REPORTS OF THE U. S. NAVAL TECHNICAL MISSION TO JAPAN

[MakeeLearn]

REPORTS OF THE U. S. NAVAL TECHNICAL MISSION TO JAPAN


Treasure chest of info:


http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/primary_ ... MJ_toc.htm

[crsutton]

Interesting. One thing I noted in reading over the summaries of the electronics sections is that the point is made numerous times that although the Japanese had the design and scientific skills to create things, this did not translate into the technical or production capability to make them. Lack of facilities, resources and lack of trained personnel frequently cited as the reason. It sort of puts to rest all this revisionist talk of Japanese super weapons coming down the pipe. JFBs get to see some pretty fantastic things come on line if they can survive long enough but the reality was that this stuff was never going to make it into production. Not ever. Thanks for sharing this.

[Bullwinkle58]

I cited these documents quite a bit on the forum years ago when discussing ASW. Just looked again to refresh. The inspectors were highly technical, but also a bit gentle in describing just how horrible Japanese tech was in comparison to the Allied navies'. In one portion, possibly the one you read, they state that the packing boxes for spares were perhaps the best part of the whole arrangement. Individual wooden boxes with form-fitting slots lined with felt for each tube and winding. Reminds me of how they pack melons for sale. OTOH, their screwdrivers and pliers broke with limited use, and their sonar shacks were lined with wood (!!) to allow access to wiring. There were no anti-chafing measures for bulkhead penetrations. And the sound heads on their echo-ranging gear were described as massive due to their inability to produce quartz strips to the proper tolerances. Which was OK as the installations often flooded and had terrible access for repair. Reminds me of that old Borscht Belt joke about the food at the deli.

In the electronics summary section the teams wrote that Japanese electronics were at about a 1935 Western level of tech at the end of the war. Their gear was huge, but generally worked OK in Japan and the drier parts of China. But field reports that it was unsuited for most of the PTO didn't make it to the labs until 1943, and new designs were never produced before VJ Day.

We often hear players state that "if only" Japan had convoyed they would have stymied the Allied submarine offensive. "If only" they had built thousands of 25-knot, fully-sonared escorts, all would have been well. This series of documents are required reading for those players.

[Skyros]

The struggles they had with quality and production during the war has always made me wonder if that is why they were so eager to adopt the practices of W. Edward Deming after the war.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Skyros

The struggles they had with quality and production during the war has always made me wonder if that is why they were so eager to adopt the practices of W. Edward Deming after the war.

Yes, and not just the hard liners. Most important is that ever since the Meiji restoration there was a very clear picture of the need for adoption of Western schooling and education methods. Japan had come a long way but by the beginning of the War was still far behind the West. It amazes me how few WWII addicts (I am one) fail to see the importance of this. Japan simply did not have enough college and secondary educated people to engage in a modern industrial war. This was the fundamental weakness of their economy over everything else. You can make a good foot soldier out of a peasant but not a good mechanic or industrial worker. By 1939 only about half of the Japanese population had received the equivalent of a US sixth grade education. And Japanese women lagged far behind that. The US, where by 1939 it was common for most girls to at least have some high school education, had a pool of under utilized educated women who could step in and fill a lot of roles in industry and technical fields that were vacated by men who were in the armed forces. This was not the case in Japan and was a problem in both Germany and the UK.

I looked it up and was amazed to see that 40% of all bachelors degrees went to women in 1940 and more that half of the high school graduates were women.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn

REPORTS OF THE U. S. NAVAL TECHNICAL MISSION TO JAPAN


Treasure chest of info:


http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/primary_ ... MJ_toc.htm

Thanks.

There are a hundred things more productive I could be doing right now, but I'm gripped reading about neuro-psychaitry in the Japanese armed forces.

[Anthropoid]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

ORIGINAL: Skyros

The struggles they had with quality and production during the war has always made me wonder if that is why they were so eager to adopt the practices of W. Edward Deming after the war.

Yes, and not just the hard liners. Most important is that ever since the Meiji restoration there was a very clear picture of the need for adoption of Western schooling and education methods. Japan had come a long way but by the beginning of the War was still far behind the West. It amazes me how few WWII addicts (I am one) fail to see the importance of this. Japan simply did not have enough college and secondary educated people to engage in a modern industrial war. This was the fundamental weakness of their economy over everything else. You can make a good foot soldier out of a peasant but not a good mechanic or industrial worker. By 1939 only about half of the Japanese population had received the equivalent of a US sixth grade education. And Japanese women lagged far behind that. The US, where by 1939 it was common for most girls to at least have some high school education, had a pool of under utilized educated women who could step in and fill a lot of roles in industry and technical fields that were vacated by men who were in the armed forces. This was not the case in Japan and was a problem in both Germany and the UK.

I looked it up and was amazed to see that 40% of all bachelors degrees went to women in 1940 and more that half of the high school graduates were women.

So solid primary and secondary schooling with at least a modicum of post-secondary education were the keys to winning the War in the Pacific!?

I like that hypothesis! [:)]

One could also apply it to certain modern day adversaries of Western ways . . .

[pontiouspilot]

Interesting reading....very valid commentary

[MakeeLearn]

All are welcome. I stumbled across this while looking for something else.



Ive been reading X-40(N) - Oceanography in Japan, Professor Sledge told me that for invasion intel of the beaches the Marines used prewar reseach papers of marine biologist Emperor Hirohito himself. Especially info on the reefs.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn

All are welcome. I stumbled across this while looking for something else.



Ive been reading X-40(N) - Oceanography in Japan, Professor Sledge told me that for invasion intel of the beaches the Marines used prewar reseach papers of marine biologist Emperor Hirohito himself. Especially info on the reefs.

[:D] Well that's irony!