islands continued to be a Japanese colony until 1945. Japan also obtained the Liaodong Peninsula, although she was forced by Russia to return it to China, only to see Russia take possession of it soon after.
Boxer Rebellion (1900)
The Imperial Japanese Navy participated together with Western Powers to the suppression of the Chinese Boxer Rebellion in 1900.
The Navy supplied the largest number of warships (18, out of a total of 50 warships), and delivered the largest contingent of Army and Navy troops among the intervening nations (20,840 soldiers, out of total of 54,000).
Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905)
Following the Sino-Japanese War, and the humiliation of the forced return of the Liaotung peninsula to China under Russian pressure (the "Triple Intervention"), Japan began to build up its military strength in preparation for further confrontations. Japan promulgated a ten-year naval build-up program, under the slogan "Perseverance and determination" (臥薪嘗胆, Gashinshōtan), in which it commissionned 109 warships, for a total of 200,000 tons, and increased its Navy personnel from 15,100 to 40,800. The new fleet consisted of:
- 6 battleships (all British-made)
- 8 armored cruisers (4 British, 2 Italian, 1 German, and 1 French-made)
- 8 cruisers (5 Japanese, 2 British and 2 US-made)
- 24 destroyers (16 British and 8 Japanese-made)
- 63 torpedo boats (26 German, 10 British, 17 French, and 10 Japanese-made)
One of these battleships, Mikasa, the most advanced ship of her time, was ordered from the Vickers shipyard in the United Kingdom at the end of 1898, for delivery to Japan in 1902.
These dispositions culminated with the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). At the Battle of Tsushima, the Mikasa led the combined Japanese fleet into what has been called "the most decisive naval battle in history". The Russian fleet was almost completely anihilated: out of 38 Russian ships, 21 were sunk, 7 captured, 6 disarmed, 4,545 Russian servicemen died and 6,106 were taken prisoner. On the other hand, the Japanese only lost 116 men and 3 torpedo boats.
Towards an autonomous national Navy
After the conflict, Japan endeavoured to built up a strong national naval industry. The last major purchase was in 1913 when the battlecruiser Kongo was purchased from the Vickers shipyard. By 1920 it was the world's third largest navy, and was a leader in many aspects of naval development:
- The Japanese Navy was the first in the world to have a wireless communication system, used during the Battle of Tsushima.
- In 1906, it launched the battleship Satsuma, at the time the largest warship in the world by displacement, and the first ship in the world to be designed and laid down as an "all-big-gun" battleship, one year before the British HMS Dreadnought.
- Between 1905 and 1910, Japan started to build battleships domestically. The 1906 battleship Satsuma was built in Japan with about 80% parts from Great Britain, but the next battleship class, the 1910 Kawachi was built with only 20% imported parts.
- In 1921 it launched the Hosho, the first purpose-designed aircraft carrier in the world to be completed.
- In terms of armament, it was the first navy to mount 14-in guns (with the Kongo), 16-in guns (with the Nagato), and 18.1-inch guns (with the Yamato).
World War II
(See also the article the Imperial Japanese Navy of World War Two)
In the years before WW II the IJN began to structure itself specifically to fight the US. A long stretch of militaristic expansion and the start of the Second Sino-Japanese war in 1937 had alienated the US and America was seen more often as the enemy of Japan.
Strategic overview
The Imperial Japanese Navy was faced, before and during World War II, with considerable challenges, probably more so than any other navy in the world.
Japan, like Great Britain, was almost entirely dependent on foreign resources to supply its economy, so that the Imperial Japanese Navy had to secure and protect sources for raw material (especially Southeast Asian oil and raw materials) that were far away, and controlled by foreign countries (Great Britain, the United States and Holland). To achieve this goal, she had to build large warships capable of a long range.
