The Japanese Eight-Eight programme charts several future generations, from Tosa and Amagi through the Kii and Number 13 classes. The sequence also reveals a doctrinal transition: Amagi remains a battlecruiser, while the later 30-knot designs converge on fast battleships with 16.1-inch and then 18-inch guns. On the video's estimate, limited slips and shallow supporting yard capacity would have pushed the final ships toward the late 1920s even if everything went well. The programme records a coherent aspiration while showing why industrial depth and earthquake-vulnerable infrastructure mattered as much as the drawings themselves.
Chapter · 1:03:43-1:16:20
Japan's Eight-Eight fleet meets yard capacity
Japan's sequence from Amagi through Number 13 reveals both a coherent fast-battleship direction and the industrial bottleneck that constrained it.
16-inch Guns18-inch GunsAircraft CarriersAmagi Class BattlecruisersEight-Eight FleetFast BattleshipsImperial Japanese NavyKii Class BattleshipsMaritime InfrastructureNaval DoctrineNaval Industrial CapacityNaval ModernisationNumber 13 Class BattleshipsSeismic RiskShipbuilding CapacityShipyardsTosa Class BattleshipsWashington Naval Treaty