[ARC5] Japanese technology

[Sandy]

We were way behind in radar as well until the "Cavity Magnetron" opened up 
the microwave spectrum for high resolution radar technology.  Nowadays we 
have much superior microwave receiving gear due to solid state amplifiers 
making the receivers MUCH more sensitive!

Anybody interested in "torpedo troubles" that our submarine fleet had should 
research the writings of a sub skipper named Dudley "Mush" Morton, who 
commanded the fleet boat "Wahoo".  Edward L. "Ned" Beach also wrote quite a 
bit about torpedo problems in his writings about the failure of many 
torpedoes which killed not a few of our sub crews and blunted the efforts of 
others.

73,

Sandy W5TVW
-----Original Message----- 
From: Kenneth G. Gordon
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2012 1:29 PM
To: ARC5 at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [ARC5] Japanese technology

On 24 Mar 2012 at 14:07, gordon white wrote:

>      While they were behind in radar,

And, IMHO, in squad and aircraft communications...

I understand that, at least early in the war, Japanese pilots would 
routinely
remove their radios because they were so worthless, and that would enable
them to carry a bit more ammo.

> their night-fighting at sea
> techniques were ahead of ours in 1941-42 (Maybe the Germans were
> giving them superior Zeiss night binoculars?)

Yes, but when we finally added radar-fire-direction capabilities to our 
ship-
board fire control computers, our forces took a quantum leap in 
night-fighting
capability and effectiveness. An incident mentioned here concerning the
Battleship "Washington" supports this opinion.

> and their long-lance
> torpedoes were way ahead of ours for quite a while.

OH, YES! Our torpedoes were a real and very serious scandal from early to
practically mid-WWII. They were pretty much worthless, and were the cause
of many deaths and failures. I cannot understand how that situation was let
go on for so long. It really and seriously stunk to high heaven.

The Japanese Long Lance torpedo was a real masterpiece of design and
implementation, and was very effective.

> Our superior
> technologies took a while to get into service as did our superior
> production. As Yamamato said. "I'll run wild for six months" then
> watch out. From December 7, 1941 to June, 1942 (Midway) he did.

I always liked his "...behind every blade of grass..." statement. :-)

Ken W7EKB
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