Victory at Sea - Imperial Japanese

The Japanese understood the potential of airpower, early on, creating an effective carrier arm. In addition, the Imperial Japanese Navy possessed a powerful battleship force, which included the largest and most powerful battleships in the world, the Yamato and the Musashi.

The Imperial Japanese Navy’s potential was demonstrated in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, devastating the US fleet at anchor. Midway was the turning point of naval war in the Pacific and, thereafter, the Japanese were unable to make headway against the increasing carrier strength of the US Navy. With the victorious Allies pushing towards the Japanese islands, kamikaze aircraft and other suicide weapons were deployed against US forces.

Learn more about the Japanese fleets HERE

Victory at Sea IJN fleet
[countdown]2020/08/29 0:0:00[/countdown] For centuries, Japan's policy of seclusion (sakoku) saw it concentrate on coastal defences in order to repel foreign vessels. However, with the advances other maritime nations were making, it eventually became obvious that no longer would Japan be able to ignore the...

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Battle for the Pacific - Victory at Sea starter game
Victory at Sea is the game of naval combat during the Second World War. Throughout 1939–45, the nations of the world duelled across the oceans across the globe, only to discover the fundamental nature of naval warfare changing in the face of rapidly developing...

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Victory at Sea - IJN Submarines & MTB sections
Submarines: The Kaidai-7-class, or KD-7, was developed in the late 1930s, following on from the preceding KD-6 class. With a surface range of 8,000nm at 16kts, and a submerged endurance of 50nm at 5kts, they possessed a slightly better underwater performance to the late-model...

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Victory at Sea - IJN Aircraft
Witnessing massed airpower at the Battle of Taranto, the Japanese were quick to master the tactic, as seen in their infamous attack on Pearl Harbor. Later in the war, having suffered from terrible attrition and facing defeat, the Japanese turned desperately to kamikaze attacks....

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Victory at Sea: Kirishima
The Kongō-class, dating from 1912, was rebuilt between 1927 and 1931 and was thereafter re-rated as a battleship. Armed with eight 14-inch guns in dual turrets and a secondary battery of sixteen 6-inch guns, the Kongō was further rebuilt in the late 1930s. Hiei...

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Victory at Sea – Shōkaku
The two ships of the Shōkaku-class (Shōkaku and Zuikaku) were used with extreme effectiveness in many engagements within the Pacific theatre. Starting at Pearl Harbor, the role of honour includes sinking the British carrier HMS Hermes and aiding in the destruction of the USS Lexington and USS Hornet,...

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Victory at Sea – Musashi
By a large margin, the Yamato and Musashi were the largest battleships ever built and were the product of advancing Japanese technology. They were twice the displacement of most Allied battleships and their 18.1-inch guns could outrange anything in the Allied arsenal. It was the hope of the...

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Victory at Sea - Kagero-class Destroyers
Essentially an enlarged Fubuki-class, the Kagerō-class hull design was scaled up to overcome earlier design deficiencies. As a result, the Kagerō-class was the equal of any of its contemporaries in other navies and superior to most. Only the initial lack of radar and continued...

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Victory at Sea Fubuki-class Destroyers
Described as the world’s first “modern” destroyer, twenty-four of the class served in the Imperial Japanese Navy. They were built between 1926 and 1933, and despite being decidedly older than some of their adversaries, they remained formidable opponents until the end of the war....

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Victory at Sea - Yahagi
Yahagi was the third of the Agano class of light cruiser, intended to be the flagship of a destroyer flotilla. She was completed in December 1943. She participated in the Battles of the Philippine and Leyte Gulf and remained relatively unscathed despite weathering repeated...

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Victory at Sea - Mikuma
The second of the four Mogami class heavy cruisers, Mikuma was completed in 1935 but quickly underwent refits to replace her main turrets with twin 203 mm guns. Her former weapons, triple 155mm guns went to Yamato. Early in her career she was tasked...

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Victory at Sea - Imperial Japanese Navy Dice and Dice Bag
Supplement your new naval arsenal with a dice bag emblazoned with your chosen Victory at Sea fleet's nation flag, and matching coloured dice. Warning: not guaranteed to make you roll better.... Includes 4 x D10 and 10 x D6

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Victory at Sea - Suzuya
The heavy cruiser, Suzuya, is believed to be one of the deepest shipwrecks on record at (a yet) unconfirmed 27,600 feet. She met her fate at the Battle of Leyte Gulf when she was beset upon by carrier-based aircraft – a torpedo exploding in...

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Victory at Sea - Zuikaku
Zuikaku ( 瑞鶴 “Auspicious Crane”), a Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier, along with her sister ship, were the most successful carriers operated by the Japanese Navy during WW2. The Japanese had learnt many lessons prior to her construction and as such Zuikaku was considerably larger, better...

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Victory at Sea - Kongo
Kongō (金剛, “Indestructible Diamond”), named for the mountain, was the first battleship of her class, serving in both the first and second world wars. At the time of construction in the early 1910s she was a capital ship (the last Japanese Capital ship to...

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Victory at Sea - Akagi
Originally laid down as an Amagi-class battlecruiser, the stipulations of the Washington Treaty resulted in her conversion to an aircraft carrier. As a result, Akagi (赤城, "Red Castle") was one of Japan’s first large aircraft carriers. Akagi and her near-sister Kaga straddled the line...

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Victory at Sea: Yamato
[countdown]2020/08/29 0:0:00[/countdown]Yamato (大和, "Great Harmony") and her sister ship, Musashi, were constructed shortly before the outbreak of World War II. They were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed; armed with nine 18.1” Type 94 main guns – the largest guns ever...

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Victory at Sea - Aichi D3A1 Val Flights
A naval dive bomber with many similarities to the German Ju 87 Stuka, the Val was armed with two fixed forward machineguns and two rear trainable ones. It carried a crew of two and a light bomb load. Used in the anti-shipping dive-bomber mode,...

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Victory at Sea Mogami 1939
Mogami was the lead ship of her class, which consisted of four heavy cruisers which served in the Imperial Japanese Navy. These were exceptionally large for light cruisers, but were constructed in such a manner as to obey the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922,...

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Victory at Sea Furutaka 1939
Furutaka was the lead of her two-ship class of heavy cruiser. She was named for the mountain located on the island of Etajima, off Hiroshima bay, directly behind the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy. She participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea and the...

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