Fordtunate Son

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Military Pron -The Pacific War 5 of ?

Sep 27, 2023, 2:46 PM

In 1905, nations were seeing red in the Pacific.

Everybody just seemed to be angry after the 1905 Russo-Japanese War:

Japan was angry at America for not getting enough swag from the peace treaty,
England was angry at Russia for being overly aggressive in China,
and China was angry at well, just everyone.

What would it take to get all these angry Pacific Players back on good terms again?
Turns out, a World War.

But let’s not jump the gun just yet (gun, lol.)

America wasn’t angry at anyone in 1905, but they were concerned. The unexpected triple axx-kicking (two fleets and an army) that the Japanese dished out to the Russian bear was alarming to say the least. So alarming that it changed US military planning in the Pacific forever.

The USS Charleston of the Pacific Squadron. She was the first steel hulled ship to be lost by the US navy, when she ran aground in the Philippines in 1899. Sad face.

The basic plan the US came up with, in the event of war with Japan, was to use their shiny new possessions; Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines, as stepping-stones to get to Japan. Then, we’d blockade Japan for the win (because it’s still an island with just rocks and rice.) Simple.

Plan Orange

The problem was that Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines, as military bases, were complete sh**. Granted, they had great potential, but in 1905 it would take a lot of infrastructure to make them the supply and support equivalent of the US West Coast.

And what that meant was, that if a ship got damaged out in the Pacific, it had to travel all the way to San Francisco to be repaired. And the Japanese knew that. So they planned to be waiting anywhere along that path with submarines if war broke out.

The Japanese counter to Plan Orange

But in 1907, the first thing on Teddy Roosevelt’s agenda, even before upgrading bases that might take decades to finish, was intimidation.

No, not intimidating Caribbean and Central American nations (though he did that too), but intimidating the Japanese…and others.

So Teddy sent 16 US battleships, and all their accompanying support fleet, on a little “Sunday Drive” around the world. Just to show anyone, and everyone, that 16 battleships were no more than a few days away from your shore…if they should ever need to come calling.

The Great White Fleet, 1907

The tour was a resounding success. I mean, who’s going to have anything bad to say about 16 battleships showing up on your doorstep? And it was the first time that America really flexed her muscles not only in the Pacific, but on the world stage.

It must have had a calming effect in the Pacific, because for the first time in a long time, everyone sort of chilled and stayed in their lanes. And behind the scenes, other agreements were being worked out, by Secretary of War Howard Taft and Japanese Prime Minister Katsura. Who were possibly separated at birth.

Taft signed an agreement with Japanese, that while not secret, also wasn’t exactly publicized either. It basically said “America has no interest in Korea, and Japan has no interest in the Philippines. We’re good, and you’re good, right?”

Again, it wasn’t really a secret, and it wasn’t really a treaty, it was just more of a gentleman’s agreement. Tucked in an envelope, at the bottom of a file, deep in a warehouse, in an undisclosed location.

But it really sucked for Korea, because we actually did have a formal “amity” treaty with them. One that said:

“If other powers deal unjustly or oppressively with either Government, the other will exert their good offices to bring about an amicable arrangement.” Or, we got each other’s back.

So by agreeing that Japan could occupy Korea, all our Korea love went right down the crapper.

In any event, there was peace in the Pacific for the moment, and miraculously, that peace continued right on through the War to End All Wars.

A lovely forest in WW1 Europe

In contrast to Europe, and even the Middle East, there was virtually no war at all in the Pacific in WW1. Most of the major powers got along swimmingly. Germany did incite a failed coup in China, and the King of Siam declared war on Germany, but that was about it.

Who knew?

Japan and Britain continued their long-lasting friendship by jointly kicking Germany out of China at Tsingtao. It was notable for some new contraptions. The Germans had one of these…

The Rumpler Taube (Dove)

And the Japanese had 2 of these…

And there is a claim that the very first air-to-air combat was not in Europe, but in China, when a kraut pilot shot a nip pilot with his pistol.

