Royal Navy Strategy in the Far East, 1919-1939: Preparing for War against Japan (Cass Series--Naval Policy and History, 22)

288 Pages·2004·4.08 MB·English

by  Andrew Field

ROYAL NAVY STRATEGY
IN THE FAR EAST
1919–1939
CASS SERIES: NAVAL POLICY AND HISTORY
ISSN 1366–9478
General Editor: Geoffrey Till
This series consists primarily of original manuscripts by research scholars in the
general area of naval policy and history, without national or chronological
limitations. It will from time to time also include collections of important articles
aswellas reprints of classic works.
1. Austro-HungarianNavalPolicy,1904–1914
MilanN.Vego
2. Far-FlungLines:StudiesinImperialDefenceinHonourofDonaldMackenzieSchurman
EditedbyKeithNeilsonandGregKennedy
3. MaritimeStrategyandContinentalWars
RearAdmiralRajaMenon
4. TheRoyalNavyandGermanNavalDisarmament1942–1947
ChrisMadsen
5. NavalStrategyandOperationsinNarrowSeas
MilanN.Vego
6. ThePenandInkSailor:CharlesMiddletonandtheKing’sNavy,1778–1813
JohnE.Talbott
7. TheItalianNavyandFascistExpansionism,1935–1940
RobertMallett
8. TheMerchantMarineinInternationalAffairs,1850–1950
EditedbyGregKennedy
9. NavalStrategyinNortheastAsia:Geo-strategicGoals,PoliciesandProspects
Duk-KiKim
10. NavalPolicyandStrategyintheMediterranean:Past,PresentandFuture
EditedbyJohnB.Hattendorf
11. Stalin’s Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programmes, 1935–
1953
Ju¨rgenRohwerandMikhailS.Monakov
12. ImperialDefence,1868–1887
DonaldMackenzieSchurman;editedbyJohnBeeler
13. TechnologyandNavalCombatintheTwentiethCenturyandBeyond
EditedbyPhillipsPaysonO’Brien
14. TheRoyalNavyandNuclearWeapons
RichardMoore
15. TheRoyalNavyandtheCapitalShipintheInterwarPeriod:AnOperationalPerspective
JosephMoretz
16. ChineseGrandStrategyandMaritimePower
ThomasM.Kane
17. Britain’sAnti-SubmarineCapability,1919–1939
GeorgeFranklin
18. Britain,FranceandtheNavalArmsTradeintheBaltic,1919–1939:GrandStrategyand
Failure
DonaldStoker
19. NavalMutiniesoftheTwentiethCentury:AnInternationalPerspective
EditedbyChristopherBellandBruceElleman
20. TheRoadtoOran:Anglo-FrenchNavalRelations,September1939–July1940
DavidBrown
21. TheSecretWaragainstSweden:USandBritishSubmarineDeceptioninthe1980s
OlaTunander
22. RoyalNavyStrategyintheFarEast,1919–1939:PlanningforWaragainstJapan
AndrewField
ROYAL NAVY STRATEGY
IN THE
FAR EAST
1919–1939
Preparing for War against Japan
Andrew Field
FRANK CASS
LONDON . NEW YORK
First publishedin 2004inGreat Britainby
FRANKCASS
11NewFetter Lane,
London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneouslypublished inthe USAandCanadaby
FRANKCASS
29West 35thStreet, NewYork,NY 10001
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Frank Cass isanimprintof theTaylor &Francis Group
Copyright #2004A. Field
British Library Cataloguingin PublicationData
Field,Andrew
Royal Navy strategy in the Far East 1919–1939: preparing for war against Japan. – (Cass
series.Navalpolicyandhistory;22)
1.GreatBritain.RoyalNavy–History–20thcentury
2.Sea-power–GreatBritain–History–20thcentury
3.Navy-yardsandnavalstations,British–Asia–History–20thcentury4.GreatBritain–
History,Naval–20thcentury5.GreatBritain–Militarypolicy–History–20thcentury
6.GreatBritain–Defenses–History–20thcentury7.GreatBritain–Foreignrelations–
Japan8.Japan–Foreignrelations–GreatBritain9.GreatBritain–Foreignrelations–1910–
193610.GreatBritain–Foreignrelations–1936–1945
I.Title
3590.0300941009042
ISBN 0-203-49934-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-58181-4 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN0-7146-5321-7(cloth)
ISSN1366-9478
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Field,Andrew
RoyalNavystrategyintheFarEast1919–1939:preparingforwaragainstJapan/Andrew
Field.
p.cm.–(Cassseries–Navalpolicyandhistory;22)
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p.)andindex.
ISBN0-7146-5321-7(cloth)
1.GreatBritain.RoyalNavy–History–20thcentury.2.GreatBritain–History,Naval–
20thcentury.3.GreatBritain–Foreignrelations–Japan.4.Japan–Foreignrelations–Great
Britain.5.EastAsia–Foreignrelations–GreatBritain.6.GreatBritain–Foreignrelations–
East Asia. 7. Great Britain – Foreign relations – 1910–1936. 8. Great Britain – Foreign
relations–1936–1945.I.Title.II.Series.
VA454.F4852003
3590.030094109041–dc22
Allrights reserved. No partof this publicationmay be reproduced, storedinor
introduced intoa retrieval systemor transmittedinany formor byanymeans,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording orotherwise, without theprior
writtenpermission of thepublisher ofthis book.
Contents
List of Illustrations vi
List of Maps vii
List of Tables viii
Series Editor’s Preface ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
