Submarine quality control and command culture in the IJN

What were the strongest and weakest parts of the Japanese submarine arm?

Some designs were promising, but infrastructure, quality control, and command culture reduced their effectiveness.

Aircraft-carrying submarines receive a skeptical assessment, while other Japanese concepts compare more favorably with British and American boats. Design promise still depended on construction quality and a support infrastructure able to maintain the vessels. The larger concern is organizational: Royal Navy tradition could permit officers to listen informally to expert senior ratings without feeling that formal authority was threatened. Japanese outcomes depended more heavily on whether an individual officer accepted such advice, making practical expertise less reliably available to design and operations.