Japan

Being an island nation, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) have always been the forefront of Japan's military, characterised by advanced development of naval technology, quality shipbuilding and superb seamanship. Japan also readily looked to and accepted foreign input - from the assimilation of foreign technology after the re-opening of their borders, to the frequent military exchanges with Dutch, French, British and United States navies; many naval students were also sent to their naval academies and a number of ships were built in their dockyards.

Throughout their history, the IJN achieved stunning victories and technological innovations - the Battle of Tsushima, the sinkings of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse, the world's first purpose-built aircraft carrier, the deadly Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedo and classes of cruisers and destroyers that, despite being much older than their adversaries, remained the most powerful of their class of any nation during World War II. However, several mistakes and oversights during the War resulted in their near-annihilation by the US Navy. The Attack on Pearl Harbour was a tactical victory but a strategic error, bringing into the war a nation that, while initially underprepared and unwilling to go to war, had near-limitless resources and unmatched production capabilities, and little to none of the support facilities - naval repair yards, fuel depots, logistics infrastructure - were attacked, allowing the US to quickly recover and strike back with a vengeance. In contrast, Japan did not have the capabilities to replace their losses as quickly, were incredibly dependent on imports - reducing that dependency was actually one of the major reasons for Japan's expansionist desires - and the under-investment in anti-submarine and anti-aircraft warfare allowed the US Navy to slowly starve Japan into submission.

Japanese ships tend to have great variations in design - each class you encounter is likely to have noticeably different handling characteristics from the previous tier, a result of the IJN constantly experimenting with or influenced by different designs and doctrines. Having consistently superior torpedoes, accurate, long-range guns with high alpha damage, concealment and mobility, but inferior survivability, AA defense and DPM, their playstyle is very similar to the "decisive battle" doctrine that dominated IJN tactics; strike fast, strike hard with precision at targets of importance and/or opportunity, but every hit taken will be painfully felt.

Japanese destroyers are stealthier and have a slight edge in speed and maneuverability over their American counterparts of equal tier at virtually every level. They also have very good torpedoes, so much so that in some cases, the other available torpedo type available is actually a sidegrade instead of an upgrade. However, their guns are generally not worth firing unless they happen to be pointing in the enemy's direction - and even then, it is better to hold your fire to maintain concealment. This problem improves at the later tiers, but Japanese destroyers will never be as good as the Americans in slugging it out in close range due to any combination of inferior durability, turret turning speeds, firing rate, damage or number of guns. The Shimakaze, the last tier for the Japanese destroyers, displays the reach of their thoughts that a destroyer is the most potent anti-surface harasser.

Japanese cruisers have fewer, but usually more powerful guns, albeit commonly housed in slow-turning turrets, and often have better maneuverability and concealment values than the Americans, but have very fragile citadels. However, the real danger lies in their torpedoes; virtually all Japanese cruisers are equipped with a complement of torpedoes that are on par with their smaller cousins, the destroyer. This is further exacerbated by the fact that in the higher tiers, their torpedo tubes are located aft of the vessel. Do not be fooled if a Japanese cruiser starts turning away from you mid-fight; they may have just launched a spread of torpedoes in your direction. Their AA suite is sufficient for self-defense, but you will be hard-pressed to protect your teammates from aerial assaults. The Zao is considered the very pinnacle of what the Japanese had expected of their cruisers: striking first and hard, giving skirmishing ships a nasty surprise when they are in the melee, and generally being a combat effective anti-surface ship.

Japanese battleships were somewhat restricted by the Washington Naval Treaty, forcing them to resort to unusual, but often innovative, designs in outfitting their battleships. This resulted in their battleships having widely varying characteristics; the ponderous and slow Kawachi, the fast and agile Kongo, the well-balanced Nagato, culminating in the crown of their battleship tree: the formidable Yamato. Japanese battleships often have the highest calibre guns with the longest ranges of their tier, which they can extend even further still with the Spotter Plane ability, allowing them to rain destruction upon their enemies with impunity. However, close-quarters battery fire is often more inaccurate than their USN counterparts but more accurate at long range, and their armour protection is slightly lower but more evenly spread out around the entire ship.

Japanese aircraft carriers have good maneuverability and concealment values, allowing them to re-position and evade enemies very well. They can deploy more squadrons than the Americans can, albeit with only 4 planes per squadron, combined with short servicing times and faster aircraft, IJN carriers can repeatedly swarm their unfortunate targets from multiple, unexpected directions or cover the battlefield like no one else can. Having more squadrons also translates to less punishing loadouts; you will always have at least one of each type of aircraft available in battle. However, smaller squadrons mean that dive and torpedo bombers deal less damage per strike, and Japanese fighters fare poorly in one-on-one dogfights with American fighters. Bear in mind that carriers can only launch OR recover one squadron type at a time, so it's important to manage your planes when they're returning for servicing as well, or you'll end up with a massive traffic jam. IJN carriers also have smaller hangar capacities, resulting in fewer spare aircraft - poor and reckless management will only end up in the carrier running out of aircraft and thus being of no use to the team.