WW2 IJN fleet size

[Twiggy]

what is a good starting fleet size for micronaughts Imerial Japanese Navy?
CVx?
bbx?
ect

[Luca]

Hi, very soon I'll start painting some italian and british vessels. I just choose a naval battle to start with, the battle of cape Matapan of 1942. I studied the battle and found the order of battle of both the fleets. But the mediterranean battles involved less units then the battles of the pacific. bye!

[battlewagon]

I would suggest picking a battle from the Solomons campaign, lots of cruisers and destroyers and a couple of battleships as well. These are battles with smaller, well matched and readily available (and less expensive) ships. I would recommend getting familiar with surface combat in the Pacific including long lance torpedoes before incorporating carriers and their airwings and / or land based aircraft into the mix.
I hope this helps.

Matt

[av8rmongo]

I agree totally with what Matt said. The ** CENSORED ** campaign gives you lots of different opportunities. The only drawback is that they are mostly night actions. I say drawback only because its extra rules to learn when you're just starting out. The benfit though is you have a greater chance at achieving tactical surprise than day engagements. Using wargaming as a study of history you get an appreciation for how quickly events can turn on a minor events - what if the Japanese force isn't able to slip past the US picket destroyer - that sort of thing.

In fact the Solomons lets you build easily, as your experience grows, to include everything from subs to airpower to carrier strikes. Good luck and have fun!

Paul

[Donald M. Scheef]

My recommendations for initial WWII Japanese fleet purchases:


As battlewagon recommended, I would stay away from carriers until I had developed familiarity with surface actions. If, however, you must have carriers in your initial fleet purchases, I suggest Shokaku and Zuikaku (IJN14). These were highly-effective ships that were available early in the war and survived Midway.


I would not totally ignore aircraft. You should get a pack of Japanese naval recon planes (IJN33) for the Emily and Mavis that played an essential role in long-range reconnaissance. You should also get a pack of land-based bombers (IJN35) for the Nells and Bettys that were widely active in anti-shipping attacks. If you do not get any aircraft carriers, you should also get at least one pack of carrier planes (IJN31). This includes Zekes, Jills, Kates, and Vals. Even if you have no carriers, these aircraft also flew from island bases in the Pacific.


For battleships, I recommend you restrict yourself to the four Kongo class to begin with (two IJN9, one IJN10 and one IJN48). These ships were the most active of the Japanese surface capital ships. The Fuso and Ise classes were too slow for the most interesting scenarios (and ugly to boot). The Mutsu class was very effective, but held in reserve for the “decisive battle.â€￾ The Yamato class was fantastically impressive, but never really got involved in ship-to-ship combat.


For cruisers, there are several classes that belong in any collection:

The Mogami class (4 ships, INJ17), Takao class (4 ships, IJN45), and Myoko class (4 ships, IJN36) should all be represented. These very large heavy cruisers were active throughout the war (until sunk). If your budget is limited, I would start with the Takao class. IJN11 also represents the Takao class, but this is a late-war version.

I would skip the Tone class. This included only two ships, and they were not as successful as the Myoko/Takao/Mogami series.

I also recommend purchasing the Furutaka (2 ships, IJN12) and Aoba (2 ships, IJN32) classes. These smaller heavy cruisers were active in several significant battles.

The Agano is another class to skip. The only modern-looking Japanese light cruisers of the war; their concept was flawed and they saw relatively little combat.

Get a Yubari (IJN47).

The Sendai class (3 ships, IJN16) and Nagara class (6 ships, IJN24) were obsolescent in appearance, but were used widely as destroyer leaders.

Kitakami and Oi (IJN8) were aberrations, but deserve inclusion for their massive torpedo armament. Although they never got a chance to employ this in combat, the hypothetical situations are interesting.


The largest part of any WWII fleet is the destroyers.

The Akizuki class (12 ships, IJN6) had excellent all-around armament (including a fully dual-purpose primary gun). I would not get these in my first round of purchases because they did not appear until later in the war and then spent most of their careers escorting the remaining carriers. IJN7 also represents this class, but is a late-war version.

The 48 ships of the Yugumo (IJN5), Kagero, and Asashiho (IJN20) classes are a necessity. These are the first figures that I would purchase. Get at least two packs to start with – the Japanese tended to have destroyer groups of six ships rather than the eight-ship groups of the USN and UK Royal Navy.

The 16 ships of the Shiratsuyu (IJN13) and Hatsuharu (IJN38) classes are also very important. Place these near the top of your purchase list.

The 24 ships of the Akatsuki and Fubuki (IJN22) classes should also be purchased early in your program.

The 36 ships of the Mutsuki, Kamikaze (IJN221), and Minekaze classes are clearly older than the other destroyer classes listed. However, they were widely used and should be purchased – get two packs of three ships in your first order.

I would defer purchasing any of the Matsu class escort destroyers (IJN19). These did not appear until later in the war, and then were used mostly for escort purposes. As such, they saw much more combat with US submarines and aircraft than with surface ships.


I wouldn’t bother purchasing submarines. My personal opinion is that the proper model of a submarine in 1/2400 scale is a speck of dust representing a periscope feather. If you must, IJN29 is a perfectly good model of the I19 class.


Don S.