A MORTAL BLOW

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 20, 31 October 1944, Page 4

A MORTAL BLOW

FOLLOWING the Bismark and Coral Sea actions which directly halted the southward drive of the Japanese invasion forces in late 1942, the great and decisive Battle of the Phillipines in which the major portion of the Imperial Japanese fleet was engaged can now be described as the first toll of death knell of Nipponese naval might. The fact that some fourteen major ships have been lost to Japan, a nation which has no method of ensuring the rapid replacement system now in full swing in both Britain and America, can only be described as a staggering and mortal blow to the arrogance of Japan's sea power. Up till the present time and following the conclusive results of the earlier clashes, the ships of the Mikado, have avoided at all costs the chances of an open clash with the Allies. The invasion of the Phillipines however brought the war dangerously close to the sacred shores of Nippon, and her War Council apparently decided upon an all-out and conclusive combat, which if successful would pinch out the American threat, and at the same time serve to show the temper and invincibility of the Imperial navy. The result is little short of calamity and the little yellow men who surround the new military head will at this very moment have many major worries to contend with, in spite of the tissue of lies handed out to their sheep-brained pubilc by way of propaganda to maintain the traditional victory which must be produced after every clash with the enemy. At the outbreak of hostilities Japan as far as available figures permitted, was little behind America in naval strength. She possessed 11 battleships (against America's 21); 7 carriers (7); 42 cruisers (41); 111 destroyers (208); 67 submarines (106) and a mass of auxiliary vessels. From the foregoing it will be seen that the Island Empire constituted a growing danger in the heart of awakening Asia. Her fleet, though untried against any capital power, had given a good account of itself in minor actions during the Great War, and had been an untold asset for the succes* sive invasions of China. The sinking of the British capital ships Prince of Wales and^, Repulse in the early days of the war, gave rise to sober reflection in British naval circles. However upon all subsequent occasions, the fleet of the Rising Sun has fared disastrously in its actions with Allied units, particularly since the mastery of the air has been so undisputedly in Allied hands. Her true naval strength at this moment is not known outside her own council of Sea-lords, but it can be taken as a reasonable assumption that beyond doubt her fighting strength at sea has been cut down by fully a third as far as capital ships are concerned. This will seriously affect her already slender protection to those long supply lines which are so necessary to find munitions and reinforcements for her forces in the Indies, Burma, China, Malay and/ the Phillipines. In the words of Admiral Nimitz, this signal defeat spells definitely for Japan, the beginning of the end.