The Japanese Battleship Fusō, displaying it's towering 'Pagoda Mast' superstructure.

What I found funny was the Japanese battleships did jack shit during the war. Most were held back in anticipation of the 'Kantai Kessen' decisive battle that was to come. They literally hoped the US Navy could be lured into destruction in what was practically Tsushima 2.0.

The pre WW1-era Kongō-class Battlecruisers (Kongo, Hiei, Haruna and Kirishima) did the most work during the war for the IJN while the Battleships sat at port collecting rust until the destruction of the IJN carriers at Midway meant the IJN were forced to use the Battleships.

The Kongo-Class Battlecruisers participated at the attack at Pearl harbor, the battle of Midway, the invasion of Malaya & the Dutch East Indies, the attack on Darwin, the Indian ocean raid, the invasion of Guadalcanal (where Hiei and Kirishima were sunk by US battleships) and finally the battle of Leyte Gulf. Kongo was Torpedoed and sunk by a US submarine in 1944 while retreating from Brunei to Japan and Haruna was sunk at Kure harbor in 1945 at the end of the war.

This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Feb 23 2021, 12:02 PM

One has to remember most battleships at that period are either built in the 1910s-1920s, where radar is either rudimentary or non-existent and optical target spotting was the only way. If you do rely on optical spotting methods then it does make sense to have your spotters in a high as possible vantage point to let them see further.

Most battleships of that period have some sort of tall crow's nest tower structure to maximize the range of optical target spotting, however these tend to be less pronounced or removed as radar tech improved and one don't solely rely on optical targeting anymore.


US Navy Battleship Arizona leading its battle squadron

MALAYA'S FIRST NAVAL SHIP



HMS Laburnum was one of the 24 ships of the Acacia-class Sloops. She was laid down at the Scotstoun yard of Charles Connell and Company in February 1915, launched on 10 June 1915 and completed in August 1915. The Acacia-class fleet sweeping sloops were adapted for escort work, minesweeping and as decoy warships. As an escort vessel, the Laburnum was relatively lightly armed, only equipped with two 76mm guns and three 47mm AA guns.

After a rather eventful WW1 the Laburnum was transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy in 1922 where she remained in service until 1935. Afterwards she was transferred to the Straits Settlement Naval Volunteer Reserve (precursor of the Royal Malaysian Navy) as a training ship. She remained in service until the invasion of Japan in 1942. As Japanese forces reached Singapore, the Laburnum was scuttled to prevent it being seized by the Japanese. The wreck was later raised and used as a breakwater in East Lagoon and was finally scrapped in 1967.

The threat of US ceasing oil and scrap iron exports to Japan (itself the consequence of Japan's invasion of China) is a major Japanese casus belli for PH in the first place.

It's argued that if Japan did not attack the US directly (at PH), the US would have been more amenable to a negotiated peace rather than unconditional surrender.

TLDM LAUNCHES 601 UAS SQUADRON AT SEPANGGAR NAVAL BASE



The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) created history after it launched the 601 Squadron Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) at the Sepanggar Naval Base in Sepanggar, here today.

Chief of Navy, Admiral Tan Sri Mohd Reza Mohd Sany said RMN had received 12 units of ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) aircraft from the United States government under the Maritime Security Initiative (MSI).

The ability of the aircraft, which provides real time data and requires minimal crew involvement, can increase the RMN’s ability in carrying out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions in high-risk waters in Malaysia.

“The operation of this ScanEagle aircraft is the first unmanned aircraft operation by the Malaysian Armed Forces.

“The operation of the UAS system will open a new chapter in the dimension and doctrines of our military defense and will pave the way for the use of UAS technology in our military capability in the future,” he said at the launch of the 601 Squadron UAS ScanEagle system at the Sepanggar Naval Base today.

Also present was Embassy of the United States of America Defence Attache Office, Captain Muhammad Muzzafar Feroze Khan.

Mohd Reza said the RMN plan is to acquire more UAS ScanEagle which can enhance their military and security system in the country.

“At this moment, we will operate the UAS ScanEagle on land as we need to familiarise ourselves with this new system before we move it onto our ships and vessels for real-life operations,” he said.

Mohd Reza said although the UAS ScanEagle is under the RMN, it can also be used to assist their other military forces.

“There is no constraint in using this system to assist our military counterparts, namely the Malaysian Army and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, to enhance security of our nation,” he said.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Muzzafar said the US government will deliver 12 aircraft to Malaysia by this year.

