Chapter 52 The Four Major Shipbuilding Officials of the Japanese Navy
The Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi at Kure Naval Arsenal is undergoing outfitting and maintenance.
Kikuo Fujimoto also came from the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, the arsenal that manufactured the Akagi and Nagato aircraft carriers, and discussed with the designers and engineers of the ships and aircraft carriers here to prepare for the construction of a new aircraft carrier.
Kikuo Fujimoto was a swordsman known as the samurai of the Japanese army and a genius of Japanese shipbuilding.
Because the London Naval Treaty came out in 1930, this treaty completely blocked all the loopholes in the design and construction of aircraft carriers by the Japanese army, and allowed the Japanese aircraft carriers of less than 10,000 tons to be included in the tonnage limit.
It was also because of this that the Japanese army put so much effort into building a small aircraft carrier with good combat capabilities. The combat effectiveness and storage capacity of carrier-based aircraft were suddenly greatly reduced.
Therefore, in addition to the famous Navy Shipbuilding Rear Admiral Fujimoto Kikuo, the Japanese Navy shipbuilding officials who came this time also included the four major shipbuilding officers of the Japanese Navy.
They are Rear Admiral Keiji Suzuki Shipbuilding, Director of the Fourth Department of the Naval Administration Headquarters, Rear Admiral Joe Hiraga Shipbuilding, Director of the Naval Technology Research Institute, and Lieutenant Commander Katsushi Suzuki Shipbuilding, Director of Planning of the Shipbuilding Department of Kure Navy Yard.
There are also Shipbuilding Captain Kiyoshi Nagamura, the director of shipbuilding, and Shipbuilding Captain Kikyu Fujimoto, the planning director of the Fourth Department of the Shipbuilding Headquarters, who are already present, as well as Major General Nakano Shigeharu, Chief Accountant of the Kure Factory, and Shipbuilding Captain Tsunahiko Kubo, Chief of the Shipbuilding Department.
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As well as Engineer Yokota Eikichi, the director of steelmaking at Kure Factory.
These are the four major shipbuilding officials of the famous Japanese Navy.
This time they gathered here to discuss again how to avoid the "London Naval Treaty" introduced by the British army.
To build a combat aircraft carrier that can accommodate more than 100 carrier-based aircraft,
Japanese naval warship designers are completely unfavorable and disapproval of such an unrealistic idea.
However, under the constant wrangling between the Japanese Navy Command and designers, they still want to create some small aircraft carriers that can carry more than 70 aircraft, and even preferably can carry 155mm secondary guns.
Today, these Japanese naval shipbuilding officials gathered at the Japanese Kure Navy Arsenal to discuss the construction matter again.
But while they were watching the maintenance of the Akagi aircraft carrier and discussing it heatedly,
"By the way, have you heard about it? The Navy Marshal and the headquarters seem to be supporting the Kwantung Army and preparing to launch the Songhu Battle. When the time comes, they will dispatch our aircraft carrier fleet to conduct an attack!"
"At that time, I am afraid that our aircraft carrier and carrier-based aircraft group will participate in the offensive operations against the China Army for the first time!"
"I am personally worried that this will expose the design loopholes of our aircraft carriers and the number of carrier-based aircraft groups, causing those foreigners to pay attention to us, and launch another aircraft carrier that will further restrict the development of our navy?"
But when these Japanese shipbuilding officials were discussing most vigorously,
Rear Admiral Hiraga Rang Shipbuilding, director of the Institute of Naval Technology, was a little worried.
"Then we can also bet that after the new small aircraft carrier we secretly developed is built, most of the naval powers will withdraw from the London Naval Treaty, which is a damn restrictive treaty."
"I have heard that many foreign countries are very dissatisfied with the London Naval Treaty, including the United States, which is very angry about this treaty that limits its own naval strength!"
"So I think this treaty that restricts the development of the navy of all powerful foreign countries will definitely not last long! So we'd better do a good study on how to secretly develop a new 20,000-ton aircraft carrier!"
Rear Admiral Suzuki Keiji Shipbuilding, head of the Fourth Department of the Naval Administration Headquarters, responded with a relaxed expression on his face and smiled.
He is very concerned about the news and information about the views of various foreign countries on the "Washington Naval Treaty" and "London Naval Treaty".
So he knows quite a lot of inside information.
"Hey! Actually, you really don't care, once His Majesty agrees to the Kwantung Army launching the Songhu Operation?"
“I don’t know when the time comes when our naval headquarters will dispatch those aircraft carriers to attack!”
But when Rear Admiral Suzuki Keiji Shipbuilding finished speaking,
Lieutenant Commander Katsushi Suzuki Shipbuilding, Planning Director of the Shipbuilding Department of Kure Navy Yard, once again brought up the topic that Hiraga asked the Shipbuilding Rear Admiral to raise again.
"Sigh! I'm sure you will care if you care, but what is the naval combat effectiveness of the China Army?"
"We all know it at a glance. Their naval ship manufacturing technology cannot be compared with our Imperial Navy. Moreover, they purchased a batch of large-caliber naval guns from us in the past two months!"
"At that time, we only need to dispatch the aircraft carrier Akagi, Nagato, Hosho, and Wakamiya Maru to attack together, and carry more than 100 carrier-based aircraft to assist in the operation. Then the China Navy will definitely
They will all be annihilated by us!"
"You must know that our personally built aircraft carrier "Fengxiang" was not only launched earlier than the British aircraft carrier "HMS Athletics God", but also built the world's first modern ship with a direct access to the deck one step earlier than them.
It’s an aircraft carrier on board, so I don’t have any pressure at all to deal with the backward naval force of the China Army!”
"We even only need to dispatch the aircraft carriers "Hosho" and "Wakamiya Maru" with dozens of carrier-based aircraft to assist our naval fleet and achieve a complete victory!"
Rear Admiral Suzuki Keiji Shipbuilding once again showed no pressure at all and responded with a confident smile.
Hearing this, all the naval shipbuilding officers smiled confidently.
Because they all have absolute confidence that the fleet and aircraft carrier they built have no need to fear the Chinese navy fleet. They also have great confidence that they will win the war with an overwhelming advantage.
So after talking about the issue of whether their navy will be under pressure once the Battle of Songhu begins,
They also once again shifted their topic to how to completely avoid the "Washington Naval Treaty" and the "London Naval Treaty", these two damn treaties, to build their new aircraft carrier fleet.
And at the same time,
At this time,
Emotional and excited, Iwane Matsui and Neji Okamura had also started taking planes from the airport on the Kwantung Army side, preparing to go to the port of Tianjin, board their ships, and return to the mainland to meet with His Majesty.