Postwar emphasis on US carrier aviation can make other navies appear to be solving the same problem in the same way. That interpretive habit grew partly from the 1960s and 1970s campaign to explain and preserve American carrier power. The resulting template can make Japanese or British choices look like deviations from an American norm. Japanese doctrine instead needs to be reconstructed from Japan's own assumptions, experience, and constraints.
Chapter · 0:01-5:17
Why Japanese naval aviation cannot be read through a US template
The opening frames Japanese naval aviation as a doctrine shaped by Japan's own strategic problems, rather than as an imperfect copy of American carrier practice.