“Six UAS ScanEagle aircraft will be delivered by middle of this year while the remaining six aircraft will be delivered either by end of this year or beginning of 2022.

“We also have two CN235-220M (M44-05) tactical airlifter that are currently being modified with surveillance packages in Indonesia,” he said.

The UAS ScanEagle is a Boeing-Insitu aircraft built by the US government for Malaysia through the Maritime Security Initiative (MSI).

The system was first accepted by the RMN on May 6, 2020 which includes six aircraft, two launchers, two skyhook and three ground-control-station (GCS) worth RM180 million.

The 601 Squadron made history as the first UAS Squadron to be operated by the Malaysian Armed Forces.

The operation of UAS will provide the RMN with added advantage in terms of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance throughout Malaysian’s waters as well as increase Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA).

SOS

plus, Chennault's Flying Tigers were kicking Japanese ass all over China.

I'd argue asking for unconditional surrender did little to further the allied cause, as much as it is it only stiffened resistance and in Germany's case removed any option for an alternative government to Hitler surrendering to the allies. The unconditional surrender practically killed off any resistance to Hitler at that point as he successfully used the declaration as proof Germany had nothing to gain from surrendering and all Germany must fight to the bitter end.

IIRC Japan did sent feelers through the Soviet government in late 1944 to see if the allies were amenable to a conditional surrender that included:

1) The emperor must remain as head of Japan
2) There will be no war crimes trials
3) There will be no occupation of the Home islands
4) Japan would keep pre-1938 territories (Korea, Manchuria and Taiwan)
5) Japan would repatriate its own military forces from occupied territories on their own timetable

This.

Manchuria under Japanese (puppet) rule was still crap, but it's arguably better than the rest of China at the time. The Japanese built railroads, infrastructure and manufacturing & industrial areas the rest of china could only dream of (mostly for export to Japan though).

On the other hand, whenever you hear of Japanese atrocities in china (unit 731 et al), it mostly happened in Manchuria.

For its size Manchuria was pretty sparsely populated (most of China's population then was in the coastal and central areas). However the region was fertile and in the early years agriculture was pretty huge in Manchuria, with production of grains and soybeans being the principle agriculture product of Manchuria. As in most things produced in Manchuria, this was almost exclusively for export to Japan though.

As Japan's war in China intensified, local farmers were conscripted into factories, worsening the food problem.

This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Mar 8 2021, 11:08 AM

Pu Yi was too traumatized by his youth growing up to be any sort of aggressive person.

Northern part and interior is very cold like Siberia, but the south Liaoning region is very warm and fertile.

Latihan Perang Borneo libat 10 aset TLDM, helikopter TUDM



SANDAKAN: Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia (TLDM) telah mengadakan Latihan Perang Borneo (PB) Siri 2/21 melibatkan 10 aset laut di Perairan Sandakan.

Latihan itu merupakan pendekatan dinamik bagi menilai kesiagaan dan keupayaan Armada Markas Wilayah Laut 2 (MAWILLA 2).

Sepuluh aset laut yang menyertai latihan itu melibatkan KD Kedah, KA Tun Azizan, KD Paus, KD Baung, KD Todak, KD Yu, KD Sri Gaya, KD Sri Tiga, KD Sri Johor, dan Bot Tempur CB 90 HEX.

Sebuah helikopter jenis EC 725 milik Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM) turut menyertai latihan kali ini yang diterbangkan khas dari Pangkalan Udara Labuan.

Latihan itu telah dilaksanakan selama dua hari bermula pada 24 Februari lepas yang melibatkan latihan fasa pelabuhan dan fasa laut.

Elemen Tugas (Task Element) yang terdiri daripada 11 buah aset itu telah diaturgerak ke kawasan latihan dalam keadaan bertindak.

Kapal-kapal yang terlibat telah diuji dengan beberapa siri latihan seperti melalui kawasan bebas periuk api, ilmu kelautan, pengoperasian helikopter, persenjataan, komunikasi, taktik peperangan dan kecemasan.

Latihan dilaksanakan bertujuan bagi menguji tahap kesiapsiagaan kru kapal dalam menghadapi pelbagai situasi kecemasan di atas dan bawah permukaan air.