1 The Influence of a Far Eastern Strategy on British Naval
Policy 19
2 A Far Eastern Strategy: War Memorandum (Eastern) 48
3 Admiral Richmond and War Memorandum (Eastern) 74
4 Developing the Far Eastern Strategy: War Memorandum
(Eastern) and Changing Circumstances, 1931–41 97
5 Battle Fleet Tactics and a War in the Far East 123
6 The Royal Navy’s Strategic and Tactical Exercises 158
7 Japanese Naval Strategy and Tactics in the Far East 183
8 Main Fleet to Singapore: The Sinking of HMS Prince
of Wales and HMS Repulse and the End of War
Memorandum (Eastern) 213
Conclusion: War Memorandum (Eastern) and the Royal
Navy’s Strategic, Operational and Tactical Development 230
Select Bibliography 250
Index 267
Illustrations
page
1. The traditional view of British sea power; British
battleships in line ahead. 33
2. A Sopwith Cuckoo drops a torpedo on the Atlantic
Fleet in Portland Harbour, 6 September 1919. 34
3. HMS Queen Elizabeth. 34
4. HMS Resolution. 34
5, 6. Two views of HMS Courageous. 35
7. One of the Royal Navy’s County-class cruisers. 36
8. HMS Dauntless. 36
9. HMS Leander. 36
10. HMS Southampton. 37
11. HMS Express. 37
12. Tribal-class destroyer. 37
13. Retired Admiral, Percy Scott’s 1920s prophetic view
of a naval battle of the future. 125
14. Japanese battleship Mutsu. 198
15. The battleship Fuso. 199
16. The fast battleship Kongo. 199
17. The aircraft carrier Kaga. 200
18. The light cruiser Yura. 200
19. Improved versions of Japan’s first Treaty cruisers, the
Furutaka class. 201
20. Japanese cruiser Ashigara. 201
21. Inter-war Japanese destroyer Yusuki. 202
22. Shikinami of the Fubuki class. 202
Credits: photographs 2, 5, 6, by courtesy of the Fleet Air Arm Museum; 13, from
P.Padfield,GunsatSea(HughEvelyn,London,1973),p.283;14,15,bycourtesyof
A.J.Cashmore;1620,21,bycourtesyofMaritimePhotoLibrary;17,18,19,22,by
courtesy of the National Maritime Museum; remaining photographs are from the
author’scollection.
Maps
page
Map 1: The Major Battle Fleet Strength of the World,
1931 20
Map 2: War Memorandum (Eastern), The Route to the
East 52
Map 3: War Memorandum (Eastern), 1924–31 65
Map 4: The Naval Balance in 1941 223
Tables
page
Table 1: Oil fuel requirements and proposed supply
arrangements in the east, 1921 55
Table 2: Oil storage proposals, 1923 61
Table 3: British battle fleet in cruising formation, 1924 136
Table 4: Rates of hitting table 145
Table 5: Number of necessary Non-Vital Hits by 12-inch
gun and above to sink a battleship 146
Table 6: Effects of 15-inch gunnery on cruisers and
unarmoured vessels 146
Table 7: Effects of 6-inch gunnery on cruisers and
unarmoured vessels 146
Table 8: Admiralty War Game Hits per Gun per Minute
table, 1929 147
Table 9: Japanese naval strength 195
Series Editor’s Preface
The long story of the shifting interwar policy of the Royal Navy
towards the Far East ended with the sinking by the Japanese of the
Prince of Wales and the Repulse on 10 December 1941. For the
British this was a tragic event which signalled the end of an era of
strategic dominance over the area; when taken alongside the
successful Japanese assault on the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbour,
that defeat also appeared to signal the end of the battleship era in
navalwarfare.Puttogether,thesetwoeventsofDecember1941seem
tohaveamountedtoatransformation,arevolutioninmilitaryaffairs.
Everything afterwards would be and was different from what had
gone before.
This book explores and analyses the background to these events
and shows, however, that things were not so simple, and the Royal
Navy was perfectly aware of the real challenges it faced and
accordingly evolved a pragmatic and adaptive strategy to deal with
them. December 1941 was not a bolt from a clear blue sky,
destroying the blissful ignorance of a naval generation too blinkered
to be aware of what was happening around them.
Instead, those events need to be seen as the end of a long and for
the most part perfectly conscious process of adaptation to a steadily
deteriorating situation. At the level of grand strategy, the notion of
building up Singapore, and sending out a main fleet from European
waters,whencircumstancespermitted,seemedtheonlywayinwhich
the Admiralty could balance its resources and its commitments.
During the 1920s, the Royal Navy was confident that this would
secure British interests in the Far East.
But during the 1930s with the rise of serious German and Italian
threats in European waters, such aspirations had to be reduced. The
main fleet became smaller, the time interval before Singapore could
be relieved longer. The critical assumptions that the Royal Navy