<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This article aims to demonstrate through mathematical analysis that the primary reason for the defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the battle of the Philippine Sea during World War II (WWII) was quantitative, and that the defeat is particularly attributable to the lack of force concentration. Scholars have placed much emphasis on the qualitative aspects of the forces involved, such as the skill of IJN pilots or the air defence capabilities of the United States Navy (USN), in seeking to explain the Japanese defeat. We, however, assert that in this naval battle, quantitative factors played a more important role than qualitative ones. Accordingly, we offer an improved version of the mathematical model of Armstrong and Powell, which was previously used to analyse battles between aircraft carriers (CVs). The coefficients in our mathematical model will then be estimated and verified using historical data from the main battles between CVs of the IJN and USN during WWII. Finally, we will analyse the factors underlying the IJN’s defeat in the Battle of the Philippine Sea using the model. This study proposes a useful technique for evaluating quantitative and qualitative aspects of naval forces.</p>
</abstract>

This article aims to demonstrate through mathematical analysis that the primary reason for the defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the battle of the Philippine Sea during World War II (WWII) was quantitative, and that the defeat is particularly attributable to the lack of force concentration. Scholars have placed much emphasis on the qualitative aspects of the forces involved, such as the skill of IJN pilots or the air defence capabilities of the United States Navy (USN), in seeking to explain the Japanese defeat. We, however, assert that in this naval battle, quantitative factors played a more important role than qualitative ones. Accordingly, we offer an improved version of the mathematical model of Armstrong and Powell, which was previously used to analyse battles between aircraft carriers (CVs). The coefficients in our mathematical model will then be estimated and verified using historical data from the main battles between CVs of the IJN and USN during WWII. Finally, we will analyse the factors underlying the IJN’s defeat in the Battle of the Philippine Sea using the model. This study proposes a useful technique for evaluating quantitative and qualitative aspects of naval forces.

The Imperial Japanese Navy and the battle of the Philippine Sea: An analysis of the main causes of defeat

Journal of Military Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This article aims to demonstrate through mathematical analysis that the primary reason for the defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the battle of the...

The Imperial Japanese Navy and the battle of the Philippine Sea: An analysis of the main causes of defeat

Article Category: Original Study

Published Online: Sep 24, 2021

Page range: 154 - 161

Received: Dec 01, 2020

Accepted: Apr 07, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jms-2021-0006

Keywords
naval tactics, military history, combat modeling, Word War II

© 2021 Yuki Yagi, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The Imperial Japanese Navy and the battle of the Philippine Sea: An analysis of the main causes of defeat

Article Category: Original Study

Published Online: Sep 24, 2021

Page range: 154 - 161

Received: Dec 01, 2020

Accepted: Apr 07, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jms-2021-0006

Keywordsnaval tactics, military history, combat modeling, Word War II

© 2021 Yuki Yagi, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
naval tactics, military history, combat modeling, Word War II