To achieve Japan’s expansionist policies, the Imperial Japanese Navy also had to fight off the largest navies in the world (The 1922 Washington Naval Treaty allotted a 5/5/3 ratio for the navies of Great Britain, the United States and Japan). She was therefore numerically inferior and her industrial base for expansion was limited (in particular compared to the United States). Her battle tactics therefore tended to rely on technical superiority (fewer, but faster, more powerful ships), and aggressive tactics (daring and speedy attacks overwhelming the enemy, a recipe for success in her previous conflicts). In order to combat the numerically superior American navy, the IJN devoted large amounts of resources to creating a force superior in quality to any navy at the time. Consequently, at the beginning of World War II, Japan probably had the most sophisticated Navy in the world. Betting on the speedy success of aggressive tactics, Japan did not invest significantly on defensive organization: she should also have been able to protect her long shipping lines against enemy submarines, which she never managed to do, particularly under-investing in anti-submarine escort ships and escort aircraft carriers.
During the pre-war years, two schools of thought battled over whether the Navy should be organized around powerful battleships that could ultimately win over American ones in Japanese waters, or around an aggressive fleet of aircraft carriers. Neither really prevailed, and both lines of ships were developed, with the results that neither solution displayed overwhelming strength over the American adversary. A consistent weakness of Japanese warship development was the tendency to incorporate too much armament, and too much engine power, in comparison to ship size (a side-effect of the Washington treaty), leading to shortcomings in stability, protection and structural strength.
Although the Japanese Navy enjoyed spectacular success during the first part of the hostilities, American forces ultimately managed to gain the upper hand through technological upgrades to its air and naval forces, and a vastly stronger industrial output. Japan's reluctance to use their submarine fleet for commerce raiding and failure to secure their communications also added to their defeat.
During the last phase of the war the Imperial Japanese Navy resorted to a series of desperate measures, including Kamikaze (suicide) actions.
Fuel
While other navies used highly refined burner oil, later in the war the japanese were directly using high quality crude oil obtained from the captured East Indian colonial possessions of the Netherlands and France. While quite functional as a boiler fuel, this crude carried a hazard; as the lighter fractions had not been distilled out they formed highly flammable vapors within the warships' fuel tanks. This would often lead to a tank compartment explosion during battle should a shell penetrate the compartment or venting lines.
Battleships
Japan continued to attribute considerable prestige to battleships and endeavoured to build the largest and most powerfull ships of the period. Yamato, the largest and most heavily-armed battleship in history, was launched in 1941.
Aircraft carriers
Japan put particular emphasis on aircraft carriers. The Imperial Japanese Navy started the Pacific War with 10 aircraft carriers, the largest and most modern carrier fleet in the world at that time. However, a large number of the Japanese carriers were of small size in accordance to limitations placed upon the Navy by the London and Washington Naval Conferences. There were 6 American aircraft carriers at the beginning of the hostilities, only 3 of them operating in the Pacific, and 3 British aircraft carriers, of which a single one operated in the Indian ocean. Japanese aircraft carriers, such as the Shokaku and Zuikaku, exceeded any in the world in performance and capability, until the wartime development of the American Essex-class aircraft carrier.
However, following the Battle of Midway, in which four Japanese carriers were sunk, the Japanese Navy suddenly found itself short of full fleet carriers, resulting in an ambitious set of projects to convert commercial and military vessels into escort carriers such as the IJN Hiyo and IJN Shinano, which became the largest aircraft carrier of World War II. The Navy also attempted to build a number of full fleet carriers, though most of these projects were not completed by the end of the war.
Naval Aviation
Main article:Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
Japan began the war with a competent naval air force designed around the best naval fighter plane of the era, the Mitsubishi Zero. The Japanese pilot corps at the begining of the war were of high caliber as compared to their contemporaries around the world due to intense training practices and frontline experience in the Sino-Japanese War. The Navy also had a competent tactical bombing force based around the Mitsubishi G3M and G4M bombers, which astonished the world by being the first planes to sink enemy battleships under way, the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse.
