Imperial Japanese Navy

Lore & Background

The IJN was the third largest navy in the world by 1920, behind the Royal Navy and the United States Navy (USN). It was supported by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service for reconnaissance and airstrike operations from the fleet. It was the primary opponent of the Western Allies in the Pacific War. The IJN additionally fielded limited land-based forces, including professional marines, marine paratrooper units, anti-aircraft defense units, installation and port security units, naval police units, and ad-hoc formations of sailors pressed into service as naval infantry. The origins of the IJN date back to early interactions with nations on the Asian continent, beginning in the early feudal period and reaching a peak of activity during the 16th and 17th centuries at a time of cultural exchange with European powers during the Age of Discovery. After two centuries of stagnation during the country's ensuing seclusion policy under the shōgun of the Edo period, Japan's navy was comparatively antiquated when the country was forced open to trade by American intervention in 1854. This eventually led to the Meiji Restoration. Accompanying the re-ascendance of the Emperor came a period of frantic modernization and industrialization. The IJN saw several successes in combat during the early twentieth century, sometimes against much more powerful enemies, such as in the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, before being largely destroyed in World War II.

In Their Own Story

The dawn light hits the coral shelf and the water goes white. Somewhere beyond the breakers, the IJN position is already awake—rifles cycled, observers in the slit-trenches watching the tide line. The sergeant presses his back against the sand and feels the vibration of the landing craft engines dying behind him. Ahead, the island's green ridge is stitched with sandbags and the dark mouths of bunkers, and the men in grey-blue uniforms behind them are already feeding rounds into their Type 99s. There is no negotiation in this place. There is only the next thirty meters of open sand, the next trench, the next man standing over a machine gun with his thumb on the trigger. The Pacific does not forgive hesitation, and neither does the Navy that holds it.

Reader's Guide

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Did You Know?

• The IJN was the third largest navy in the world by 1920.
• The IJN was dissolved in 1945 following Japan's surrender in World War II.
• Japan's first steam warship was acquired in 1855 with Dutch assistance.
• The IJN saw successes in the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War.