But the Japanese also had a few of these. Sea based planes. And they would change sea combat forever. But not just yet.

In other world news, the US completed a canal in Panama.

The US had long been supporting Panamanian rebels in their bid to separate themselves from Colombia. And what do you know, as soon as those rebels gained their independence, they gave us the rights to build that canal. Sometimes you just get lucky.

The canal immediately became the lynchpin to war planning in the Pacific, and the defense of the canal was the foremost priority. The fear was subs, or aircraft launched from subs, destroying these gates.

The canal was also a great holiday getaway for any enlisted man.

Keep in mind that this map is actually oriented correctly. You travel west to east to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

America signed another trade agreement with our Japanese friends in 1917 called the Lansing–Ishii Agreement. It said that both America and Japan would treat China fairly, but that Japan had a “special interest” in the Manchuria region. When the Chinese, who still owned Manchuria, found out, we had to dissolved the treaty. Kind of awkward.

Some people just never give up

The Japanese also used WW1 to grab a bunch of islands the Germans had bought from the Spanish about 30 years earlier. And at the end of the war in 1918, as a reward for being on the side of the good guys, the Allied Powers told Japan “eh, just keep them.” They were called the Japanese Mandate.

In the Pacific, peace was much easier than in Europe.

If only it could have stayed that way…

Because as soon as the ink dried on all the post-war European treaties, things started to get tense again. This time, it was a post-war arms race. And the nuclear weapon of the day was the battleship.

Nations had been building them like mad since 1905, and by 1920, it was getting out of hand.

And now, for the first time ever, Japan had the ability to build 1st-rate battleships of her own. She no longer needed Britain to build them for her. She still needed the raw materials to construct and operate them, but she now had national manufacturing capacity. Uh oh.

The Mitsubishi Naval Shipyard at Nagasaki.

The Kawasaki Shipyard at Kobe. Let the good times roll.

So in 1922, a conference was held in Washington to put a stop to the madness, and almost everybody attended.

The Washington Conference, 1922

The logic of the conference went like this: “We acknowledge that everyone has to defend their lands, but some have more lands than others. Italy, for instance, only has to defend the Mediterranean, while England has to defend the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans to protect her interests.”

So, caps were put on how much tonnage could be built per navy, as well as a ratio between navies. When the number shook out, in the Pacific, the British:American:Japanese ratio was 5:5:3.

The Japanese weren’t happy but accepted the deal. The logic was that they only had to defend the Pacific Ocean, and they were getting a slight bump up from 5:2.5 to 5:3 to do that. But, their war planning envisioned two battles in the event of war.

First, they would have to fight the US Pacific Fleet, and then the US Atlantic Fleet. And to have a fair chance in back-to-back battles, they thought they needed a 10:7, or 5:3.5 ratio. So, for the second time since getting rooked in the 1905 Russian-Japanese treaty, they felt slighted by the Western nations again.

White women beware!

Titteh!

From the Japanese perspective, they had been nothing but a great ally for 70 years. They took down the Russian threat single handedly in 1905. They bought all the coolest battleships and latest weapons and traded extensively to help the British and American economies. They assisted the 8 Nation Alliance in subduing China and putting down the Boxer Rebellion. They signed treaties that took the Philippines out of play for American interests. They had a defense treaty with England against Russia. They fought against the German Huns in WW1. And they even helped protect British shipping in the Mediterranean from German U-Boats. WHAT?

True. The British and Japanese defending Malta, together with their Italian allies.

And yet somehow, they kept getting the short (snicker) end of the stick when it came to treaties.

What else could they do to be better friends than they had already done?

But Japan swallowed her pride once more in 1922, and peace was maintained. And with a ten-year ban on battleship construction, the 1920’s would become a time of simmering uneasiness, and a testing period for a new and upcoming technology that had nothing to do with battleships. And that’s where we’ll continue.