text/lonely red wine
Miuchi Mitsumasa was a famous politician and admiral in Japan during World War II. Mitsumasa Yoneuchi served as the commander of the Japanese combined fleet and the minister of the navy. He also served as the prime minister of Japan in January 1940. Like Tojo Hideki, Yonechi Mitsumasa is also a fanatical militarist, very keen on Japanese expansion and aggression. But he is different from Hideki Tojo. He has always opposed a war with the United States and Britain. Mitsui Yonechi directly angered Hideki Tojo and the army: the Japanese navy was not established to fight the United States and Britain. So why did Yoneuchi Mitsumasa say that "the Japanese navy was not built to fight the United States and Britain"?
In fact, the reason why Mitsui Yonechi said so is mainly based on the national conditions of Japan and the reality of the navy. Because the foothold of the Japanese navy is the regional navy, its goal is to compete with the United States and Britain for supremacy in the Pacific. For seizing the British-led global maritime hegemony, Mitsui Minai knew that he did not have that strength yet. Because the Japanese navy does not have the capability for global operations, Japan does not have the ability to fully confront the US and British navies. First of all, the overall strength of the Japanese combined fleet is not as good as that of the United States and Britain, and the Japanese navy simply cannot beat the United States and Britain. Due to the Washington Treaty and the limitations of national power, until the outbreak of the Pacific War, the overall strength of the Japanese navy was still inferior to that of the United States and Britain. If the Japanese had not taken a sneak attack, it would be a problem for Japan to dare to challenge the U.S. Navy.
The most important thing is that Japan is a rising industrial country with a very thin family base, and itself is a small island country with scarce resources. Therefore, Japan's national strength is not on the same level as the United States and Britain. Japan has neither sufficient resources nor strong national power, nor does it have the vast colonies of the British and the vast homeland of the United States. The United States and Britain have a solid foundation and abundant resources. The industrial production capacity, strategic resources, technological level, and personnel training are not comparable to Japan. Although Japan was frugal before the war, tightened its belt to save some money, and built a strong fleet, the development of the fleet was uneven. Due to limited resources, Japan has invested all resources in the production of battleships, resulting in too few auxiliary ships and obvious shortcomings in air defense, anti-submarine, and logistics. Of course, there is no other way around this, after all, Japan's resources are so small.
Due to lack of resources and weak national strength, the Japanese navy has insufficient stamina for development. This is the consensus of Japanese navy generals such as Mitsumasa Yonechi and Yamamoto Fifty-Six. They know the strength and weakness of the Japanese navy, so they oppose war with the United States and Britain. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, Japan launched very few ships and could not keep up with the training of personnel. They almost fought a little less. For example, the late Oho and Shinano were sunk because of two sword sailors. On the other hand, the opponents of the United States and Britain, the ships are just like the dumplings, the more they fight, the more seafarers are, and the overwhelming advantage is formed in a short time. Although Yonechi Mitsumasa and others are also keen on aggression and expansion, they still have self-knowledge and have not lost their sanity like Tojo Hideki and others. So they have been vigorously opposed to war with the United States and Britain. But after all, the arms could not twist the thighs. At that time, the fanatical Japanese were completely mad. Mitsumasa Yonechi and Fifty-Six Yamamoto also had to succumb. The Japanese navy could only bite the bullet and go to war with the United States and Britain. As a result, as expected by Yonechi Komasa, the Japanese navy was rubbed against the ground by the U.S. Navy, and the Japanese navy lost its pants in the end.