Latihan siri kedua ini telah disertai oleh Panglima Armada Timur, Laksamana Madya Dato’ Sabri Zali yang turut menyertai latihan siri 2 itu berkata, “Eksesais Perang Borneo kali ini bukan sahaja bermatlamat untuk meningkatkan tahap kompetensi Armada tetapi juga bagi menguji tahap kesiapsiagaan aset-aset terlibat terutamanya semasa negara sedang menghadapi ancaman pandemik COVID-19.

“Latihan Perang Borneo ini merupakan persediaan awal menghadapi eksesais yang berskala lebih besar dengan penglibatan negara-negara asing pada masa hadapan kelak," katanya.

sos

That's rifle is suspiciously too clean and spotlessly shiny to have been in service....

Malaysian peacekeepers apprehend a suspected militant with the help of eyewitnesses. Dili, East Timor 2006.

Still pretty bad though. The economy is very highly reliant on agriculture. Service and manufacturing sector is practically non-existent. The O&G sector is literally half of their GDP.

Regarding their meagre military, the ground forces only consists of 2 battalions of infantry, the naval forces only consisting of several patrol boats and the entire air force is a single Cessna 172 single prop light aircraft. Their defence budget of USD30 million is nearly 3% of their entire GDP already.

Australia has been accused of “siphoning” millions of dollars a month in oil revenue that should belong to Timor-Leste, because the government is yet to ratify last year’s maritime border treaty.

Estimates suggest the revenue taken by Australia since the signing of the treaty now totals more than it has given to Timor-Leste in foreign aid, and more than Timor-Leste spends on health in a year.

The historic treaty, signed at the United Nations in March 2018, delimited a permanent maritime border to close the Timor Gap, and established a “special regime” area for sharing an untapped, multibillion-dollar gas field in the Timor Sea. The new border confirmed several former and operational fields were in Timorese territory, despite decades of Australia profiting from them.

At the time of the signing, Australia insisted the treaty would not take effect until both countries had ratified it. But the Australian government has now failed to ratify the deal before the announcement of the federal election. Critics have blamed this on the “dysfunction” of the Coalition government and 45th parliament.

The delay has meant that Australia continues to draw profits from the Bayu-Undan fields, which had previously been split 90-10 but was confirmed by the treaty to have belonged entirely to Timor-Leste.

Estimates vary between $350,000 and $2.9m per week that Australia is drawing by continuing to claim 10% of the Bayu-Undan revenue.

“This is pretty outrageous when it comes to one of our poorest neighbours,” said Steve Bracks, the former Victorian premier and founder of the Timor-Leste governance project. “They’re being denied that money because of the dysfunction of the Australian government and its insistence that parliament needs to ratify the treaty.”

Timor-Leste is the second-most oil-dependent country on earth but its reserves are expected to run out first. The government is scrambling to diversify its economy and stave off the crisis of losing the 90% share of its annual budget that come from the Petroleum Fund – primarily Bayu-Undan profits.

This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Mar 9 2021, 01:34 PM

Skuadron 502 Fennec TLDM kawal perairan Sabah



Pemantauan keselamatan di perairan Sabah kini dapat diperkasakan dengan kehadiran helikopter jenis AS 555 SN Fennec milik Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia (TLDM) yang akan beroperasi di Pangkalan TLDM Kota Kinabalu (PTKK) Teluk Sepangar.

Helikopter ini tiba di PTKK dari Markas Pemerintahan Armada Barat semalam dengan menggunakan kapal TLDM iaitu Kapal Diraja (KD) Mahawangsa.

Panglima Armada Timur, Laksamana Madya, Datuk Sabri Zali, berkata penggunaan aset udara seperti helikopter sangat berkesan dalam mengekang kemasukan pendatang asing tanpa izin (PATI) melalui jalan laut.

Selain itu, aktiviti penyeludupan barangan asas dan pencerobohan nelayan asing ke perairan Sabah juga dapat dikekang.

"Helikopter ini akan turut membantu mempertingkatkan keupayaan armada kapal TLDM melalui latihan bersama pesawat seperti Deck Landing Training (DLT), Winching Exercise (Winchex), Naval Gun Fire Support (NGS) Spotter dan lain-lain lagi," katanya dalam kenyataan hari ini.

Sementara itu, Sabri hari ini menerima kunjungan hormat daripada Pegawai Memerintah Skuadron 502 yang mengoperasikan Fennec, Komander TLDM Fairul Mohd Shukor di pejabat beliau di Teluk Sepanggar.

sos

When Indonesia gonna re-annex Timor Timur back?