As the war dragged on, the Allies were quick to find weaknesses in Japanese Naval Aviation. Though most of the Japanese aircraft were characterized by having great operating ranges, they had very little in the way of defensive armament and armor. As a result, the more numerous, heavily armed and armored American aircraft were able to develop techniques that quickly nullified the advantages of the Japanese aircraft. Furthermore, due to delays in engine development, the Japanese Navy had great difficulty in developing new and more competitive designs during the war, resulting in the mass scale production of aircraft with known weaknesses. Following the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese Navy increasingly opted towards deploying aircraft in the kamikaze role.
Submarines
Main article:Imperial Japanese Navy submarines
Japan had by far the most varied fleet of submarines of World War II, including manned torpedoes (Kaiten), midget submarines (Ko-hyoteki, Kairyu), medium-range submarines, purpose-built supply submarines (many for use by the Army), long-range fleet submarines (many of which carried an aircraft), submarines with the highest submerged speeds of the conflict (Sentaka I-200), and submarines that could carry multiple bombers (WWII's largest submarine, the Sentoku I-400). These submarines were also equiped with the most advanced torpedo of the conflict, the oxygen-propelled Long Lance. A plane from one such long-range fleet submarine, I-25, conducted what is still the only bombing attack on the continental United States when Warrant Flying Officer Nobuo Fujita attempted to start massive forest fires in the Pacific Northwest outside the town of Brookings, Oregon on September 9th, 1942. Other submarines undertook trans-oceanic missions to German-occupied Europe, such as I-30, I-8, I-34, I-29 and I-52, in one case flying a Japanese seaplane over France in a propaganda coup.
Overall, despite their technical prowesses, Japanese submarines were relatively unsuccesfull. They were often used in offensive roles against warships, which were fast, maneuverable and well-defended compared to merchant ships. In 1942, Japanese submarines managed to sink two fleet carriers, one cruiser, and a few destroyers and other warships, and damage several others. They were not able to sustain these results afterwards, as Allied fleets were reinforced and became better organized. By the end of the war, submarines were instead often used to transport supplies to island garrisons. During the war, Japan managed to sink about 1 million tons of merchant shipping (184 ships), compared to 1.5 million tons for Great Britain (493 ships), 4.65 million tons for the US (1,079 ships) and 14.3 million tons for Germany (2,840 ships).
Early models were not very maneuverable under water, could not dive very deep, and lacked radar. (Later in the war units that were fitted with radar were in some instances sunk due to the ability of US radar sets to detect their emissions. For example, Batfish (SS-310) sunk three such equipped submarines in the span of four days). After the end of the conflict, several of Japan's most original submarines were sent to Hawai for inspection in "Operation Road's End" (I-400, I-401, I-201 and I-203) before being scuttled by the US Navy in 1946 when the Soviets demanded to have access to the submarines as well.
Self-Defense Forces
Japanese Sailors besides the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) training vessel JDS Kashima, in Pearl Harbor.Main article: Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
Following Japan's surrender to the United States at the conclusion of World War II, and Japan's subsequent occupation, Japan's entire imperial military was dissolved in the new 1947 constitution which states, "The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes."
Japan's current navy falls under the umbrella of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) as the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).
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References
- KAIGUN, Strategy, tactics and technology of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941,David C. Evans & Mark R. Peattie, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland ISBN 0870211927
- The origins of Japanese Trade Supremacy, Development and technology in Asia from 1540 to the Pacific War, Christopher Howe, The University of Chicago Press ISBN 0226354857
- A Battle History of The Imperial Japanese Navy, Paul S. Dull
- Red Seal Ships (朱印船), Nagazumi Yōko (永積洋子) ISBN 4642066594 (Japanese)
Major actions
- Battle of Yalu River (1894) (Naval victory over the Chinese)
- Battle of Tsushima (1905 naval victory over the Russians)
- Attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7th, 1941 attack on the USN Pacific Fleet)
- Battle of the Coral Sea (Narrow victory against the US Navy)
- Battle of Midway (IJN loses four carriers to USN aircraft attacks)
- Battle of Guadalcanal (Location of seven great IJN-USN battles)
- Battle of the Philippine Sea
- Battle of Leyte Gulf